The day Kimber White became president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) was supposed to be a day of unchecked optimism. Instead, that was Oct. 1, the day the federal government came to a crashing halt in its first shutdown since 2019.
But White knows a thing or two about difficult timing. The last time he took the reins as NAMB chief was in October 2020, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I took over as the COVID president, and now, my first day of the presidency was the government shutdown. Yeah, I’m batting a thousand,” White says with a good-natured laugh.
And White, who succeeds NAMB stalwart Jim Nabors as president, also views adversity as an opportunity to have conversations that lead to meaningful change.
When White spoke with Scotsman Guide, he was in South Carolina, preparing to attend a retreat hosted by Tim Scott, the Republican senator who worked across the aisle with Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts, to co-sponsor the ROAD to Housing Act.
That sweeping bipartisan package, which aims to expand housing supply and address the affordable housing crisis, was included in an omnibus funding bill that passed in the Senate on Oct. 9.
Housing affordability is a key issue for White during his second term as NAMB president. He thinks the current affordability gap is the widest it’s been in his 39 years in the mortgage industry.
“Special purpose loans were not targeted properly,” White cites as one reason for the affordability crisis. “I think there needs to be loan incentives for everyone. I think that’s something NAMB can work on.”
Elaborating on that concept, White proposes that “we have to have programs that don’t just target a specific audience.”
“The average American is making between 100% to 120% of the AMI [area median income],” White says. “And what ends up happening, all the programs that have been targeted were either special purpose programs for under 80% AMI or low-income housing grants that are gotten from the counties. There’s been nothing for the average borrower from 100% to 120%.”
Flood insurance reforms
One of the biggest challenges for mortgage originators and borrowers during the ongoing government shutdown is the delay in applications for home purchases in flood-prone markets.
Funding for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) lapsed on Sept. 30, meaning no new NFIP policies can be written and existing policies will not be renewed for that government-backed program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The National Association of Realtors estimates the NFIP funding gap jeopardizes 1,300 property sales a day.
White, who served on a NAMB flood insurance task force in 2018, hopes the increased focus on flood insurance solutions in the short term will spur long-term reforms.
“We can’t just keep kicking the can down the road and funding NFIP,” White says. “Give incentives to build hurricane-proof [homes]. Give incentives to build on higher ground. There’s got to be a conversation with incentives and incentivizing people. Because without that, all we’re doing is throwing money into a dark hole.”
Credit report costs
The week before White’s interview with Scotsman Guide, FICO made waves with its announcement of a direct license program that allows tri-merge resellers to calculate and distribute FICO scores directly to lenders. In essence, it lets those mortgage credit specialists bypass the credit bureaus by purchasing FICO scores directly from FICO.
FICO, whose legal name is Fair Isaac Corp., positioned the move as a way for lenders and borrowers to save money by cutting out the middlemen. But the credit bureaus pushed back, claiming it will actually increase costs.
White says he’d like to receive more specifics from FICO on how the program will be implemented, but his initial take is that it will end up being roughly the same net cost, with the elimination of credit bureau markups offset by increased fees on the front end.
When asked how credit report costs can be meaningfully reduced for consumers, White had a succinct response: “Single-bureau reports.”
Instead of the current tri-bureau industry standard, which uses mortgage credit risk data from all three of the major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — White proposes reducing the requirement to data from just one bureau.
“It is absolutely ridiculous when I see three reporting agencies and I see the same credit from the same people and they can go as much as a 50-point difference,” White says.
He also thinks variations in credit scores are overemphasized when assessing mortgage credit risk and loan-level pricing adjustments that increase the costs of mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“If you have someone that has a 760 credit score and someone that has a 785 credit score, you know what? There isn’t that much more of a risk,” White says.
‘A serving heart’
Besides advocacy work for NAMB’s legislative priorities, a key component of White’s role as association president is professional development of mortgage brokers still finding their niche in the industry.
To that end, the association recently launched Elevate, a free mentorship and certification program that connects mentees with industry veterans through one-on-one coaching sessions, monthly group activities and other guidance.
“I think that a lot of people are falling through the cracks and we’re losing quality loan originators for lack of education,” White says. “What can we do to help further your business and help you get educated? This is what the mentoring program is about — and to bring younger people in and sustain the people that are there.”
Another educational opportunity for brokers is NAMB National, the association’s annual four-day tentpole event, which begins Friday in Las Vegas.
This year, White expects over 2,000 attendees with more than 125 vendors and numerous keynote speakers. It’s the capstone to a busy first three weeks on the job for the new NAMB president.
How does he find time to balance his NAMB duties with co-leading his own brokerage business? “I sleep about five hours a night,” White laughs, before turning more reflective.
“I’m 66. At my age, I’m not doing it because of my ego or because I have to,” he says. “I’ve been president once. I wanted to come back. I wanted to have initiatives. I want to give back to an industry that has given so much to me. And I have a passion. I have a serving heart.”
