Quality Mortgage Service Survey Finds Credit Unions at the Top of Quality Control List

Unique survey sees nearly half of all credit union loans rated ?Excellent? October 20, 2010 (Franklin, Tenn.) -- Credit unions have been found to have the highest loan quality to date in 2010, based results of post-closing quality control audits performed by Quality Mortgage Services LLC, a national compliance solution provider based in Franklin, Tenn. ?Nearly 50% of credit union loans were rated as ?Excellent,? whereas 34% of bank loans were ranked ?Excellent? and non-bank loans 22% in the ?Excellent? category,? said Tommy Duncan, Executive Vice President of Quality Mortgage Services, of the survey findings. These loans were audited for federal regulatory audits, credit and collateral analysis, and mortgage fraud. Non-banks took the lead in the ?Good? ranking, where nearly 61% of the loans had minor loan defects, but were still very marketable on the secondary market. Banks ranked at 56% and credit unions came in ranked at 43%. For the credit unions to score so well in the ?Excellent? ranking, there was a noticeable difference in the credit scores and ratios. The average credit score coming from credit unions in 2010 was found to be 761, where in 2009, the average credit score was 772. Banks averaged a 755 credit score for 2010 and 2009. The non-bank credit score average was 737 for 2010 and 722 for 2009. Credit unions maintained a high credit score average of 761 for loans that ranked ?Good? in 2010, while banks and non-banks have an average credit score of 736 and 710, respectively, in the ?Good? category. When analyzing the percentile of pooled loans for purchase on the secondary market, credit unions and banks ran very close at 92.17% and 91.13%, respectively, of loans with low loan defects. Non-banks had 83.03% of mortgage loans with low loan defects, which is the same percentile for 2009. The credit union average back ratio is another measurement that has been found to set the credit union?s loan quality apart from the other lending institutions. The average back ratio for credit unions in the ?Excellent? category is currently 33%, where banks have an average of 36% and non-banks have a 35% average for back ratios. In the ?Good? category, credit unions still maintained the lead with an average of 34%, banks at 36% and non-banks had a 41% back ratio average. Credit union borrowers were found to be a financially stronger borrower based on the results of post-closing audits. Credit unions and banks came in very close in their average for potential repurchases. Credit unions had a 7.09% ranking in the ?Fair? category where loan defects may warrant a repurchase claim.