Episode summary
Bob Broeksmit on Trump housing policies
HousingWire Daily
· · 25 min · Hosts: Sarah Wheeler · Guests: Bob Broeksmit
Summary
Bob Broeksmit said the Mortgage Bankers Association is pressing the Trump administration and Congress on a set of affordability measures it believes could lower housing costs quickly. Those include replacing the tri-merge credit report with a single bureau for certain GSE loans, reducing FHA mortgage insurance premiums, revisiting life-of-loan premium rules, and trimming loan-level price adjustments at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He argued these changes could flow through to borrowers immediately, including cheaper closing costs, lower rates, and better refinance cash flow.
Broeksmit also said the MBA is pushing changes to the CFPB’s loan officer compensation rule so lenders can better match competitor pricing for consumers. On the legislative side, he described the Senate-passed Road to Housing bill and the House’s 21st Century Housing Act as a path toward compromise, while noting the House version drops a provision he opposes on second appraisals and lender liability.
He also highlighted two ideas he expects may resonate politically: limiting institutional investors’ role in single-family housing and letting borrowers use 401(k) assets for down payments in a way that functions like an internal IOU rather than a monthly repayment loan.
Key takeaways
- Broeksmit said the MBA wants a single-bureau credit report for higher-score GSE loans because the tri-merge system adds borrower costs with limited risk benefit.
- He argued FHA has room to reduce mortgage insurance premiums because its mutual mortgage insurance fund shows an 11.47% capital surplus versus a 2% minimum.
- Broeksmit said across-the-board LLPA cuts could save a borrower about $500 on a $200,000 loan and improve refinance cash flow for borrowers with clean payment histories.
- He said the CFPB should revise the LO comp rule so lenders can lower prices to match competing offers without violating compensation restrictions.
- Broeksmit expects housing affordability will keep driving bipartisan action on the Road to Housing / 21st Century Housing legislation, though House and Senate versions still need a conference agreement.
Notable quotes
“The answer is no. we do not need a tri merge credit report”
“if they did that on a $200,000 loan, that's $500 less money to close a home tomorrow”
“a government regulation prohibits my members from improving the rate and points they quote to a consumer”
How the episode opens
Welcome everyone. My guest today is Bob Brommith, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association to talk about the housing policy priorities that fit in with the Trump administration's focus on affordability and what might happen on credit reporting requirements, the LO comp rule, LLPAS, and much more. First, I want to thank our sponsor, Trust and Will, for making this episode possible. Bob, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you, Sarah. Thanks for having me. — No, thank you so much for being on on in such an incredibly busy season for you and on such a big day. So, we're do we are recording this the day before the Davos event that we're going to get uh Trump's housing policy recommendations and um lots of things happening this week and I really appreciate you making the time.
Happy to do it. So, let's talk about what in this in this wild time, what are the MBA uh priorities? What are the policy recommendations that you're specifically focused on when it comes to like, you know, you have a president who's focused on housing?
Sure. Well, it is encouraging that we have an administration that has a bias toward action and we have been uh working very closely with the various agencies in the administration to articulate housing policies that we think will have an immediate and direct bottom line on consumers. So, one which we can probably get into in a little more detail later is finally doing something about the cost of credit reporting and we have a proposal there to move to a single infile away from the tri merge for GSSE loans with scores of 700 or up which we think will save consumers money immediately both on what they pay on the closing disclosure for credit reports but also really importantly what's built into a lender's margin.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- trump housing policies
- mortgage bank policy priorities
- credit reporting requirements
- lo comp rule
- llpas
Watch the episode
Watch “Bob Broeksmit on Trump housing policies” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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