Bank of America stopped accepting new loan applications for residential mortgages from independent mortgage brokers on October 31st and will be out of the wholesale mortgage business by the end of the year. As you may recall Wells Fargo stopped accepting subprime loan applications from brokers this past summer and in all likelihood we will see more of the big players stop doing business with mortgage brokers going forward. This due primarily to the lack of regulatory compliance by independent mortgage brokers and the significant amount of material misrepresentations on loan applications and instances of mortgage fraud related to broker originated loans. Of course not all mortgage brokers are engaging in criminal activity however the bad apples in the industry tend to work for independent brokers because there is little or no compliance enforcement. Each time we hear an announcement of this nature it reinforces the importance of our affiliation with Wells Fargo. As mortgage bankers and not brokers we are in a unique position to help a greater number of home buyers and home owners with each day.
