Alabama Mortgage Professionals Association (AMPA) Awards Luncheon
Spencer Huey, President, Stephanie Martin, Treasurer, and Anna Batten, Executive Director, attended the March 13th Alabama Mortgage Professionals Association (AMPA) Awards Luncheon at Hoover Country Club. LTAAL is an associate member of this organization of Alabama mortgage brokers. Anna was able to speak to the group to introduce our new association and how we would like to become a partner in our common real estate industry. We were welcomed and felt it was a great start to a new partnership. Members of our association plan to attend the September 16th Super One Day Event as a luncheon sponsor at Hoover Country Club this fall.
Jeremy Windham, Loan Examinations Supervisor of the Bureau of Loans with the Alabama Banking Department spoke to the association. We sat at his table and enjoyed meeting him as well as hearing him speak. He explained how the state banking department is organized, the volume of mortgage loans closed per year, as well as some of the title-related items his team reviews when auditing mortgage brokers. He was very kind to send us a follow-up email with some of the details from his presentation which are set out below.
The State Banking Department has two divisions. The depository side charters banks and trust companies. The non-depository side (Bureau of Loans) licenses Finance Companies, Mortgage Lenders, Mortgage Brokers, Mortgage Loan Originators, Small Loan Finance Companies (under $1,500 loans), Pawnshops, and Payday Lenders. The current number of licenses under the Bureau of Loans is listed below:
Mortgage Lenders – 1,832
Mortgage Brokers – 441
Mortgage Loan Originators – 11,149 Active; 888 Inactive
Finance Companies (includes auto loans) – 766
Small Loan Companies – 686
Pawnshops – 589
Payday Loans – 295
The number of loans reflects the volume our mortgage licensees (mortgage lenders and brokers) closed in that given year. It does not include depository institutions mortgage loans (banks or credit unions); however, the percentage of volume decrease or increase year over year should be similar across the board since they are all competing in the same market.
Year Number of Loans
2023 43,755
2022 60,476
2021 106,874
2020 92,724
2019 53,963
When conducting examinations of our mortgage lenders and brokers his department reviews the loan files and checks the fees charged to the borrower for accuracy, amongst other things. Part of that exam includes reviewing the fees charged by title companies. They require their licensees to maintain an invoice from the title company for the fees they pass on to the borrowers. Any overcharges are required to be refunded by their licensee to the borrower. One of their frequent violations is the overcharging of recording fees. They know that this calculation can vary from county to county, but they hold the licensee responsible for verifying that the fees on the recorded mortgage match the fees on the closing disclosure. In some cases, the title company has reviewed and cut checks to the company after closing to cover the overcharge and the licensee simply provides evidence of that refund. That of course would resolve that violation.
