Mortgage brokers want to educate Consumer Reports

The March issue of Consumer Reports has more than a few mortgage brokers up in arms, and now the National Association of Mortgage Brokers is inviting the editors to sit down and learn about the industry before trashing it.

John Councilman, NAMB president, challenged the editors of Consumer Reports to spend some time with him "in the field" to see the real value mortgage brokers bring to the real estate transaction process.

Councilman made the invitation following an article in the March issue that said potential homebuyers should avoid using mortgage brokers, shop for mortgages online, and deal directly with large banks.

"In its March issue, Consumer Reports magazine recommended that borrowers not go to mortgage brokers. That is an amazing statement from a magazine that purports to be a resource for consumers.  The story is based on misinformation and outdated concepts,” Councilman said. “In truth, recent surveys show consumers would have saved money, received better service, and had greater consumer protections had they gone to a mortgage broker rather than to one of the too-big-to-fail banks the story recommends.

"While it would be great to be able to trust all large banks, and to believe everything you read on the internet, we believe it makes infinitely more sense for a prospective homebuyer to work with a highly qualified and credentialed mortgage professional when purchasing a home," said Councilman.

He said allegations that brokers steer buyers to more expensive loans isn’t true. 

"I have not heard of any government actions taken against brokers who are violating the laws referred to in the unfortunate Consumer Reports article, but there have been severe sanctions and huge fines imposed where lenders were allowing their retail originators to steer clients to more profitable loans," added Councilman.

Councilman said that the NAMB has lobbied to successfully pass regulations on the industry.

"The leadership of NAMB and I are willing to host the editors of Consumer Reports in seeing how it really works out in the field and we also hope they will publish our rebuttal to the ill informed piece they published in the March issue of their publication," he said.

Courtesy of housingwire.com