Below is a Letter to the Editor that MBA sent to The Wall Street Journal earlier this month in response to a baffling opinion article that criticized 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, including calling them “predatory” and a “scam.”

MBA will always promote and protect the benefits of 30-year mortgages and homeownership!

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To the Editor: 

I checked the date on my Journal after reading “The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages” (Oct. 8) to make sure it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke.

Calling the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage “predatory” and a “scam” is an attack on one of the core pillars of middle-class wealth creation and financial stability. The author grossly misrepresents a financial product that, for nearly three-quarters of a century, has helped tens of millions of families achieve the dream of homeownership, move up the economic ladder, and build lasting memories along the way.

America’s housing market is the envy of the world precisely because it’s accessible to consumers across a wide range of financial circumstances. The 30-year fixed mortgage provides unmatched stability, allowing homeowners to lock in consistent monthly payments and shield themselves from rate volatility – something renters simply don’t have. And I doubt the millions of Americans who refinanced into 3% mortgages during the pandemic feel “victimized” when they make their monthly payments.

The author also exaggerates the supposed “distortions” in the housing finance system. In reality, the federal backstop lowers costs, increases liquidity, and spreads risk more evenly. Without it, borrowing would become more expensive, and homeownership would be less attainable, especially for first-time and middle-income buyers.

Yes, affordability is a challenge, but that stems from a decade of housing supply-demand imbalances, not from the structure of mortgages themselves.

For millions of Americans, the 30-year fixed mortgage is the bridge from renting forever to building generational wealth. The real scam would be taking that opportunity away.

Sincerely,

Bob Broeksmit 
President and CEO
Mortgage Bankers Association
1919 M ST NW #5^th floor 20036
Washington, D.C.

The Trump Administration has signaled that it is prepared to take meaningful steps to alter the long-standing conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which has now entered its eighteenth year. One idea some have mentioned is the potential merger of the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), or their placement under common holding company ownership.

The second Trump Administration has been clear that it is committed to removing burdensome regulations, increasing supply, and finding ways to lower costs for consumers. 

And they are doing it fast. 

I was once again reminded of this a few weeks ago following Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte’s July 8^th directive to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) to adopt a modernized credit score, VantageScore 4.0. Director William J. Pulte’s decisive leadership and bold action has accelerated what had previously been a multi-year process under FHFA’s Alternative Credit Score Initiative.

Thanks to a new law the MBA shaped and championed for well over a year, thousands of veterans will again be able to avoid foreclosure on their homes during times of financial difficulty. 

On July 30, President Trump signed the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act into law. It restores the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) authority to offer partial claims, permitting veteran homeowners to move missed payments to the end of the loan term. 

Across the country, from Alaska to Florida people’s privacy, financial well-being, and even their livelihoods are under attack from a barrage of unwanted emails, texts, and phone solicitations at all hours of the day – simply because they made a query about obtaining a mortgage.

This must stop. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s top national legislative priority is protecting consumers from abuses related to “trigger leads.” We asked our members to share feedback from customers who were subject to a trigger lead solicitation. Here are some real-life examples of the hundreds of testimonials that illustrate the depth and scope of the problem.

Last week’s announcement of a proposed settlement in the real estate commission lawsuits has unleashed a torrent of questions about what real estate transactions might look like in the future – particularly how buyers would be represented and how buyers’ agents would be compensated.

The ink on the proposed settlement is barely dry, and the courts haven’t even considered it yet, but one thing seems certain – change is coming, and those who make their living in the real estate business are understandably on edge.