SAN FRANCISCO - There's more to published credit union mortgage origination numbers than meets the eye, at least that's what CMG Mortgage Insurance Company says. According to Callahan & Associates data, in 1999 credit union mortgage originations were slightly less than in 1998. In 1998, CUs originated $31.9 billion worth of mortgages and the total market volume was $1.4 trillion. In 1999, overall mortgage origination volume dropped to $1.2 trillion and CUs' market share fell to about $28 billion. What these figures don't show though, says CMG Mortgage Insurance, is that through the use of strategic partners, credit unions may have originated more loans than the Callahan data indicates. According to CMG Mortgage, the $28 billion 1999 figure takes into account all direct credit union originations. Since loans originated by strategic partners are not reflected as being originated by a specific credit union, many of the loans originated by credit unions through their strategic partners is recorded on a national level, but not at the credit union level. Although much of the origination volume from credit union strategic partners such as CUSOs show up in the overall credit union mortgage market numbers, credit union originations done through other strategic partners does not, even though these companies allow credit unions to provide mortgage lending services to their members without incurring the labor and costs involved in running a complete back office mortgage lending operation themselves. Jim McCourt, senior vice president of CMG explained that, "Organizations such as these are critical in helping credit unions originate more mortgage loans.. they provide access to products, programs, and the secondary mortgage market that would otherwise be unavailable to some credit unions...becoming a member's mortgage provider is vital to becoming their Primary Financial Institution." CMG estimates credit unions may have accounted for as much as 3.3% of the total mortgage loan origination market in 1999, with an estimated additional $15 billion worth of mortgage originations being sent to aggregators and strategic partners. CMG Mortgage Insurance Company is a joint venture between CUNA Mutual Group and PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. -
ekingoff@cutimes.com
