Emerging Markets

The Emerging Markets consumer is defined as "Low to Moderate Income" (LMI) and/or "Ethnic Minority" borrower. Within these definitions, the Emerging markets consumer may be further defined as Immigrant English Second Language (ESL) or high-income.

Emerging Market borrowers constitute a large market that, to date, still remains largely under-tapped and under-served. While mainstream America continued to enjoy the benefits of economic expansion in the late 1990s, LMI borrowers with unmet housing needs grew 23% from 1997 to 1999. While mainstream America has refinanced in record numbers at attractively low rates during 2001, access to mortgage money for the LMI and Ethnic Minority borrower has remained relatively costly and has frequently been tainted by the practices predatory lending. As James Baldwin put it, "It is expensive to be poor."

The fact of the matter is that while legislators have taken effective aim at predatory lending practices and while some headway in bridging the affordability gap has been made, much remains to be done in order to make the dream of affordable homeownership a reality for the majority of Emerging Markets consumers.

The good news is that major lenders and other industry leaders have begun to develop programs, products and services for the Emerging Markets. These sophisticated market participants have the vision to recognize that serving the Emerging Markets is not only the right thing to do, it can also be a risk adverse and profitable enterprise that eschews predatory lending tactics. ASG is committed to working with these industry partners when the occasion for outsourcing Emerging Market services arises.

ASG has the technical expertise, industry experience and vision to represent all the parties involved: the Emerging Markets consumer, the lender, the investor, as well as other market participants. ASG is dedicated to linking financial communities to people - to opening up financial communities for people.

ASG's principals have over 100 combined years experience in developing pass-through lending programs, emerging market lending, risk management, quality control modeling, retail and correspondent mortgage production and servicing, and MBS and whole loan trading and sales.

We work with lenders to analyze and maximize the marketing of pre-existing lending programs to Emerging Market consumers -- especially those who, due to cultural and/or language differences, may have limited knowledge of homeownership, including the financial requirements and responsibilities of the borrower to the lender.

ASG assists lenders in providing translations of marketing materials to reach and retain Hispanic and Asian borrowers, among many other ESL groups.

We work with lenders to provide homeownership education and credit counseling to Emerging Markets first-time home buyers. ASG uses trainers who are experienced mortgage professionals, multi-lingual and culturally competent.

If the lender intends to use its own staff to deliver consumer education to Emerging markets consumers, then ASG will work with the lender's staff to train the trainer.

We offer homeownership education and credit counseling to denied borrowers. We help them remedy their credit issues and assist them in becoming mortgage ready. It is ASG's goal to return the pre-qualified consumer back to the originating lender, which, in turn, assists the lender by reducing the denial rate and helping to prevent early loan default.

Finally, ASG assists lenders in complying with CRA reporting requirements, including those imposed by the Sunshine Provisions of the Federal Modernization Act.

Working with ASG with respect to your Emerging Markets homeownership education, marketing, translation and staff training needs, will, in most cases, help you to increase your production, improve your customer satisfaction ratings, and retain your servicing. Furthermore, the underlying security will most likely be in the neighborhoods that you serve, which will help you to better meet your CRA requirements.