President's Message
Invest in Yourself This Spring
Even though the temperatures are not reflecting it quite yet, spring is upon us and so is buying season. I know personally I am looking forward to the increase in active clients looking to buy their dream home. 

As I am writing this, I am sitting in my hotel room in Las Vegas where I am attending a Momentum Builders conference. I cannot wait to come back to share a few of the nuggets of information that I have gained from 21 great leaders in our industry talking about different topics.

For example, Barry Habib of MBS Highway offered this tip. Habib was looking forward at the market and how the rate sheets will look. One of the biggest indicators of our mortgage rate sheet is the Consumer Price Index which comes out monthly. The last 12 months of the CPI number is added together and this is how the inflation rate is determined, however, the true indicator is the Core Consumer Price Index. The May 10 Fed meeting is the day the May 2022 number will drop off and stable out for the next three months. 

This is awesome news looking forward to the 2023 buying season heating up. Education is such a great part of our business to share with our clients, gaining camaraderie. The energy that you can get from these things can last for several months and ultimately make yourself the best version of you in your business. I have always invested in myself by attending national and local conferences and feel this has elevated myself personally and professionally. We are getting ready for the IMA Spring Conference in Iowa City in a couple months, and I am looking forward to seeing all of you there. If you have not yet registered, please take a moment to do so. Invest in yourself!

Jen Coyle
First Branch Home Loans
Association Updates
Register Now for IMA Spring Conference
Mark the dates for the IMA's upcoming spring conference on April 4 in Coralville. This year’s event includes session on mortgage sales in a challenging environment, fintech and apps in the mortgage world, working through times of change, and more. The Spring Conference will also feature an exhibit hall and the popular mortgage production awards. Learn more.
Presidents Club and Winners Circle Awards
The Iowa Mortgage Association's Winner’s Circle and President’s Club is an ongoing recognition program that recognizes outstanding mortgage loan production for 2022. Entries must be submitted by March 8. All members of the 2022 Winner’s Circle and President’s Club will be honored individually with awards at the IMA Spring Conference on April 4.

Recognition Levels and Additional Awards
  • Top producers (minimum loan origination eligibility is $15 million or 100 units of residential loan volume in 2022 for Winner’s Circle and $20 million or 130 units of residential loan volume in 2022 for President’s Club.)
  • Top total volume production from lender at a bank, credit union and mortgage company.
Industry News
HMDA Loan Origination Threshold Guidance
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council regulatory agencies have each issued guidance to institutions they supervise impacted by the September 2022 court decision that vacated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s 2020 HMDA rule resulting in the closed-end mortgage loan reporting threshold decreasing from 100 down to 25 originations in each of the two preceding years. Each of the agency statements essentially reflected earlier guidance provided by the CFPB, indicating institutions that originated at least 25 closed-end mortgage loans in each of the two preceding calendar years, as well as meet the other institutional coverage criteria, will need to make adjustments to policies and procedures to begin to comply with data collection and reporting obligations in 2023. The guidance also acknowledges these changes may require time to implement. Each of the agencies also confirmed they do not intend to assess penalties for failures to report closed-end mortgage loan data on reportable transactions conducted in 2022, 2021 or 2020 for affected institutions that meet Regulation C’s other coverage requirements.

Given the change in the reporting threshold, many institutions have questioned when collection and reporting must begin, with special concern for applications received in 2022 for which some data may not have been collected and final action is taken in 2023. The FDIC FIL-06-2023 directly addresses the subject. It states, “Institutions affected by the court’s order, and that meet the reporting thresholds of 25 closed-end mortgage loans in each of the two preceding calendar years as of 2023, should start collecting data in 2023 and reporting data in 2024.” OCC Bulletin 2023-5 provides, “Collection and submission of 2023 HMDA data will provide affected banks with an opportunity to identify gaps in and make improvements to their HMDA compliance management systems.” Federal Reserve CA-23-1 does not address the topic. The NCAU 23-RA-01 indicates, “The NCUA intends to take a flexible supervisory and enforcement approach similar to the approach being taken by the CFPB, as communicated in its Dec. 6, 2022 CFPB Blog post.”

Institutions with questions related to their reporting obligations should contact their federal prudential regulator.
Published by Iowa Mortgage Association.