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Brokerage

According to a 2004 study by Wholesale Access Mortgage Research & Consulting, Inc., there are approximately 53,000 mortgage brokerage companies that employ an estimated 418,700 employees and originate 68% of all residential loans in the USA and CANADA The remaining 32% is retail done through the lender's retail channel, which means the lender does not go through a broker.

The mortgage broker industry is regulated by 10 federal laws, five federal enforcement agencies and over 49 state laws or licensing boards.

The banks have used brokers to outsource the job of finding and qualifying borrowers, and also to outsource some of the liabilities for fraud and foreclosure onto the originators through legal agreements.

Difference between a mortgage broker and a loan officer

A mortgage broker works as a conduit between the buyer and the lender, the loan officer typically works directly for the lender. Most states require the mortgage broker to be licensed. States regulate lending practice and licensing, but the rules vary. Most have a license for those who wish to be a "Broker Associate", a "Brokerage Business", and a "Direct Lender".

A mortgage broker is normally registered with the state, and personally liable (punishable by revocation or prison) for fraud for the life of a loan. A loan officer works under the umbrella license of their current institution. Both positions have legal, moral, and professional responsibilities as well as liabilities to prevent fraud and fully disclose loan terms to both consumer and lender.

Typically, a mortgage broker will make more money per loan than a loan officer, but a loan officer can utilize the referral network available from the lending institution to sell more loans. There are mortgage brokers and loan officers at all levels of experience.

Industry competitiveness

A large segment of the mortgage finance industry is commission based. Potential clients can compare a lender's loan terms to those of others through advertisements or internet quotes.

In the 1970s, mortgage brokers did not have access to wholesale markets, unlike traditional bankers. Today, mortgage brokers are more competitive with their access to wholesale capital markets and pricing discounts. A mortgage broker has lower overhead costs compared to large and expensive banking operations because of their small structure. They can lower rates instantly to compete for clients. On the other hand, larger companies are less competitive since they provide their sales representatives their fixed rate sheets. Loan officers often cannot reduce their companies' profit margin and may be higher or lower than the marketplace, depending on the decision of managers. Thus, mortgage brokers have gained between 60 to 70% of the marketplace.

Mortgage brokers can obtain loan approvals from the largest secondary wholesale market lenders in the country. For example, Fannie Mae may issue a loan approval to a client through its mortgage broker, which can then be assigned to any of a number of mortgage bankers on the approved list. The broker will often compare rates for that day. The broker will then assign the loan to a designated licensed lender based on their pricing and closing speed. The lender may close the loan and service the loan. They may either fund it permanently or temporarily with a warehouse line of credit prior to selling it into a larger lending pool.

The difference between the "Broker" and "Banker" is the banker's ability to use a short term credit line (known as a warehouse line) to fund the loan until they can sell the loan to the secondary market. Then they repay their warehouse lender, and obtain a profit on the sale of the loan. The borrower will often get a letter notifying them their lender has sold or transferred the loan. Bankers who sell most of their loans and do not actually service them are in some jurisdictions required to notify the client in writing. For example New York State regulations require a non servicing "banker" to disclose the exact percentage of loans actually funded and serviced as opposed to sold/brokered.

Brokers must also disclose Yield spread premium while Bankers do not. This has created an ambiguous and difficult identification of the true cost to obtain a mortgage. The stricter Broker disclosure requirements, especially the Good Faith Estimate, can often create the illusion that they are charging more to obtain the exact same mortgage when compared to a Banker, when in fact they may cost the same or the Brokers offer may even be less costly. This topic has been hotly debated on Capitol Hill and state level judiciary committees.