“Mortgage brokers were blamed for a crisis they did not create”

But uncertainty is always right around the corner, he suggested. “As a mortgage broker channel, we do not have control over our situation,” he said. “Things can still happen that will put us all out of business.”

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As proof, let’s go back to the Great Recession when brokers were cast as antagonists in a complex real-life drama where subprime mortgages were bundled and sold as securities by others. “In the fall of 2008, legislation started getting passed that changed the rules of the games in a way that mortgage brokers had lost before the game had even begun,” he said. “At that time, mortgage brokers went from 70% of the market to single digits within a matter of months. As a channel, we almost went extinct. In 2008, mortgage brokers were left holding the bag and blamed entirely for a crisis that we did not create.”

AIME’s PAC was created to avoid such scapegoating in the future and to protect the broker channel, he suggested. This is why it’s so important to bolster its coffers, he intimated.

“The maximum donation to the BACPAC is $5,000,” he said. “While I would hope that everybody who is able to give the full $5,000 would – I did, so did my wife – I understand that might not be the case with everybody. But it doesn’t have to be. Do you think the protection of our industry is worth $500 to you? Because if everyone in the room gave $500 to the BACPAC today, we would have an over-million PAC tomorrow, and we would be a force of nature in DC!” he growled, prompting applause from audience members. “That is an absolute fact!”