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A Mortgage Watchdog Group Is Born
Published by The New York Times: July 31, 2009
By Bob Tedeschi
Few businesses have trust issues as daunting as those now faced by mortgage lenders; now a new nonprofit group is working to change public perception of the industry.
The Fair Mortgage Collaborative, a consortium of lenders, brokers and mortgage technology providers, made its debut in June with financial backing from the Ford Foundation, among other groups. Its purpose, the organizers say, is to make only those loans in a borrower’s best interest and to identify and certify the lenders that adhere to certain strict standards.
The group, based in Washington, currently has eight members, including the online broker Mortgage Grader and Neighborhood Housing Services, which provides debt counseling and loan referrals. The eight have connections with roughly 300 lenders, according to Howard Banker, the collaborative’s executive director, and they must ensure that the lenders are suitable for borrowers.
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Learn more about the
Fair Mortgage Collaborative.