NAMB Warned: 'Don't Kid Yourselves'

The outgoing president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers cautioned attendees at the association's annual convention Sunday that “even as we celebrate our best year ever … don’t kid yourselves.”In a taped message to the convention, Armand W. Cosenza Jr. said the mortgage broker industry is still under attack on the regulatory front, despite its success in generating 40,000 comment letters and causing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to slow its efforts to reform the mortgage settlement process. Mr. Cosenza said the NAMB has achieved all its goals since he took office one year ago in Cleveland. But he said it has been a spectacular success in one area (illustrated by the response to HUD): taking an active, rather than a reactive, role in regulatory matters. Mortgage brokers are “an integral part of the origination process and a major force to be dealt with,” he said. Mr. Cosenza also lauded the NAMB’s education efforts, especially the creation of eNAMB University. The association can be found online at http://www.namb.org.