re: It's Official - The Federal Reserve Raises Rate 1/4 Point (Discussion Thread)

There is absolutely no doubt. There are TONS of regulations on mortgage lenders buried within the Dodd-Frank Act, which have been conveniently been put into the marketplace piece by piece and rule by rule.

A couple of good examples are the Qualified Mortgage provisions commonly referred to as 'Ability to Repay' rules by the CFPB which require strict underwriting standards on lenders who wish to sell their mortgages on the secondary market to Fannie or Freddie.

Then you combine that with the new settlement procedures held within TRID and the restrictions placed on both lenders and title companies who are all critical pieces in the mortgage lending process.

OH

and Dodd-Frank has also placed restrictions on the earnings and compensation of mortgage brokers which takes away the incentives of the mortgage broker to stick their neck out and offer riskier loans

AND FINALLY

the result is that the big banks are gaining more power every day and there are less and less options for the consumer to shop for a loan. therefore, the restriction in options (see: open markets) decreases competition and therefore mortgage applications are DOWN and mortgage rates will continue to trend UP

When there are less FDIC chartered banks now than in the late 1800s - that should really tell you something

The Fed Rates have a little to do with the overall rate structure, but the mortgage world has a ton of implicating factors these days which go far beyond the Central Bank and the Fed Funds Rate

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