Consumers Want Simpler Borrowing Process. Good Luck With That.

Job well done regulators: A new survey by MortgageMatch shows that people think the mortgage process has gotten more confusing.

Heads up to consumers: it’s going to get worse in April when the entire industry’s compensation model is overhauled and new disclosures are rolled out. The former directly impacts the ability of loan agents to offer rate flexibility to consumers. The new compensation rules were sold to Congress by big banks as “consumer protection” because it says a rate can’t be quoted based on what the open market will pay for that loan once the bank goes to sell it. But that’s how money is priced, period. So nothing changes for the banks, they will still trade those closed loans like they always have, but they will set controls on the rates consumers will be quoted. In short, is a way for banks to make their rate pricing and loan trading more profitable but pretend that it’s ‘evil big government’ that’s making them do it. This is the latest in a string of “consumer protection” regulations of the past few years written by banks and sold to lawmakers with minimal market knowledge. More to come on this topic and what it means for consumer.