A Bad Week for Loan Brokers: Date and the Post

It hasn’t been a good week for the loan brokerage community. On Monday Raj Date, the number two man at the CFPB, in a speech to the American Bankers Association blamed mortgage brokers (more or less) for the housing bust. Then on Wednesday The Washington Post ran a front page story on a subprime loan broker who worked for Wells Fargo, got rich, then saw the light, and is now helping consumers modify their loans. The problem with the Post article is this: the ‘broker,’ Beth Jacobson, wasn’t a broker at all – but a retail loan officer in Wells’ subprime division. In other words, a retail LO caused the damage at Wells – not a loan broker. (Mortgage professionals know full well there is a huge difference between loan brokers and retail loan officers. It would be nice if the Post explored this issue.) In all fairness to the Post reporter, Jacobson is described throughout most of the story as a loan officer but the headlines say ‘broker.’ Jacobson left Wells five years ago and is having financial problems of her own, the newspaper reported.