The International Association of Field Service Technicians (IAFST) is gearing up to deliver official correspondence to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) pertaining to recent price increases to Prime Vendors this week. The backbone of the price hikes were based upon documents submitted by both the IAFST and the National Association of Mortgage Field Services (NAMFS). And while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have temporarily increased their pricing and HUD permanently increased its pricing on a plethora of line items, none of this money is making its way to Labor and is held only by Prime Vendors and Order Mills alike. Even NAMFS itself states that one reason for Labor leaving is, Moving to industries with fair wages and less risk — located on Page 8 of the Gatehouse – NAMFS report. There is no argument that the hundreds of millions of dollars pumped into the Prime Vendors and Order Mills were based upon statements such as these, from NAMFS, and blatantly relied upon Labor’s needs of pricing increase, not that of Management,
We know there is financial pain as yet another Prime Vendor is shopping their sale. And in the same week, two Order Mills have begun short paying Labor and one has gone out of business — all in the same week. The reality is that while the IAFST will continue to represent its Membership in the Industry, they have been moving in the direction of public and private label contracting. The reality is that no matter how rosy Prime Vendors spin the story of future volumes on the horizon, they are not coming. And while some things might be changed in the Industry, the reality is that it will unlikely impact the overall iron grip of corruption that holds sway. The IAFST appears to realize this as it works towards extricating its Membership from the Industry and re-deploying they and future Membership upon far higher paying contracts.
