Seeking a higher Capitol Hill profile to counter big-bank lobbying power, independent mortgage banks have joined in recent days, forming two groups, the Community Mortgage Lenders of America and the Community Mortgage Banking Project. Scott Stern, CMLA chairman and CEO of independent mortgage bank cooperative Lenders One, said CMLA was launched Sept. 23 in response to attacks on community lenders by federal regulators, members of Congress and lobbyists—including those at large banks and at the American Bankers Association—who he said have unjustly painted independent mortgage lenders as having contributed to the mortgage crisis. “The intense scrutiny is unfair,” said… Read More