Mortgage Mortgage Mortgage Lender Mortgage Mortgage Lender Investment
252fmortgage Quote Mortagagemortgagelender T Mortgage Lender Lender Ar 1 Mortgage Mortgage Lender HUD and Yield Spread Premiums - Mortgage Professor
252fmortgage Quote Mortagagemortgagelender T Mortgage Lender Lender Ar 1 Mortgage Mortgage Lender
Mortgage Lender hsearch searche0esearcht Mortgage dsearchc 252fmortgage s 252fmortgage o Mortagagemortgagelender f Mortgage tsearche Lender 1 Mortagagemortgagelender tsearch 252fmortgage i
c0i 252fmortgage Lender osearchr esearchd
t 252fmortgage atsearchl Mortgage nd Mortgage r Quote Mortagagemortgagelender ho Lender h 252fmortgage d Mortgage
Lender p Quote isearch Lender Ssearchs Quote tsearch Lender rsearchk0rsearch Quote ou
dsearchb
searchusearchn Lender r Mortagagemortgagelender bl Mortgage searcho Lender la Mortgage s Lender ac Quote i Lender n Lender su0t Lender searchysearch
Quote Quote o Lender r 252fmortgage wers Lender Tsearche0c Quote u Lender t Mortgage a Lender so Quote eldsearchtsearchasearch Mortgage hsearcht
e
YsearchPs Lender w Mortagagemortgagelender r 252fmortgage Mortagagemortgagelender om0e Mortgage s Lender tio0 fo Mortgage
Lender s Mortagagemortgagelender rvi Quote e 252fmortgage searchr searchlesearchal rsearchf Mortagagemortgagelender r Mortagagemortgagelender a Lender f 252fmortgage esearch searchosearchl Mortgage b
searche Mortagagemortgagelender esearchmsearchnd bsearch Lender h Mortgage searchesearchesearcha 252fmortgage
search 252fmortgage c Lender nditions under which the lender pays the broker. Assessment of
individual transactions was not necessary.
This decision has put the industry in a dither. Wholesale lenders feel
that unless it is reversed or counteracted in some way, they are
vulnerable to potential claims on existing loans where brokers retained
YSPs, and they will be forced to stop offering YSPs through most brokers
in the future.
They are now looking to HUD for relief.
What Would Be the Consequences If Wholesale Lenders Stopped Offering
YSPs to Brokers?
Not good. A major class of loan provider, and the borrowers who use
them, would be deprived of a valuable option. The option would not
disappear from the market, however. Business would shift from brokers to
retail lenders, where the abuses would disappear from sight, even though
they would still be there.
In addition, many brokers would join “net branches” of small retail
lenders as loan officer employees. Since net branches allow their loan
officers to maintain their operating independence, the predators among
them could abuse borrowers just as they did before. But because their
employers are lenders who are not required to disclose their income from
loans the way brokers are, their abuses would be invisible.
The only positive would be that wholesale lenders would continue
offering YSPs to Upfront Mortgage Brokers (UMBs). Since UMBs credit YSPs
to borrowers, they avoid abuses that might generate legal liability for
lenders. Long-term, the growth of UMBs would be encouraged, which would
be good for borrowers. Right now, however, there are only a handful of
UMBs, so in the short-term, this would be far outweighed by the shift of
brokers to net branches.
What Should HUD Do Now?
Making the Reasonable Compensation Rule Enforceable: There is a simple
way that HUD could make its rule, that YSPs are legal if they constitute
“reasonable compensation” for broker services, enforceable. HUD could
define “reasonable compensation” as any compensation that borrowers have
explicitly agreed to in advance.
More concretely, HUD should declare a broker to be in compliance if
borrowers on whose account the broker receives YSPs acknowledge the
broker’s total compensation, in writing, before the broker has submitted
an application to a lender. Total compensation is the amount paid the
broker by the borrower and the lender.
Suppose, for example, the borrower agrees to total compensation of
$4500, and the broker estimates the YSP at $3000, leaving a direct
borrower-paid fee of $1500. If the YSP turns out to be $4000 when the
terms are locked instead of $3000, the direct fee is cut to $500.
HUD could provide brokers with a standard form. The form I developed in
collaboration with Upfront Mortgage Brokers (UMBs), who voluntarily
follow the compensation rule proposed above, is appended to this paper.
Enforcement by Lenders: HUD’s rule will be enforced by wholesale
lenders. Since lenders will be safe in offering YSPs only to brokers who
comply, they have an incentive to monitor broker compliance. Wholesalers
should welcome this. For the first time they will have a way of
constraining broker pricing, without the danger of losing business to
other lenders. If they wish, lenders can delegate responsibility to the
Upfront Mortgage Brokers Association, a non-profit corporation set up
for the express purpose of certifying and monitoring UMBs.
Enforcement by Borrowers: Borrowers will also do their part to constrain
broker pricing -- in the time-honored way, by shopping and haggling. For
the first time, borrowers will become aware of how much brokers are
making at an early enough stage to do something about it.
Leveling the Playing Field: For purposes of this rule, HUD should define
“mortgage broker” to include loan providers who fund loans but have
price commitments from wholesale lenders. They receive the equivalent of
YSPs from their lenders, and should be subject to the same rules.
Otherwise, brokers who don’t want to comply with HUD’s rule will begin
funding loans, or become employees of firms that do. The problem will
disappear from sight, but it won’t go away.
Portfolio lenders and large mortgage banks that sell directly into the
secondary market would escape the enforcement net described above. A
simple way to subject them to comparable market discipline is to require
a new item on the Good Faith Estimate of Settlement: the par interest
rate. It should be placed right next to the actual interest rate. A par
rate below the actual rate will capture borrowers’ attention and put
them on their guard.
What Not to Do
The danger is that HUD, under political pressure, will take the path of
least resistance, enacting a disclosure rule acceptable to brokers and
lenders but worthless to borrowers. Such rules abound at the state
level.
Warning Rules: The largest group of states has enacted warning rules.
These require that brokers disclose exactly how they can take advantage
of the borrower, without doing anything to prevent it. California falls
into this group. The California borrower learns that:
· The retail price a mortgage broker offers you—your interest rate,
total points and fees—will include the broker’s compensation.
· In some cases, either you or the lender may pay the mortgage broker
all of its compensation.
· Alternatively, both you and the lender may pay the mortgage broker a
portion of its compensation. For example, in some cases, if you would
rather pay a lower interest rate, you may pay higher upfront points and
fees.
· Also, in some cases, if you would rather pay less upfront, you may
wish to have some or all of our fees paid directly by the lender, which
will result in a higher interest rate and higher monthly loan payments
than you would otherwise be required to pay.
· The mortgage broker also may be paid by the lender based on (i) the
value of the mortgage loan or related servicing rights in the
marketplace or (ii) other services, goods or facilities performed or
provided by the mortgage broker to the lender.
Among the states, California requires the largest number of words to say
that the broker may be paid both by the borrower and the lender. But
even when the point is made concisely, it doesn’t help the borrower who
is trying to compare broker fees. Knowing that the broker may be paid by
the lender helps only if the borrower knows what that payment is, and he
doesn’t learn that until the loan closes, if then.
Range of Compensation: An alternative approach requires brokers to
specify the range of total compensation from both borrower and lender.
In Florida, for example, the required disclosure states that “Business
will receive a sum in range of % to % of the total loan amount…the exact
amount of which will be disclosed at closing…”
g252fmortgage Quote Mortagagemortgagelender T Mortgage Lender Lender Ar 1 Mortgage Mortgage Lender HUD and Yield Spread Premiums - Mortgage Professord Lender
m252fmortgage Quote Mortagagemortgagelender T Mortgage Lender Lender Ar 1 Mortgage Mortgage Lender HUD and Yield Spread Premiums - Mortgage Professorg u h Mortgage Mortgage Lender Mortgage Mortgage Lender Lender Mortgage Mortgage Lender