COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo -
“We have some plans for marketing later in the spring, but this is just a function of the drop in interest rates,” explained Jon Paukovich, VP-mortgage lending. “When the Fed drops rates it piques people’s interest, even though mortgage rates do not decline as far as the Fed dropped rates.”
One program Paukovich said has garnered interest from Ent’s members is a mortgage rate modification, rather than putting the loan through a full-blown re-fi. If members have a good payment history and meet all criteria, including on-time payments for at least 24 months, Ent lowers their rate.
“It is a win-win–the member gets a lower rate and we do it cheaply. The member then doesn’t go anywhere else,” he added.
As was the case of nearly all the credit unions interviewed by Credit Union Journal, Ent is seeing fewer competitors in the mortgage lending space. “Which is partly why we had our best-ever mortgage year in 2007,” acknowledged Paukovich. “We don’t participate in subprime lending. With all of the no-doc, no-job loans knocked out of the market, it brings things back to what we do well. A lot of those lenders have no idea how to do a conforming FHA or VA loan–loans that require verification of income and assets.”
Last year, Ent originated $234 million in first mortgage products, which surpassed the record it set during the refi boom in 2003, $198 million. According to Paukovich, the credit union has been focused on outreach efforts to Realtors–including co-hosting continuing education classes–in a housing market that has never had more than 5% or 6% appreciation on an annual basis since 2000.
“What helped us the most was the fact we did not have to change our policies since we never participated in subprime lending. The Realtors in the community know we are consistent, unlike many brokers who had to change daily. Given the fallout and lack of trust by lenders who didn’t close, the community knows we have the ability to fund loans.
“It was like the tortoise and the hare–we didn’t chase after every new loan product, and in the end it paid off.”
