Mortgage bankers associations from five New England states are considering consolidating their services, expenses and infrastructures to remain effective in the face of industry-wide contraction.

The mortgage industry has contracted rapidly in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis, and reduced membership has sharply reduced revenue for the associations. That market climate has led the associations to consider any cost-saving measure.

At a yearly leadership conference on Mar. 19, association leadership from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island spent the afternoon in early talks about what a New England Mortgage Bankers Association would look like. Maine would also be included in a regional association, but its association’s leadership did not attend the meeting.

“It’s all about the members,” said Margaret Malette, executive director of Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Association of New Hampshire, Inc. “The world has changed, obviously. The mortgage finance industry has changed significantly, and the associations need to evolve.”

Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association (MMBA) Chairman Charles Nilsen said the five associations all have some shared broker and lender membership, as well as common affiliate members, like mortgage insurers, title insurance companies, lawyers, or credit companies.

“We think we can bring greater value to our affiliate members by coalescing our lender members,” Nilsen said.

MMBA Executive Director Kevin Cuff said a consolidated model could offer the other associations savings in three areas: education and training, ethics and compliance, and loan officer licensing.

“We believe there is a consolidation of services that we can offer that we in Massachusetts have developed that we could offer to other states so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Cuff said.

Education Central

The meeting was fittingly held at the MMBA’s education center in Burlington, where the association has been holding centralized programming for four years.

Malette said especially now that continuing education is a requirement for licensing, education and training would be the area where cooperation brought the greatest cost savings.

“I think that we can really capitalize on the education aspect,” Malette said. “With all of us getting together as one educational provider to offer this, we’ll have the best resources, we’ll have wonderful instructors … We can probably undercut [the for-profit education companies’] costs, which means we can offer education to our members at a better rate.”

For associate members, a consolidated model would offer one central association with which to advertise and broadcast their services. One association could also better coordinate its own lobbying and advertising efforts.

It’s Early Yet

Cuff, Nilsen and Malette stressed that talks about consolidation were in the earliest stages.

“We began to open the door on that, to see what the benefits may be, and what some of the challenges are, too,” Nilsen said. “It’s a first step. It’s an important first step, but certainly [just] that.”

Malette said the associations stressed the importance of keeping a local associations or chapter to best serve each state’s members.

“We want to make sure that we will ensure that each of the state association will represent their state members and their unique issues, and that it will still have that local feel,” she said.

Cuff said any discussions about the most efficient way to serve the mortgage industry should be considered positive steps

“This is a positive for the industry, and our association is reflecting what the industry is doing,” Cuff said. “We want to control the industry’s behavior, in its entirety.”

Vermont’s association declined to be part of any consolidation, Cuff said.