Congress, most specifically Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, have had their hands in banking so long they and so deep if anyone can have the blame laid at their feet for the industry crash it is they. Their insistence and relentless pursuit on allowing the "underserved markets" to have equal access to home mortgages back in the 90s led to wild west banking where anything went. They were able to gun down conservative opposition in the early to mid 2000s to which would have brought an earlier end to the way mortgage pools were rated and which people were granted access to loans.

Then, like now, any opposition to their free and open lending market resulted in us being called bigots, nazis and prejudiced. You know that is not true and I know that is not true but it's the level of intellect we are fighting against for the future of our industry and borrower's rights.

Now the real problem comes. Your very income - regardless of how difficult the loan is to get through processing and underwriting not because of fraud but because of, quite bluntly, disorganized applicants who have little or none of the documentation needed, union workers who work a dozen jobs in a year sometimes, and all the other reasons you know why loans can often takes literally weeks of man hours to close.

Note to readers: If all you can say is "well those people don't deserve a loan" then move on. I will delete your comment because that is absolute foolishness.

Most of the actions recently taken by Congress including the passage of the "Wall Street Reform Bill" are reckless and have endangered the American economy even further. More than half of their regulations will prohibit activities the banks no longer engage in. A great percentage of the new regulations will make it almost impossible for anyone borrowing less than $200,000 because no loan officer will want to mess with a loan that takes a week of their time to earn maybe $350. 

Congress is WRONG. You are not the problem loan officers. You've been too quiet while your very future has been obliterated. It is not too late. We have friends in Congress. This is the year you're going to need to make a vote based on business, history and numbers - not who makes empty promises while stealing your income and crippling the real estate industry. NAR is not going to fight for you. NAMB is weakened because of a drastic loss of membership. Other little groups are springing up here and there but they don't have a real voice in DC.

Join this free conference call for loan officers. The line is limited to 300 and it better be packed. This is your time to wake up your voice and get ready to send a message to the opponents of honest lending practices and those who blindly regulate a process they simply cannot comprehend.

IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING SPECIFIC YOU WOULD LIKE TO SAY you need to contact me now. Email me at http://kennycook.com/contact or call me at the number below.

It's not that you are going to lose it's that you have already lost. This fight now is to (a) wake up the industry to the adverse consequences of these foolish regulations and their cost to the industry (b) fight for borrower's rights to have access to home mortgages (c) go full bore with pressure on both Houses of Congress to reverse the insidious damages before they actually begin to hurt 35% of American borrowers.

Homework - READ THIS Sect 1401 of HR 4173 but don't just read the black and white on the page. Think about the consequences:

1. How lenders are going to protect themselves from violations of the compensation rules
2. How brokers will be compensated since the lender cannot know which loans are receiving higher fees
3. Unintended consequences to the borrower when there is no coverage of costs on lower loan amount
4. Where the maximum fees will impede free trade