"It kept out some of the bad actors up and down the origination channel"
Non-qualified mortgage loans can be a double-edged sword for lenders. High margins go hand in hand with extreme volatility risk. However, Robert Senko, president of ACC Mortgage and a pioneer in the non-QM space, believes that with increased regulation in the non-QM space comes sensibility in the market.
“Back in 2007, when rules were put in place, I thought this was good. I thought it kept out some of the bad actors up and down the origination channel,” he told Mortgage Professional America in a recent interview. “There was a lot more discipline.”
Read more: Why are non-QM lenders getting into trouble?
Senko opened All Credit Considered Mortgage in 1999 with a mission to create solutions for borrowers ignored by traditional banks and lenders. Sticking to this goal allowed the company to weather the market challenges and grow its roots in the non-QM sector.
“I realized early on that even doing Fannie Mae traditional-rate mortgages had become very commoditized. It was hyper rate-sensitive and fee-sensitive,” Senko said. “So as great as a loan officer is, if someone was an eighth of a point better, they [clients] were going over there. There was no value put on the originator.
“So, when the [non-QM] market started to grow in 2019 and into early 2020, the product was real, and it was performing. Myself and my capital partners were committed to staying in this space. We were able to hit the ground running when the capital markets came back because we had expanded our sales and expanded our operation and were out front. We were able to navigate those difficult times and keep our heads about ourselves and keep our core philosophy and products.”
You can read Senko’s full interview here: A good loan puts people in a “better situation”
