FAMB Government Affairs Update
March 2, 2007

 A word from the Government Affairs Chair…

Like you, I spend 364 days a year focused on my family and my business.  I am asking you to spend one day a year with me and your fellow professionals making sure your doors stay open. 

FAMB will host its annual Lobby Day on Tuesday, March 13 in Tallahassee.  I hope that you will join us in attending this important event as we speak with all of our 40 senators and 120 representatives from across the state. 

Attending Lobby Day is easy, it is important, and FAMB wants YOU so call your FAMB Chapter Government Affairs member to join us in order to make our industry voice heard.  Please make that commitment to protect your livelihood.

Anyone who makes a living in the mortgage industry will be impacted by pending state legislation which will be discussed during our meetings.  The FAMB will continue to work diligently at the state and national levels to insure that your doors stay open, while at the same time, continuing the free flow of credit to worthy consumers.  This year, make our industry voice remain influential as with strength in numbers, we can be sure to get our message across.  

 

NAMB Sets 2007 Agenda
Reflecting a decision to become more proactive in the legislative and regulatory arena, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers outlined an ambitious policy agenda that it says is aligned with consumers' needs.  "Mortgage brokers work in the frontline" of the lending process, NAMB president Harry Dinham said in a telephone press conference outlining its agenda for 2007. "We firmly believe our issues and consumer issues go hand-in-hand." The group's plan targets abusive lending practices on several fronts. Among other things, it calls for a mandatory disclosure sheet at both application and closing that reveals possible payment and interest rate changes, restricting the use of pre-screened mortgage leads to written solicitations only, a good-faith estimate of closing costs that mirrors the HUD-1 statement that borrowers receive at settlement, and protections against builder and real estate broker-owned mortgage operations that offer incentives only to borrowers who use their services. NAMB also said it is embracing the Bush administration's proposal to reform the Federal Housing Administration, bipartisan efforts to improve the oversight and regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and legislation that would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to guarantee home equity conversion loans to eligible veterans. Joseph Falk, a former NAMB president and the current chair of its legislative committee, said that while his group's policy agenda is wide-ranging, no one issue takes priority. "Each is important, each is critical," the former broker from Miami said. "Each has no higher standing than the other."