NAHREP Favors Accountability Standard

There is a consensus within the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals that mortgage wholesalers and brokers should be held accountable for the loans they originate, but the trade group is still in discussions on how to formulate a suitability standard."Clearly the lenders need to have more accountability with respect to the types of loans they deliver to consumers," said NAHREP executive committee member Gary Acosta. The San Diego mortgage broker noted that mortgage brokers and other lenders at the point of sale should be more accountable than wholesalers. But wholesalers have the ability to ensure that a loan has some "tangible benefit" for the consumer, Mr. Acosta said. Meanwhile, NAHREP released a survey at its annual legislative conference in Washington showing that 65% of its members are counseling homeowners who can no longer afford their house payments due to an upward adjusting mortgage. Large majorities of the 500 respondents favor capping mortgage broker compensation and eliminating lender incentives for making loans with prepayment penalties. Nearly 50% of the respondents said they are not aware of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's community-based lending programs.