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A sweeping set of mortgage rules that primarily target underwriting standards is due to take effect on Friday, but lenders, regulators and market experts remain unsure exactly what their impact will be.
January 9 -
The qualified-mortgage rule, reduced refi activity and ongoing commoditization are forcing smaller institutions to take a hard look at exiting the mortgage origination business.
January 9 -
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could consider expanding exemptions for small lenders from its qualified mortgage rule after it goes into effect on Friday, according to Richard Cordray, the agency's director.
January 7 -
Despite the risks, lenders have calculated that certain loans that fall outside of QM are worth making and holding on their balance sheets.
January 7
Self-employed individuals and small-business owners may not meet the requirements of new mortgage rules that went into effect Friday and could face hurdles obtaining new home loans.
As banks and mortgage lenders parse the requirements of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's ultra-safe "qualified mortgage" rule, they are finding that self-employed borrowers typically fall outside the definition of QM. The self-employed and sole proprietors of small businesses, from plumbers to interior decorators to caterers, may have the hardest time proving their income from bonuses or commissions, and may have high debt-to-income ratios because they typically list the lowest possible income on their tax returns.
Industry experts say some banks will be leery about originating loans to the self-employed out of fear they will be unable to document the borrower's ability to repay. They also may be reluctant to make loans to these folks because, either due to the new rules or the loan amount, such loans cannot be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
But some lenders say they will continue lending to self-employed borrowers because, if they don't, someone else surely will. In most cases, they plan to make non-QM loans to these borrowers and then keep them on their balance sheets.
"What you are going to find is lenders will tread lightly into the non-QM world," says Matthew Clarke, the chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Churchill Mortgage in Nashville, Tenn. "We do believe there are good risks."
Under the new mortgage rules, borrowers must have a debt-to-income ratio of less than 43% to be considered a "qualified mortgage," which gives lenders the greatest protection from lawsuits. Loans that fall outside the new rules are considered non-QM and have fewer legal protections.
Robert Messer, the chief financial officer at the $2 billion-asset American National Bank of Texas in Dallas, says that his bank will continue lending to self-employed individuals and small-business owners because they are generally good borrowers even if their income stream is erratic. He gave an example of a factory owner whose adult son wanted to buy a house but could not qualify for a home loan on his own. He would make the loan, he says, because the father, a longtime customer, has enough assets to ensure the ability to repay it.
"We talked about only doing QM loans and we decided within eight minutes that we are going to do non-QM loans," he says. He adds that roughly 11% of the loans his bank originated last year would not meet the QM definition this year
There are roughly 9.2 million self-employed workers in the U.S., representing more than 6% of the American work force, according to
Many self-employed borrowers in high-cost states like California must obtain a jumbo mortgage, which exceeds
Joe Thomas, a managing director at Hovde Private Equity Advisors, who is chairman of the $440 million-asset Bay Bancorp (BYBK) in Lutherville, Md., says some community banks are going to originate non-QM loans simply they need the assets in what is fiercely competitive lending environment.
"Because we're trying to differentiate ourselves with owner-managed businesses, we'll bring in a mortgage banker to originate a non-QM loan that is higher balance, and perhaps not in complete compliance with QM underwriting requirements," Thomas says. "This is a relationship strategy."
For now, most banks looking to generate more net interest income are sticking with
Competition for non-QM loans could heat up this year as lenders grapple with a shrinking home purchase market. The Mortgage Bankers Association,
"I do think we're heading into a difficult environment in 2014 with the cost of doing business up and overall volumes coming down, so there is pressure," says Tom Wind, an executive vice president and head of home lending at $17.6 billion-asset EverBank Financial (EVER) in Jacksonville, Fla. "The home purchase market just isn't going to replace the amount of refinancing volume from last year."
EverBank also plans to originate non-QM loans mainly for high credit quality borrowers even if they have high debt-to-income levels or other circumstances in which their income has been reduced.
"People who do have significant assets or have down-sized in their career, we have the ability to do a calculation to dissipate their assets over the life of the loan and use that to qualify them," Wind says.
American National's Messer says that once the anxiety over QM subsides, many banks will recognize that non-QM loans, properly underwritten, are worth making. And if they don't, banks like his will be more than ready to steal their mortgage customers -- and cross-sell them more products and services.
"The unintended consequence of the QM rule is there will be some individuals who merit owning a home and they will not be able to buy one because they don't fit the box," he says. "If a borrower is with a bank that will only do a QM, and we do their mortgage, shame on us if we can't get the rest of their business."
