Marc Savitt, immediate past president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB), along with Frank Garay and Brian Stevens (co-creators of Think Big Work Small) and a contingent of 20-plus mortgage brokers and appraisers, visited the New York City offices of New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to hand deliver 35 boxes worth of anti-Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) petitions containing 120,000-plus signatures from both mortgage industry professionals and consumers. The 120,000-plus signatures represented an across-the-board reaction from both consumers and the mortgage industry that the HVCC has been detrimental to the homebuying process and should be ceased immediately.
Savitt and his group ventured to Cuomo's Manhattan office on Broadway and met with Benjamin Lawsky, Deputy Counselor and Special Assistant for the New York Office of the Attorney General. CNBC was on hand to cover the delivery by Savitt and his group.
Earlier in the day, Savitt appeared on Fox News in a three-and-a-half-minute segment where he dissected the ill effects of the HVCC since its implementation. To view Savitt's appearance on Fox News, click here.
During Savitt's meeting with Lawsky, he presented a report by Interthinx that stated mortgage fraud in property valuation increased 25 percent from the second quarter of 2009 to the third quarter of '09, an overall increase of 46 percent from the previous year. The Interthinx report contradicted reports given to the New York Office of the Attorney General from the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that stated fraud was on the decline. The Interthinx report also forecasts that the predominant type of fraud will continue to be related to property valuation in the future, as consumers take advantage of low interest rates and try to refinance despite lower equities in their properties.
"We made progress in the discussion and will be meeting again after the holidays," said Savitt.
For updates to NAMB's fight against the HVCC, visit NAMB's HVCC Resource Center.
