Community Mortgage Lenders of America (CMLA) ~ 100 Members Strong; Launches Task Force To Streamline Regulation Of Community Mortgage Lenders

BOSTON and WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Community Mortgage Lenders of America (CMLA) announced today it has reached 100 members strong committed to preserving and strengthening the role of the community mortgage banker and lender.  CMLA also announced the formation of a Legislative Task Force to help streamline the regulatory burden of local lenders in order to improve consumer access to credit while not undermining the intent of the Dodd-Frank Act. The CMLA will present legislative ideas to Congress to help with economic recovery, create jobs, and prevent additional concentration amongst the largest banks and mortgage lenders in the US.

"The CMLA appreciates the intent of the Dodd-Frank Act that created the CFPB to prohibit predatory and abusive lending practices and to improve transparency in the lending markets," said Mark McDougald of Firstrust Mortgage in Overland Park, KS and Chair of the CMLA.  "While we agree consumers need regulatory protection, we remain deeply concerned about the far-reaching impacts of several of the proposed rules and the heightened pace of regulatory burden applied through the CFPB.  If left unchecked, the overall costs to comply with the additional burden will significantly and disproportionately disadvantage small, community-based lenders that did not create the meltdown, and frankly don't have the resources to hire a large staff, and pay lawyers, to ensure compliance with rules aimed at larger institutions."

The Task Force will look at legislative and regulatory corrections to provide compliance relief to lenders meeting the following tests: (1) small mortgage lenders with no history of predatory or abusive lending practices; and, (2) the lenders' loan products are considered conventional under the expected Qualified Mortgage definition.  In this approach, the CMLA believes mortgage markets would free resources for additional capital while not compromising the overall goals of the Dodd-Frank Act.

"Our membership growth is fueled in part by the increasing concern that Washington, wittingly or unwittingly, has chosen policies that drive good community lenders from the market.  Many market observers, as well as our membership, remain concerned that consumer choice has been reduced with the overall market concentration among the nation's largest lenders, a concentration that has already grown dramatically during this downturn," added McDougald. "Our legislative and regulatory corrective efforts will ensure that Washington's efforts focus on those aspects of the mortgage industry that need more comprehensive oversight."

In addition to its legislative work, the CMLA will use the remainder of 2012 to obtain its members' specific cost analysis data to the additional burden of complying with a myriad of Dodd-Frank Act rules and requirements which, will be presented to Congress and other regulatory agencies at the start of the 2013 legislative session.

About the CMLA
The CMLA is a national community mortgage banking trade association representing Main Street community mortgage bankers. Founded in 2009, the CMLA is dedicated to providing a voice for the independent community based mortgage bankers. The CMLA is founded on the principal that a thriving independent mortgage banking sector increases competition in the industry and provides borrowers with greater choice resulting in lower costs and innovative products. For more information, visit www.thecmla.com, or call Kevin M. Cuff, Executive Director, 978.239.5612.

Contact:
Kevin M. Cuff at the CMLA, 978.239.5612
Rob Zimmer, Washington, DC 202.494.4551

SOURCE Community Mortgage Lenders of America