HUD Official Validates Brokers

The mortgage broker industry is viable and will grow again, Federal Housing Administration Commissioner David Stevens said.

"Mortgage brokers play a valuable role in the marketplace," Stevens said Wednesday in response to an audience member's question at the Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations in Atlantic City.

This is because it is a scalable business model that can grow when the mortgage industry as a whole does, and because brokers service areas where other lenders will not serve. But like other parts of the mortgage industry, Stevens said, mortgage brokers did not police themselves well during the run-up to the crisis.

He said the Department of Housing and Urban Development's proposal to let FHA lenders approve the brokers they wish to do business with, rather than the agency itself, would enable more brokers to originate FHA-insured loans.

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