What Belinda is describing has already happened at least once before. Back when the refi boom was turning into a refi bust around the time of the financial crisis of 2008, this is exactly what happened. So what Belinda is describing isn't theory. Average fees used to be much higher.
I don't remember exactly when it was, but one of the first signs of a downward trend in fees was after XYZ jumped into the fray, holding training classes all over the place, pumping up the numbers of NSAs all across the country. What really made the first big impact, though, was when they published "recommended minimum fees", which they later had to back off from. By then it was too late. The rest is history.
In all fairness, though, they weren't the only ones who jumped onto that bandwagon and there were other factors that had an impact. However, those factors (like decreasing business volume, with simultaneously increasing numbers of NSAs), probably wouldn't have had as big an effect if so many people hadn't caved on fees.
|