Seat at the table secured, NAMB is ‘bringing more’ in the year ahead

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) will experience a changing of the guard Thursday, with Kimber White stepping down as president and Michael Farrell stepping in to lead the group for the next 365 days.

Looking back on his year in the association’s top role, White stresses the importance of NAMB “having a seat at the table” as matters impacting the consumer homebuying experience and future homeowner affordability were debated at the highest levels of government.

“We earned that seat at the table. We showed up, we were there. We showed what the industry needed,” White tells Scotsman Guide during a video call. “And we got out there: Who is NAMB.”

ROAD work

NAMB is a nonprofit, volunteer-led organization founded in 1973. According to its website, it represents the interests of more than 533,500 loan originators and 47,800 mortgage brokerages and lenders.

Legislative issues debated around the tables of Capitol Hill during White’s term as NAMB president included the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a behemoth of a bill whose nearly 60 sections across 140 pages lay out provisions to modernize federal housing programs, improve homebuying affordability and increase housing supply. It became law on July 11, following months of advocacy work by industry trade groups, including NAMB.

Both White and Farrell emphasize the words “continuity” and “consistency” in their approach to the leadership transition and NAMB’s work to ensure provisions of the ROAD Act become practical industry policies.

“It doesn’t stop with my presidency or Mike’s presidency,” White says. “The 21st Century Housing Act is years [of work]. It’s a long process. And there’s more things that need to be done.”

Farrell, an Ohio-based executive at TotalChoice Mortgage, joined NAMB in 2022. He highlights affordable housing supply — particularly manufactured housing — as an area of emphasis for NAMB’s advocacy and education efforts.

“That’s where NAMB can be engaged with not only educating our members, our originators, but also that then educates the consumer and educates the Realtors as to what those products and availabilities are for that unique type of housing,” Farrell says.

He also praises provisions in the bill that eliminate the requirement for expensive steel chassis on manufactured homes and increase the limits for manufactured housing loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

“If you look at the first-time buyers, and the age of the first-time buyers, it’s not an issue of willingness to buy. It’s a confidence in the payment,” Farrell observes. “And now you’ve got a product that’s coming out that’s going to be in a controlled environment and more efficiencies to produce at a lower price point. That’s definitely helping the appeal for people going from renting to homeownership.”

LO comp reform

One of the provisions of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act requires the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to submit a report to Congress within 270 days of the bill’s enactment on potential changes to loan originator compensation regulations, which were initially codified by the bureau in 2013.

NAMB has long called for reforms to the so-called LO comp rule, which in broad terms restricts how loan originators can be compensated, generally limiting it to a fixed percentage of the loan amount. In a position statement from 2025, NAMB argued that originators should be able to voluntarily lower their compensation to match a competitive loan offer.

LO comp reform talks stalled last year amid a push by Acting CFPB Director Russell Vought to dismantle the agency. But following a series of legal setbacks, the bureau now appears poised to assume a permanent director, with Brian Johnson’s nomination advancing through the Senate committee stage earlier this month.

“We need the CFPB,” White says, noting that NAMB has had three unproductive meetings with the bureau thus far this year. “It went from far-left pendulum to far-right pendulum. There was a lot of overregulation and now there was no regulation. And both are bad.”

Farrell agrees, welcoming the return of the CFPB from “inactive status.”

“We’re excited about the activity and the engagement and having a director reengaged that we can interact with,” he says.

NAMB National

While Farrell will officially assume the presidency on Oct. 1, the handoff will be celebrated two weeks later at NAMB National, the group’s annual conference. The four-day event, being held Oct. 16-19 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, will also see Lauren Patterson installed as president-elect after serving as the association’s government affairs chair for the past three years.

The Saturday keynote event will feature a presentation by Barry Habib, a Fannie Mae board member and CEO of MBS Highway famed for predicting the market carnage of 2020 that followed the Federal Reserve’s pandemic-era mortgage-backed securities buying spree.

Asked what’s new at NAMB National this year, Farrell is guarded in his response, not wanting to spoil the surprise. But he does tease that the association will launch a program that will be a “daily resource” for loan originators.

“I’m going to say this: NAMB is bringing more,” he offers with a smile.