President's Message
Set Yourself Apart to Strengthen Your Business
April was a great month at the IMA. Last month, my message was about the success of the Spring Conference. A few weeks after that, we had a fantastic Mortgage Boot Camp for 40 mortgage professionals, many of them joining our industry less than 18 months ago. This was a strong showing and a great sign for our industry in Iowa. Providing education and resources to the next generation of rock stars in our business is a vital mission of our organization. A special thanks to Tim Lamb and David Horak for spearheading this boot camp once again as well as to Scott Warren, Megan Severson, Angela Lampert, Ronette Schlatter and Darcy Burnett for sharing their expertise.

I have talked in the past about the volatility we will be experiencing this year as well as finding a way to set yourself apart from your competition. Now is the time to bring all of that together. If you attended the conference and/or the boot camp, it is my hope that you took away a few ideas you can implement immediately to help strengthen your business. Maybe it is becoming a subject matter expert on a certain product or overcoming call reluctance. Maybe it is something completely unique to you. Whatever it may be, if you feel it can help you build a stronger network of people around you or help you grow personally or professionally, use this time to work on making it a part of your daily routine. If you did not attend the conference or the boot camp, identify an obstacle that you feel could be holding you back and work on solutions to minimize or eliminate the obstacle. If you are not sure where to start, reach out to someone in our organization and see if they have faced the same obstacle and what they did to overcome it. If you are hesitant, start with something small and then work to something bigger. I promise it will increase your efficiency and take away some stress. 
 
Here's to a productive month for all!

Chuck Simmons
Motto Mortgage
Association Updates
Nominees Sought for Mortgage Pro of the Year
The Iowa Mortgage Association will award the Mortgage Professional of the Year and Affiliate of the Year Awards at the 2022 IMA Fall Conference on Oct. 18. The awards recognize a distinguished mortgage professional from a financial institution and an outstanding associate member/affiliate partner. 

Nominees symbolize excellence in the following categories:
  • Represents themselves, their company and the industry with the highest standards of ethics and excellence
  • Demonstrates a continued commitment to community involvement
  • Has made a significant contribution to the mortgage industry
  • Is a member in good standing of the Iowa Mortgage Association 

The deadline to submit nominations is Aug. 19.
Industry News
Language Preference to Be Added to URLA
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will require lenders to use the Supplemental Consumer Information Form as part of the application process for loans that will be sold to them with application dates on or after March 1, 2023. The changes will require lenders to present the SCIF questions to borrowers and to report any data collected from the SCIF to the purchaser of the loan. Responses by borrowers to the preferred language question in the SCIF will remain voluntary. The purpose of the SCIF is to collect information about the borrower's language preference, if any, and on any homebuyer education or housing counseling the borrower received, so lenders can better understand borrower needs during the home buying process. Read the SCIF announcement.
HUD Updates SCRA Notice
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has updated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act notice with a new website address for the military legal assistance office locator. The updated notice, which reflects an expiration date of Nov. 30, 2024, and the Office of Management Budget Approval No. 2502-0584 can be found on the IBA website.
FFIEC Updates HMDA and CRA Resources
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council recently announced updates to its Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and Community Reinvestment Act resources. The updated 2022 A Guide to HMDA Reporting: Getting It Right! as well as the 2022 CRA Data Entry Software Release 1 are both now available.
Published by Iowa Mortgage Association.