High Anxiety in Mortgages
September 12, 2013 12:10 PM
Regulators sought to reassure bankers about new mortgage rules at a conference in North Carolina this week, but remarks from all sides about pitfalls and policy mistakes fed the tension.
(Image: Fotolia)
Flexible Enforcement
"Oversight of the new mortgage rules will be sensitive to the progress made by those lenders and servicers who have been squarely focused on making good-faith efforts to come into substantial compliance on time."
Richard Cordray, director, CFPB
(Image: Bloomberg News)
Mea Culpa (of Sorts)
"I'm concerned that the pendulum has swung too far. There are millions of qualified borrowers who are getting rejected.
Part of that is on us."
Shaun Donovan, secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development
(Image: Bloomberg News)
Fragile Market
"Liquidity is the key component of all activities as we work through the transition in this market. The market is coming back from a private capital standpoint but
it still has a ways to go."
Michael Dawson, vice president, customer business services, Freddie Mac
(Image: Bloomberg News)
Misguided Focus
"We can't mistake a short-term improvement [in the housing market] for the long-term cure that the mortgage market needs."
Lee Gibson, CFO, Southside Bank, Tyler, Texas
QE Rebuke
"Quantitative easing is a handout to the management teams of big banks."
Mark Yusko, CEO, Morgan Creek Capital Management
(Image: Thinkstock)
Call to Arms
"We should be fighting for the consumer by fighting for access for borrowers that can afford to buy a home and have been blocked out.
I really believe screaming in the wind and sticking our head in the sand is unproductive."
David Stevens, president/CEO, Mortgage Bankers Association
(Image: Michael Chu)
