The MReport Webcast: Monday 3/16/2015

Getting a mortgage is getting easier and markets are inching closer to pre-crisis levels, according to Zillow’s Mortgage Access Index. Now, many borrowers who last year may have only been eligible for Federal Housing Administration loans due to a low credit score or down payment are being offered conventional loans with private mortgage insurance, opening them up to options with more competitive terms and rates. Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries says lenders are opening their doors a bit wider, especially for borrowers with credit scores below 700.

Mortgage credit availability reached its peak in August 2004, recording an index score of 134.6. Access began to drop over the next several years. Then, in May 2007, both the housing and mortgage availability began a multiple year plunge, leaving home values down more than 22 percent and credit the tightest it had been in years. In September 2010, Zillow's index bottomed out at 9.6. Today, the index sits at 71.5, roughly two-thirds of the way back to the 2002 pre-crisis level of 100, and access to mortgage credit has improved significantly.

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions released a letter to the House Financial Services Committee voicing their support for the Community Lending Enhancement and Regulatory Relief Act of 2015 on Friday. The bill, which would provide the National Credit Union Association with more time to access the impact of the revised risk-based capital proposal on mortgage servicing assets, was introduced by a representative from Missouri earlier this month. The legislation would also waive escrow mandates for loans held in portfolio and increase the small servicer exemption threshold to 20,000 mortgages annually.