While Congress continues to get paid to not work, mortgage brokers work to help furloughed workers, rural borrowers
After some government officials expressed some cautious optimism earlier in the week about an end to the government shutdown, some of that optimism has faded a bit at week’s end.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said he was less optimistic than he was on Wednesday, speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
For mortgage brokers, it means continuing to work through the challenges of the ongoing shutdown.
For some brokers working with rural customers, it means being unable to close USDA-backed loans until the government reopens. For those counting on reasonably priced government flood insurance, it might mean seeking more expensive private insurance.
And for others, like Michael Weber, president and owner of Weber Mortgage, it means helping government workers who are trying to get loans closed while furloughed.
“So the places that we’re most impacted are when we have government employees that are trying to move forward, and how we deal with getting them qualified more,” Weber told Mortgage Professional America. “So it’s more about the person being a government employee for us than it has been how it’s affected those governmental branches that have seen a change in response times due to the government shutdown.”
A growing frustration
Weber said one of the things that has helped keep loans moving during the shutdown is that he has a wide range of loan products at his disposal, giving him options for borrowers.
“We’re fortunate that, A, as a broker, we have a ton of different programs out there,” Weber said. “And B, the type of folks that we deal with tend to be more Fannie, Freddie, conventional lending, jumbo lending. We certainly do some VA loans.”
He said that while he doesn’t do many USDA loans, he knows other brokers who rely on them for rural and lower-income borrowers. There’s growing frustration among brokers and customers over the ongoing shutdown.
“We don’t do a ton of USDA stuff, so we really haven’t had instances where that’s been a problem to this point,” Weber said. “I do have friends who have. I’m in several broker groups that communicate, and they've certainly expressed frustrations and anxieties over those items, but we haven’t at our shop.”
Melissa Cohn, regional vice president of William Raveis Mortgage, said the longer the shutdown goes on, the more likely the impacts will get worse for those getting FHA and VA loans as well.
“Think about the delays with FHA and VA, with them operating on a skeleton staff,” Cohn told Mortgage Professional America. “I told people two weeks ago, if you have a buyer who's looking for FHA and VA, I said you need to add 30 days to your closing date. Well, the longer this shutdown remains, the bigger the backlog and the slower the whole process will be.”
Shutdown impacts
As the shutdown continues, the impacts on both local brokers and the larger economy are likely to increase.
Gary Cohn, former director of the National Economic Council under President Donald Trump during his first term, is the current vice chairman of IBM. He spoke at the Mortgage Bankers Association annual event in Las Vegas.
Cohn said that while so many of the challenges to the economy, like the shutdown and tariffs, might not have had a huge impact yet, if they continue, they almost certainly will.
“We understand some of the issues that are out in the economic environment today,” Cohn said. “They could change quickly. You know, the whole government shutdown issue so far has had no effect. The whole tariff issue has so far had no effect. The whole government deficit spending issue has had no effect. I think each of us put to ourselves would tell you, it's impossible to go on forever and have each of these issues have no effect.”
Kimber White of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers highlights growing strain on housing markets as the US government shutdown stalls USDA loans and disrupts flood insurance. He warns extended delays could have lasting financial repercussions.https://t.co/tbW0ZpMC5J
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) November 5, 2025
Lawrence Summers, former Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, and former director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama, also expressed concerns about where the economy was headed in the same panel at the MBA event.
“In summary, pretty good, more room for it to get worse and for it to get better, starting from where we are now,” Summers said. “And in terms of reading the economy, if you only looked at the spending and output statistics, you wouldn't be able to understand at all why the Fed was cutting rates.
“If you only looked at the employment statistics, you would find the situation really quite concerning. And it's the divergence between the two that adds a somewhat unusual degree of mystery to the current situation. My bet is that the two reconcile within six months, but I don't have confidence as to which way they'll reconcile.”
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