Robert M. Couch Quoted in SNL Financial Regarding Credit Availability

Robert M. Couch was quoted in an SNL Financial article, which explores the gridlock in the accessibility to affordable credit in the housing market, even as the White House announced its plan to cut the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) mortgage insurance premium. One possible solution to this problem lies in the reconsideration of the 3% cap on points and fees required by the qualified mortgage standard (QM standard). The article explains that the QM standard offers lenders protection, and it allows lenders to exceed 3% on loans smaller than 100,000. “It's hard for a lender to make any money for loans $150,000 to $250,000,” said Couch.

In addition, in the wake of Occupy Wall Street, the RMBS Working Group at the Department of Justice has extracted billions in fines from some of the top lenders. The civil fines haven’t helped in solving the issue of credit availability, and the FHFA is working to introduce significant requirements to a bolstered new framework that would address lenders’ concerns.

“The lenders and investors I've talked to are taking a wait-and-see attitude,” Couch told SNL. “[The lenders] would like to make sure…that they mean what they say.”

Read the complete SNL Financial article, “Policymakers running out of tools to loosen credit.”