LAS VEGAS-During ACUMA's Annual Conference here, Credit Union Journal asked attendees about overall mortgage lending, credit quality of applicants, and about any issues related to appraisals.
Gabe Lopez, Director of Mortgage Lending,
TDECU, Lake Jackson, Texas
We have had a very successful run. We are a $1.8-billion credit union. We realize in a down market we have to go out and take our share of the pie and we have done so. One thing we did is we bought a realty company. Through actions like that we have been able to maintain record originations. In fact, we hired four new originators. Even though we have seen a downturn in our marketplace, we are attracting new members to the credit union through the services we provide.
Spencer Hoover, VP of Lending, Town and Country CU, Minot, N.D.
North Dakota has oil, so we are really fortunate in that most of our members have jobs and a good income. With that said, we had a flood this summer and lost 4,000 homes. So we can find well-qualified people, but taking all those medium-priced homes out of the market has meant we are having to find people who make more money because new houses cost more than the ones that were lost.
The biggest issue hurting us is the new regulations on appraisals. We are in a rural area so it is difficult to get a comp that is within two miles and in the last six months. The nearest comp might be 10 or 20 miles away! But even with that, all in all our mortgage lending is doing well. Our Fargo branch is doing great guns and we are doing well in Minot. About 50% of our non-interest income comes from real estate.
Shannon Van Deusen, AVP Home Loan Origination and support, Arizona State CU, Phoenix
Low interest rates are definitely helping. Loans are the focus of every marketing campaign we have run in 2011. We alternate each campaign between mortgages and other types of loans. We have a sales incentive to anyone who helps bring in a loan, and new this year we incented back office staff for referrals, which has helped bring in their family and friends. On the purchase side we have to be creative based on what is out there. Our refis are about even with our purchases.
Andy Mason-West, AVP of Home Loans
Red Canoe CU, Longview, Wash.
Our footprint is Washington and Oregon, and we are very successful. We have 15% market share in Cowlitz County, which is the largest in the county. With that said, our volume is down 50% from last year. Originations in particular are down and we are struggling with values.
Credit quality is OK, but really our main challenge is a lack of equity. We are in a military, blue collar town so there is not much migration, but we have a saturation of low-rate mortgages. Most people have already refinanced to a lower rate.
Claire Ippoliti, VP of Lending, Philadelphia FCU
We are seeing an uptick in the past two months, mainly in purchases. Our members are getting off the sidelines and are taking advantage of low rates and prices available in the market. It helps that employment sectors in our area are solid, which helps confidence. We mention mortgages frequently in our newsletter and we are part of CU Realty, which is owned by 12 credit unions and the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association. Realtors come in once a month to answer questions from our members, plus we offer seminars. We probably will be down slightly from last year, but in this market I am okay with that. We still have strong production from car loans and unsecured loans. We are working with members who want to reduce their debt.
Pam Metcalf, Mortgage Sales Manager
Cyprus CU, West Jordan, Utah
We are swamped. We have a very loyal membership that is very conservative and mostly middle income. Previously we did not have an organized, focused marketing effort. In fact, many members did not know the credit union did mortgages, they just thought of us for car loans.
We did value-added training for the staff, then started a well-thought-out marketing campaign to members. We put messages on our website for the first time. Many of our members still get paper statements, so we put statement inserts in there, and sent postcards to those with e-statements. We offered a $250 Visa gift card for closing a mortgage. Our new slogan is "Your neighborhood mortgage lender."
We currently do correspondent loans, with the goal of doing direct in 2012. We offer a good price. Utah was not the worst hit housing market, certainly not as bad as Las Vegas or Florida, so we have not had as many problems with values.
For additional ideas, search "Loans"
at www.cujournal.com.
