Small mortgage banking firms believe they've been given the regulatory shaft by the federal government and are none too happy about the HAMP program as well, according to the just released MORTECH 2010 Report.
The company, which surveys both bank and nonbank funders about key topics in the residential finance sector, said, "Regulatory concerns and federalization of product standards occupy the attention of mortgage lenders – particularly the larger lenders. Smaller lenders find increased regulation absent of benefit."
Jeff Lebowitz, president of MORTECH LLC, said smaller lenders complained to him that they have little involvement with national issues such as loan modification. "Yet, they are burdened by the weighty and expensive application of increasingly complex business rules," MORTECH said in its findings. "Smaller lenders see federal programs such as HAMP in an unfavorable light."
Moreover, "Hard-working local lenders have been caught up in an undiscriminating dragnet of financial reform," the study says. "They are suffering the burden of having to comply with complex new business rules and absorb the added costs of training staff and investing in new software."
MORTECH was told by lenders of all sizes that the most important issue they will face over the next year is compliance.
The company's findings are part of an interim report released to its subscribers.
