The conference, which is co-hosted by the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, kicks off on Wednesday evening, September 7, at the Hilton Post Oak in Houston, Texas.

The following morning, on Sept. 8 at 9 a.m., event chair Scott Norman, an Austin-based area manager for MetLife’s reverse mortgage business, will give the opening remarks for a day of timely reverse mortgage industry information.

Topics up for discussion include financial assessments, the secondary market, lending limits, loan servicing and new regulatory requirements, and the day will feature a round table with three different industry experts.

“I think they’re going to really touch base on the real artery of reverse mortgages and what’s important,” says Norman, who calls the one-day event a “one-stop shop.”

Industry education is key, says Norman, and the conference will offer the opportunity to engage in dialogue and hear directly from regulators and policymakers, as well as NRMLA President Peter Bell, industry analyst John Lunde and a financial planning expert who will share insight into the use of reverse mortgages as a financial planning tool.

The full schedule can be viewed on the event’s webpage, although it may undergo some tweaks before September 7.

The Texas MBA is the largest and oldest state MBA in the country, and similar to how reverse mortgage presence has expanded in Texas, Norman says the conference will rank near the top in terms of attendance for similar events. Texas MBA is anticipating attendees from more than 50 different institutions, and 15 states.

RMD will be heading town to Texas for the event.

Written by Alyssa Gerace

On Tuesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and financial industry trade groups such as the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the Financial Services Roundtable pushed Congress to act. Unlike in previous debates about health care and financial reform, most of the financial community has tried to step delicately and avoid picking particular partisan plans.

The Mortgage Bankers Association issued a statement saying it’s very concerned about the implications of a government default.

“The Mortgage Bankers Association is very concerned about the implications to the financial system of the United States if the U.S. defaults on its debt,” said David Stevens, CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association.  ”The likely impact to the financial markets, interest rates, and to every family in America will be costly if the ceiling is not raised. We implore policymakers to act swiftly and find a workable solution, given the short time left, to take this step and not put the credit rating of the United States in jeopardy.”

Banking firms have been hesitant to advocate for any specific solution to the debt ceiling, with many executives saying they don’t care how the debt ceiling is raised, as long as it’s done to avert a default and the risk of a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating.

With the August 2nd deadline quickly approaching, it’s starting to change.

“Right now, at this moment, there’s nothing more important for financial stability than coming to an agreement that will both lift the debt ceiling and put us on a sound fiscal path,” said Rob Nichols, president of the Financial Services Forum, a trade association of the chief executives of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and other large financial firms during an interview with the Tribune.

Debt ceiling threat has Wall Street scrambling

The conference will be co-hosted with the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association and is one of the only state specific reverse mortgage conferences in the country.  The event brings professionals throughout the country seeking strategic options in the Lone Star State.  Attendees include upper management from the nation’s leading reverse mortgage lenders, loan officers, real estate attorneys and title companies.

“With the lending landscape changing almost daily, those attending this conference will receive the most up to date information on everything from loan limits to possible risk retention concerns and secondary market updates,” said Scott Norman, President of the Texas MBA.

With Texas taking over Florida as the second largest state for reverse mortgages, expect the conference to attract lenders from all over the US.

“With reverse mortgage volume continuing to rise in Texas, we expect Reverse Mortgage Day to be attended by lenders throughout the country,” said Norman.

The agenda is being finalized, but attendees are encouraged to check out the website for more information.

“As policymakers debate options to restore vitality, integrity and stability to the secondary mortgage market, including an appropriate role for the federal government in supporting homeownership and rental housing, it is essential that care is taken in weighing the choices ahead,” said the Mortgage Bankers Association.  ”The policy decisions in this area will have profound implications for the nation’s economic recovery and for generations of future homebuyers and renters, with broad ranging social and economic consequences.”

The groups believe a stable housing sector is essential for a robust economic recovery and long- term prosperity.  In addition, they ask for a continuing and predictable government role to promote investor confidence and ensure liquidity and stability for homeownership and rental housing.

Last, private capital is critical for the market and the current government-dominated mortgage system is neither sustainable nor desirable.  However, investors must be confident that they understand the risks and rules that can affect them.

“As policymakers move forward with Dodd-Frank Act rule-makings and similar regulatory efforts, it will be important to provide clarity and certainty to the marketplace in a manner that promotes recovery and growth,” said the report.  ”As such, the future mortgage system should seek to ensure a workable balance between sound underwriting principles, consumer protection and the need for responsible innovation and risk-taking.”

The groups committed to being part of these goals include:

American Bankers Association
American Financial Services Association Community Mortgage Banking Project 
CRE Finance Council
Housing Policy Council of the Financial Services Roundtable 
Independent Community Bankers of America 
Manufactured Housing Institute 
Mortgage Bankers Association 
Mortgage Insurance Companies of America
National Apartment Association 
National Association of Home Builders 
National Association of Realtors 
National Council of State Housing Agencies 
National Multi Housing Council 
Real Estate Roundtable 
Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association

Drafted earlier this year, the Fed’s rule is designed to prevent compensation based on a loans terms or conditions and to prohibit steering a consumer into a higher rate to receive additional compensation.  The Mortgage Bankers Association joined other trade groups in asking the Fed to delay the implementation of the rule.

“The Rule is far-reaching and requires major changes to long-operating compensation practices that heretofore have been both legal and prevalent,” said the MBA. “Unfortunately, in our view, the Rule does not definitively address many matters of particular importance, and has engendered numerous questions from creditors and loan originators seeking to comply.”

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers praised the committees decision to look into the proposal.  The association called the rule was a “game changer” for the mortgage industry and argued that mortgage brokers and lenders are ill-equipped with how to fully comply.

For a copy of the committee oversight plan, see here.

“All along we have asked the Fed to suspend its Reg. Z rulemakings, knowing that the CFPB would soon take up many of the same TILA issues,” said John Courson, President of the MBA.  ”We agree with the Board’s analysis that completing these rulemakings, then having the CFPB do its own rulemaking shortly thereafter, would not be in the public’s best interest.”

The association said duplicate rulemakings would’ve increased confusion, regulatory burden, and lead to higher costs charged to consumers.  ”We look forward to working with the CFPB on its rule to address many of the same issues and to harmonize the TILA and RESPA consumer disclosures,” he said.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) both applauded the decision as well.

“By rescinding these proposed rules, the Fed is ensuring that homeowners continue to have a major defense against foreclosure and that elderly homeowners are protected from unscrupulous cross-selling,” said Walters.  ”At a time when our housing market is in crisis, we need more protections for homeowners; not less.”

“We need greater oversight and accountability in the mortgage market, not less,” Brown added. “We need to focus on restoring borrower confidence lost during the mortgage crisis, preserving home values, and protecting county and city budgets that are already stretched too thin.”

Regulation Z prohibits certain practices relating to payments made to compensate mortgage brokers and other loan originators. “The goal of the amendments is to protect consumers in the mortgage market from unfair practices involving compensation paid to loan originators,” said the Fed.

The rule prohibits a creditor or any other person from paying, directly or indirectly, compensation to a mortgage broker or any other loan originator that is based on a mortgage transaction’s terms or conditions, except the amount of credit extended. The rule also prohibits any person from paying compensation to a loan originator for a particular transaction if the consumer pays the loan originator’s compensation directly.

Loan originators are also prohibited from steering a consumer to consummate a loan that provides the loan originator with greater compensation, as compared to other transactions the loan originator offered or could have offered to the consumer, unless the loan is in the consumer’s interest. The rule provides a safe harbor to facilitate compliance with the prohibition on steering.

“To be within the safe harbor, the loan originator must obtain loan options from a significant number of the creditors with which the originator regularly does business. The loan originator can present fewer than three loans and satisfy the safe harbor, if the loan(s) presented to the consumer otherwise meet the criteria in the rule,” said the guide.

Several trade organizations have requested that the Fed delay the rule, which lenders are required to comply with starting April 11, 2011.  Earlier this week, the NAMB said the rule was a “game changer” for the mortgage industry and argued that mortgage brokers and lenders are ill-equipped with how to fully comply.

To view a copy, see here.

“It is important for HUD to recognize that warehouse lenders make commercial loans to mortgage lenders to facilitate secondary market transactions and they are not engaged in table funding when they do so,” said the groups.  “The relationship of a warehouse lender to a mortgage lender is in no way the same as the relationship of a wholesale lender to a mortgage broker, which is the context that gave rise to the table funding provisions contained in the RESPA rules. Accordingly, these activities should not be subject to RESPA.”

The letter, submitted by the Mortgage Bankers Association, American Bankers Association, and the Financial Services Roundtable, is in response to HUD’s solicitation for information after the agency said it may issue new guidance under RESPA to address possible changes in warehouse lending used to fund federally insured mortgages.

The last time HUD updated its guidance was 15 years ago, when it amended the rules to add a secondary market exemption and define “table-funding.”  If HUD determined that warehouse lending constitutes table funding, it would have an extremely negative effect on the mortgage industry said the groups.

“Subjecting warehouse lending to RESPA coverage will impose new disclosure obligations and liability on warehouse lenders that are inapposite to their functions and capabilities,” they said.  ”Such coverage will increase costs to such an extent that warehouse lending is unlikely to continue as an economically viable model.”

According to the letter, what separates a bona fide warehouse line from a table funding transaction is that the mortgage lender, absent default under its warehouse line, retains the benefits, rights and obligations of ownership of the loan pending the sale of the loan into the secondary market while the warehouse lender provides temporary financing in contemplation of the secondary market transaction.

The associations urge HUD to issue clarification that warehouse advances are exempt from RESPA.  ”Clarification will ensure the continuation of an active warehouse lending market,” they said.

To view a copy of the letter, see here.