Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s biweekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it every other Friday afternoon.
–Senate Amendment 2358, a bill aimed at limiting the use of mortgage trigger leads, has been stripped from the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). According to National Mortgage Professional, the amendment, which stems from the MBA-supported, “The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act of 2024,” aims to broadly limit the distribution and use of trigger leads sold by the national credit reporting agencies to various mortgage companies.
Trigger leads are those sold by credit bureaus after a potential borrower’s credit score is pulled for a mortgage application, which often results in a flood of unsolicited calls, texts and emails to the borrower. Amendment 2358 proposes a shift from the current “opt-out” policy to an “opt-in” model.
A statement from the Broker Action Coalition (BAC), a proponent of the bill, read in part:
“The Broker Action Coalition took over 250 meetings on Capitol Hill with lawmakers to push discussion and support. We are proud of the work the BAC has done, we are proud of the work all of our advocates have done, and we are proud of the work the entire industry has done to best serve homebuyers. While (the bill) is not fully dead yet, and work is still being done, it’s got a steep uphill climb if it’s going to happen before the end of the year. Theoretically it can get back in, and we’re going to work like hell to try and do just that, but we’re aware of the realities of the situation.”
–In a widely-shared social media post, BAC Chief Advocacy Officer Brendan McKay warned that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is beginning to scrutinize “mega-brokers,” specifically companies that employ 1,000 or more loan officers.
Citing a meeting between the CFPB and the BAC, McKay said that the industry should prepare for “regular” regional audits, focused on steering, borrower paid compensation and overreliance on a single lender, among other things.
“As mortgage brokers become a larger part of the market share, there’s really no argument that a >1,000 loan officer brokerage should not be subject to the same audits of a similarly sized lender,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
–ICYMI: National mortgage lender Rocket Mortgage filed suit in Federal District Court this week against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) claiming it is seeking to correct conflicts between government regulations over independent appraisers versus lender liability related to their conduct. Rocket Mortgage also filed a motion to dismiss the claim the Department of Justice (DOJ) brought against the company based on the same regulatory conflicts and misapplication of applicable law.
The DOJ previously filed a lawsuit against Rocket Mortgage and two separate appraisal firms in the U.S. District Court in Colorado, alleging that the firms participated in discriminatory practices that violate the federal Fair Housing Act. Rocket Mortgage said in a statement that the lawsuit is a “massive overreach” by the DOJ. “We will not stand idly by while the courts are used as venues to leverage our company’s name to publicize the case instead of pursuing justice against those who may have committed wrongdoing,” said Bill Emerson, president of Rocket Companies.
–Late last month, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Scott Turner to be his HUD Secretary, a move widely praised by the mortgage industry. Turner is the current chief visionary officer of national developer, builder and investment management firm JPI and also a former Texas state representative. He also served in the first Trump administration as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, where he was instrumental in implementing Opportunity Zones.
“Pursuing policies and initiatives that help solve our nation’s housing affordability crisis for owners and renters should be a top policy priority under the Trump administration,” said MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit. “Scott’s leadership…will serve him well. MBA is committed to working with the incoming HUD leadership and staff on policies and programs that boost housing supply, improve affordability, and address challenges and opportunities at the Federal Housing Administration and Ginnie Mae.”
A statement from Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) read, “We look forward to continuing to work with HUD and the rest of the administration on creating affordable and accessible homeownership, particularly for first-time and underserved borrowers. Heading into 2025, CHLA will continue to spearhead important initiatives at FHA that protect borrowers and the community lenders that serve them, such as: premiums commensurate with risk, a partial claims payment option, streamlining condo approvals and pay-scale comparability.”
