The entire home loan industry has been taking critical hits from many directions over the last several months, although the bulk of the flak has been aimed at the subprime sector. Now that the real estate market is very soft in many parts of the country and foreclosure figures are rising at an unacceptable pace, somebody has to be blamed. That always happens. When the downslope comes around, the blame game begins. Sometimes it's justified, at other times it's not.

As a trade group, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers are taking important steps to improve their business practices and ethics. It wants to show the consumer that a broker does indeed provide him a valuable choice and is honest, reputable and service-oriented. It's working on creating a national registry that would include all mortgage originators. Individual brokers, loan officers working at banks, brokerage companies and direct lenders, everybody. With that would come accountability from top to bottom. It's really pushing the word accountability into the debate.

The plan would have a federal department run the registry and should a member operate beyond established rules, he would lose his license and be effectively banned from the industry. This would be a major boost to the industry's somewhat tarnished credibility. The other significant aspect is that it would consist of all originators, not just brokers. Let's wait and see how soon some of these excellent ideas come to fruition.

The NAMB is also developing its own brand to be used by mortgage brokers, similar to the Realtor designation. Once established qualified members would be known to the consumer as honest, knowledgeable and ethical. Under the same proposal it's drafting guidelines for new specialized professional certifications that would be helpful in marketing broker services to potential home buyers.

These are all positive steps for the trade group.