CitiGroup announced that they will exit the mortgage broker business. JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America have already pulled out.
How ironic that the one major bank still working with brokers is a bank that never offered an Option ARM loan. Wells Fargo originates 1 out of every 4 mortgages in the U.S., has a market cap greater than any other bank in the United States, and never blamed mortgage brokers for the credit crisis.
Possibly it's because Wells Fargo knows that no broker ever devised a loan program, no broker ever approved a loan application and no broker ever packaged a bad loan with a portfolio of good loans. That was all compliments of the banks and Wall St. yet brokers played the fall guy for the crisis even though they were never anything other than salespeople for the banks.
And dare I say it, even more ironic is the fact that while mortgage brokers are now required to complete an initial 20 hours of training, passing an exam not to mention an additional 8 - 11 hours of continuing education annually, bank loan officers are completely exempt from these requirements. It seems that eliminating consumer choice in the name of "protection for the common good" is the new American way.
How very sad.
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