Players laud CFPB move

The CFPB may be the perennial thorn in originators’ sides, but its latest move against marketing services agreements is garnering originator support

Originator support has been pouring in since the CFPB took a stance discouraging lenders from using marketing services agreements.
 
“Smaller brokers have a hard time competing with the larger broker who has deep pockets and ‘purchases’ the business of Realtors by paying the rent, food for open houses, office equipment, (and) trips,” writes one commenter on Mortgage Professional America. “I welcome a level playing field.”
 
Several comments were made in support of the CFPB’s stance against the agreements, many arguing that they cheapen the industry and the value originators provide to clients.
 
“As a mortgage professional I am happy to see the CFPB on the case. There are so many underhanded arrangements in our industry it makes us look like organized crime at times,” writes another reader. “I hope they go after some of the questionable underwriting arrangements the mortgage insurers have with the lenders next.”
 
The agreements are a common practice in the industry, but the CFPB says they’re too easy to abuse. The agency has gone after several lenders in recent months, issuing fines for alleged kickbacks and other MSA-related violations, according to HousingWire.
 
Still, some industry players believe nothing can be done to truly crack down on MSAs.
 
“Not going to do a thing (because) most MSAs have already been renamed CSAs; slightly different structure same result,” another commenter writes.
 
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