MSMP_november11

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NationalMortgageProfessional.com

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U.S. POSTAGE PAIDNMP MEDIA CORP.

NMP MEDIA CORP.1220 WANTAGH AVENUEWANTAGH, NEW YORK 11793

http://www.iambenchmark.info

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Mortgage PROFESSIONALM I S S I S S I P P I

M A G A Z I N E

Your source for the latest on originations, settlement, and servicing

Mississippi Association of Mortgage Professionals5201 Lakeland Boulevard, S186 � Flowood, MS 39232

Phone #: (866) 844-6262 / (601) 919-2200Fax #: (866) 542-9846

Web site: www.msamb.org

OFFICERS

Phone # E-mail

Margaret Byrd President (601) 829-5000 [email protected]

Melissa Manseill President-Elect (601) 829-5000 [email protected]

Steve Daniels Vice President (601) 605-2728 [email protected]

Anthony Atkins, CMC, MRMS Immediate Past President (662) 536-2111, ext. 11 [email protected]

What is MAMP?The Mississippi Association of Mortgage Professionals (MAMP) is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the representation of the interest of itsmembership.

MAMP Mission StatementTo protect and raise the standards of the mortgage industry while servingthe needs of the consumer.

Who should join?Professionals involved in all aspects of mortgage lending who wish to havea say in their future and to be active in the direction the industry takes,both in Mississippi and nationwide.

MAMP membership benefits� Free education: During the membership year, members receive 12

hours of MAMP-sponsored continuing education credits free. RML,online courses and education offered at convention are not includedin free education. There is a $10 fee per course for materials.Additional MAMP-sponsored continuing education courses are $10 percredit hour for members.

� Free registration for the MAMP Annual Meeting and Trade Show(February): Professional and Loan Originator Members only.

� Certification program: MAMP has developed the Mississippi ResidentialMortgage Specialist (MRMS) certification program to recognize mort-gage brokers and loan originators who have attained the highest levelsof professional expertise.

� Mississippi Mortgage Professional Magazine: MAMP’s monthly electron-ic publication that keeps everyone up to date on current issues thataffect professionals in the mortgage business.

� Protection of the interests of MAMP members through legislative lobby-ing: MAMP is involved in legislation that will positively affect your busi-ness, including licensing and lending practices.

� Networking: Annual Membership Meeting, Monthly District LuncheonMeetings and Socials.

Benefits of MAMP Membership

MAMP Code of Ethics� The Professional shall act in accordance with all state and federal regulations.� The Professional shall promote and support the actions and positions of MAMP.� The Professional shall conduct business affairs with honor and integrity.� The Professional shall not offer or advertise terms or conditions that are not available.� The Professional shall not create, distribute or dispense any information that

is known to be false, fraudulent or illegal.� The Professional shall abide by federal regulations promulgated by the

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with regard to advertising.� The Professional shall abide by all agreements, written or oral, made to the public.� The Professional shall keep complete and accurate records of all transactions.� The Professional shall maintain separate accounts for the deposit of trust or

escrow funds.� The Professional shall take all steps to avoid conflicts of interest with their

clients, and if a conflict of interest comes to the attention of a member, topromptly disclose such conflict to all parties.

� The Professional shall conduct their business so as not to deny equal profes-sional services to any person for reasons of race, color, creed, sex, religion,national origin, marital status, age or disability.

� The Professional shall keep all information acquired confidential unlessrelease is authorized by the individuals in question.

� The Professional shall make representations in other areas of expertise onlywhen duly licensed or accredited in the field.

� The Professional shall become knowledgeable as to new and innovativefinancing alternatives by attending educational seminars.

� The Professional shall comply with the By-Laws and Code of Ethics of MAMPand report violations of same to the Ethics Committee of MAMP

Twitter.com/ntlmortgagepro

facebook.com/mortgageprofessional

LinkedIn.com (search NationalMortgage Professional Magazine)

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Saturday, December 310:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. ......Registration Open

10:00 a.m.-Noon ............Committee Meetings

1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.........NAMB Delegate Council Meeting

4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.........Opening Reception & PAC Auction Event

Sunday, December 48:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.........Registration Open (Premier Ballroom

Foyer)

8:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m.........NMLS Education: FHA (1 Hour)

8:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m.........Three Proven Strategies Mortgage

Professionals Can Work With Real Estate

Agents Online to Generate More Buyers

9:40 a.m.-12:45 p.m. ...... NMLS Education: Federal Law (3 Hours)

9:40 a.m.-10:40 a.m. ......Stimulate the Economy With the 203K

Loan

10:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. .... Get Certified for VA Loans

12:45 p.m.-2:00 p.m.......Networking Lunch

2:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.........Expo Hall & Networking Reception

Monday, December 58:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.........Registration Open (Premier Ballroom

Foyer)

8:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m. ......NMLS Education: Reverse Mortgages (2

Hours)

8:30 a.m.-9:45 a.m.........Stop Sending Meatloaf Recipes to

Vegetarians: One-to-One Marketing

Basics

10:00 a.m.-11:15 a.m. ....Unlocking Your Success: Disciplines That

Make a Lasting Difference

10:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. ....NMLS Education: Ethics (2 Hours)

11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. ....Session From Ron Vaimberg (topic to be

determined)

12:45 p.m.-2:00 p.m.......Networking Lunch

2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.........Using Social Media to Leverage Your

Mortgage Business

3:15 p.m.-4:30 p.m. ......Successful Originations in Today’s

Challeng and Dynamic Market

4:30 p.m. ......................Grand Prize Drawing for a Trip to Hawaii

4:45 p.m.-6:30 p.m. ......NAMB Board Meeting

NAMB/WEST 2011 Loan Originator ConferenceSaturday-Monday, December 3-5

MGM Grand Las Vegas3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South • Las Vegas

New in 2011!Attendees of the 2011 NAMB/WEST Conference will receive a Passport for the Exhibit Hall on Sunday, Dec. 4. Passportswill need to be validated by each exhibitor in order to be eligible for drawings. The grand prize drawing, a trip to Hawaii,will be held at the conclusion of the conference on Monday, Dec. 5. Attendees must be present to win. As a bonus, at-tendees who book their hotel with the group rate before Wednesday, Nov. 9 will receive an extra Passport.

Agenda at a glance(Subject to change)

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Hotel information

NAMB/WEST has discounted rates for conference attendees at the MGM GrandLas Vegas, located at 3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South in Las Vegas (www.mg-mgrand.com). Any attendee who books their reservations under the NAMBGroup Rate will be eligible to receive an extra Passport. The extra Passport willincrease your chances to win prizes at the conference.

Group ratesFriday, December 2 ....................$110Saturday, December 3 ................$110Sunday, December 4......................$80Monday, December 5 ....................$80Room rates are subject to state and local taxes. The group rate will be offereduntil Wednesday, Nov. 9.

Reservations can be made by calling (877) 313-5757 or (702) 891-7777, or vis-iting http://goo.gl/kjd3b. In order to secure the NAMB Group Rate, you must identify yourself as part of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers(NAMB) Conference.

Check in for the MGM Grand is 3:00 p.m. and check out is at 11:00 a.m. For your convenience, MGM Grand offers room registration at McCarran Air-port. There is an Airport Registration Desk located in the south baggage claim area, near the bottom of the escalators descending from the C and D gates,next to carousel #1 and #2. Shuttle service is available from 9:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m. Porterage service is available 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. only.

Conference fees

Description Early fees (on or before 11/09/11) Regular fees (11/10/11 or later)

Member Registration Fee $200 $250Access to all conference events. You must be an NAMB member in good standing by Friday,Nov. 18 to obtain the member rates. If you are not a member in good standing by this date you will be charged additional fees upon arrival to the conference. To check the status of your membership, go to www.namb.org.

Non-Member Registration Fee $350 $450Access to all conference events.

Visit Exhibit Hall Only $100 $100This is for mortgage originators only.

Cancellation and refund policy: Notice of cancellation must be made in writing (no exceptions) and sent to [email protected] or faxed to(303) 798-3668. Cancellations received by 5:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Nov. 9 will be refunded 50 percent of the registration fee that was paid. Any can-cellation received after that date will receive no refund.

For more information on the NAMB/WEST 2011 Loan Originator Conference,contact Kinsley at (303) 798-3664, e-mail [email protected] or

visit www.nambwest.com.

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We work to make it happen!

Big enough tomatter.Small enough to care!

In the currentmortgage environment, everyoriginator is looking for a true business partnerwhenworkingwith their wholesale lenders.

Themost important aspect of being a lender intoday’s market is the ability to build andmaintain ameaningful relationship with each customer.

At CBCNational Bank,we understand that thesemeaningful relationships coupledwith competitivepricing and efficient technology are the pillars oftoday’s lending environment.

Whenworking with CBC you have a dedicatedteam that provides you:

• Direct access to all underwriters andmanagement

• Competitive pricing on a variety of loanprograms

• A user-friendly LOS systemwith real-timeloan tracking

• The ability to work closely with your AccountExecutive & designated Loan Coordinator,who together will give you the confidence toknow your target closing date will be met

• Regular communication with all staff membersthrough phone calls, emails, and promptlyreturned voicemails

• Respect and customer service at all times.Service is paramount for a successfulwholesale company like CBC National Bank.

CBC National Bank strives to earn your business and welook forward for the opportunity to show you how much we care!

For more information please contact us at 888-486-4304.

Member FDIC

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"CENTERED ON YOUR NEEDS, AND FOCUSED ON YOUR SUCCESS!"

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Q3 Mortgage Delinquencies in Mississippi Rise to 13.18 Percent

The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on residential properties inMississippi was 13.18 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2011, anincrease of 32 basis points from the second quarter of 2011, according tothe Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The delinquency rate excludesloans in the process of foreclosure. The percentage of loans in Mississippion which foreclosure was started during the quarter rose 22 basis pointsto 1.19 percent, while the percentage of loans in the foreclosure processat the end of the quarter rose eight basis points to 3.33 percent.

The delinquency rates are not seasonally adjusted. Mortgage delinquencyrates normally rise between the second and third quarters of the year, peak-ing in the fourth quarter, due to a variety of seasonal factors. As noted inrecent quarters, the percentage of loans in the foreclosure process is signifi-cantly affected by the foreclosure regime of the specific state. Overall, stateswith a judicial foreclosure system are seeing a buildup of loans in the foreclo-sure process, while states with a non-judicial process are seeing slightdeclines. This is despite a relatively even distribution of increases in new fore-closures started across all states, judicial or non-judicial.

The delinquency rate for prime adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs)increased 41 basis points to 20.94 percent and the rate for prime fixedrate mortgage loans increased 24 basis points to 7.76 percent. The delin-quency rate for sub-prime ARMs decreased 86 basis points to 39.04 per-cent, while the rate for sub-prime fixed rate loans increased 59 basispoints to 30.31 percent. The delinquency rates for FHA and VA loans were17.39 percent and 9.11 percent, respectively—up 42 basis points for FHAloans and up 40 basis points for VA loans.

The foreclosure starts rate for prime ARMs in Mississippi increased 37basis points to 2.26 percent, while the rate for prime fixed rate loansincreased 12 basis points to 0.83 percent. The foreclosure starts rate forsub-prime ARMs increased 180 basis points to 5.83 percent, while the ratefor sub-prime fixed rate loans increased 36 basis points to 2.9 percent.

The percentage of prime ARMs in foreclosure increased two basispoints to 5.13 percent and decreased three basis points to 2.43 percent forprime fixed rate loans. The rate for sub-prime ARMs increased 101 basispoints to 15.63 percent, while the rate for sub-prime fixed rate loansincreased 23 basis points to 7.65 percent. The percentage of FHA loans inforeclosure increased 31 basis points to 2.62 percent. The percentage ofVA loans in foreclosure decreased 17 basis points to 2.14 percent.

Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Mississippi rankedfirst in the nation delinquencies and 10th in foreclosures started.Mississippi ranked first in delinquencies with a rate of 13.18 percent andNevada ranked first in foreclosure starts with a rate of 2.48 percent.

On a national level, the delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one–to four-unit residential properties was 8.20 percent on a non-seasonallyadjusted basis, up nine basis points from 8.11 percent in the second quar-ter of 2011. The seasonally adjusted delinquency rate on residential prop-erties was 7.99 percent in the third quarter, down 45 basis points from lastquarter’s seasonally adjusted rate. The non-seasonally adjusted percent-age of loans on which foreclosure was started during the quarterincreased 12 basis points to 1.08 percent, while the non-seasonally adjust-ed percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the quar-ter remained unchanged at 4.43 percent.

A Special Look at “Tomorrow’s Mortgage Technology”Compliance Tools Directory 39

Technology Supports the People Who Drive

Our Business By Eric Wiley 40

Moving Through the Short Sale

Processing Using Technology By Laura Hadley 41

Is Mortgage Technology Really the Wave

of the Future? By Tommy A. Duncan, CMT 42

Save Time, Money and be More Successful

Utilizing Free Lender Technologies By Kristina Bennett 43

FeaturesThe Elite Performer: Confide in

Confidence By Andy W. Harris, CRMS 4

ValueNation: Implementing Quality Control With Automated and Manual Review Processes By David Rasmussen 6

Loan Originator Compensation: The Regulatory Examination By Jonathan Foxx 6

Lender Insurance to Play a Key Role in the Future of Mortgage Banking By Larry Cason 8

The Secondary Market Overview: From Bonds to Production … It Ain’t That Bad By Dave Hershman 10

FHA Insider: FHA Revises Lender Approval Requirements By Jeff Mifsud 12

Three Ways to Prepare Your Referral Network for 2012 By Erik Wind 14

The NAMB Perspective 18

NMP Mortgage Professional of the Month: John Walsh, President of Total Mortgage Services 20

Lykken on Leadership: The Compassionate Side of Leadership By David Lykken 24

Give and You Shall Receive By Mary Beth Doyle 26

FCRA Certification for Your Employees: Coming to a Credit Reporting Agency Near You! By Terry W. Clemans 32

ColumnsHeard on the Street 9

USA Cares Mortgage Heroes: Mary Jo Traversone of Homestead Funding Corporation 10

NMP News Flash: November 2011 11

New to Market 35

NMP Mortgage Professional Resource Registry 44

NMP Calendar of Events 48

Visit Our

ADVERTISERS

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AllRegs ............................................................ www.allregsmortgage.com/nmp ............................35

Bay Equity LLC ................................................ www.bayeq.com ..................................................37

Benchmark Mortgage ...................................... www.iambenchmark.info ..............Inside Front Cover

Calyx Software ................................................ www.calyxsoftware.com ......................................38

CBC National Bank ..............................................................................................................MS4 & 7

Elliott and Company Appraisers, Inc................... www.appraisalanywhere.com ................................16

Flagstar Wholesale Lending .............................. www.paperless.flagstar.com ......................Back Cover

Freedom Mortgage .......................................... www.fmbranch.com ......................Inside Back Cover

Frost Mortgage Lending Group .......................... www.frostmortgage.com/nmp ..............................37

GSF Funding .................................................... www.gogsf.com ....................................................11

Hometown Lenders .......................................... www.hometownbranch.com ......................MS5 & 25

HVCC Appraisal Ordering .................................. www.hvccappraisalordering.com ..........................30

Icon Residential Lenders, LLC ............................ www.iconwholesale.com ................................5 & 28

Land Home Financial Services .......................... [email protected] ....................................16

Lending Career, LLC ........................................ www.lendingcareer.com ......................................36

Loyalty Express ................................................ www.loyaltyexpress.com ......................................16

Menlo Park Funding ........................................ www.menloparkfunding.com ................................41

Mortgage Brokers Network Corp, Inc. ................ www.mortgagebrokersnetwork.com ........................9

NAMB West ...................................................... www.nambwest.com ..........................MS2, MS3 & 27

NAPMW .......................................................... www.napmw.org ..................................................14

Nationwide Equities Corp. ................................ www.nwecorp.com ..............................................17

PB Financial Group Corp. .................................. pbfinancialgrp.com ..............................................28

Polaris Home Funding Corp. (Branches) .............. www.polarishfc.com/TimeForAChange ..................13

Polaris Home Funding Corp. (Wholesale) ............ www.polarishfc.com ............................................31

REMN (Real Estate Mortgage Network)................ www.remnwholesale.com ....................................15

Ridgewood Savings Bank .................................. www.ridgewoodbank.com ....................................29

Shortsale Speedway.......................................... www.shortsalespeedway.com/freedemo ................33

TMS Funding.................................................... www.tmsfunding.com ..........................................23

Veros Real Estate Solutions .............................. www.pmc2012.com ..............................................43

National Mortgage Professional Magazine

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ORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL

MAGAZINE

NMPNMPNovember 2011 Volume 3, Number 11 Company Web Site Page

A Message From NMP Media Corp.Executive Vice President Andrew T. Berman

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November 2011Volume 3 • Number 11

1220 Wantagh Avenue • Wantagh, NY 11793-2202Phone: (516) 409-5555 / (888) 409-9770

Fax: (516) 409-4600Web site: NationalMortgageProfessional.com

Mortgage PROFESSIONALN A T I O N A L

M A G A Z I N E

Your source for the latest on originations, settlement, and servicing

STAFFEric C. Peck

Editor-in-Chief(516) 409-5555, ext. 312

[email protected]

Andrew T. BermanExecutive Vice President(516) 409-5555, ext. 333

[email protected]

Joey ArendtArt Director

[email protected]

Jon BlakeAdvertising Coordinator(516) 409-5555, ext. 301

[email protected]

Kelsey DominoExecutive Sales Assistant(516) 409-5555, ext. 316

[email protected]

Tara CookBilling Coordinator

(516) 409-5555, ext. [email protected]

ADVERTISINGTo receive any information regarding advertising rates, deadlines and require-ments, please contact Senior National Account Executive Karen Krizman at(516) 409-5555, ext. 326 or e-mail [email protected].

ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS/PRESS RELEASESTo submit any material, including articles and press releases, pleasecontact Editor-in-Chief Eric C. Peck at (516) 409-5555, ext. 312 or [email protected]. The deadline for submissions is the first ofthe month prior to the target issue.

SUBSCRIPTIONSTo receive subscription information, please call (516) 409-5555, ext.301; e-mail [email protected] or visit www.nationalmort-gageprofessional.com. Any subscription changes may be made to theattention of “Circulation” via fax to (516) 409-4600.

Statements, articles and opinions in National Mortgage Professional Magazineare the responsibility of the authors alone and do not imply the opinion orendorsement of NMP Media Corp., or the officers or members of NationalAssociation of Mortgage Brokers and its State Affiliates (NAMB), NationalAssociation of Professional Mortgage Women (NAPMW), National CreditReporting Association (NCRA) and/or other state mortgage trade associations.

Participation in NAMB, NAPMW, NCRA, and/or other state mortgagetrade associations events, activities and/or publications is available ona non-discriminatory basis and does not reflect the endorsement of theproduct and/or services by NMP Media Corp., NAMB, NAPMW, NCRA,and other state mortgage trade associations.

National Mortgage Professional Magazine, NAMB, NAPMW, NCRA,and/or other state mortgage trade associations do not make any misrepre-sentations or warranties concerning the regulatory and/or complianceaspects of advertisers, products or services and/or the editorial content con-tained in NMP Media Corp. publications. National Mortgage ProfessionalMagazine and NMP Media Corp. reserve the right to edit, reject and/or post-pone the publication of any articles, information or data.

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Starting off with a boost of confidenceI hope you’ve been following “The Elite Performer” series from Andy W. Harris, CRMS in thepages of our publication, as this month is another great motivator for success. This timearound on page 4, Andy focuses on the importance of being confident in not only your busi-ness, but all aspects of life. Following Andy is another installment of our ValueNation col-umn on page 6, where David Rasmussen of Veros Real Estate Solutions discusses imple-menting quality control (QC) within automated and manual processes. Jonathan Foxx fol-lows also on page 6 with another very detailed feature, “Loan Originator Compensation: TheRegulatory Examination,” where Jonathan shares his wealth of regulatory and compliance

advice as loan originators (LOs) prepare for their first LO compensation examination. Once again, Mr. Foxx pro-vides the readers of National Mortgage Professional Magazine with more priceless material. As lenders face anunknown barrage of regulations from the Dodd-Frank Act in an unstable housing market, it’s always nice to beable to manage some of that risk. Later in the issue on page 12, our FHA expert Jeff Mifsud reviews MortgageeLetter 2011-34’s impact on FHA lender approvals in his “FHA Insider” column. On page 18, NAMB PresidentDonald J. Frommeyer, CRMS, shares some of the highlights of next month’s NAMB/WEST Loan OriginatorConference at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

What does it take to be a leader today?David Lykken of Mortgage Banking Solutions is back with another installment in his “Lykken of Leadership” serieson page 24, as this month, he focuses on compassion as one of the seven characteristics of leadership. This is yetanother great submission from Mr. Lykken that will help you continue on your path to becoming a better leader.

Terry’s back with an update on the world of credit reporting … opportunity to be a credit report expert?This month, we welcome Terry W. Clemans, executive director of the NCRA, back in the pages of NationalMortgage Professional Magazine. Terry’s return to the publication on page 32 discusses a new certification pro-gram that mortgage professionals can take advantage of to really master the credit report. There is a pretty goodchance that you have a strong working knowledge of this topic already, so a little self-study thanks to the NCRAand your sponsoring credit reporting agency, and you can be well on your way to receiving a your FCRA (FairCredit Reporting Act) certification. Yet another program to help boost the confidence that your prospects havein you as their trusted advisor.

NMP’s Mortgage Professional of the MonthOn page 20, we feature this month’s NMP Mortgage Professional of the Month, John Walsh, president of TotalMortgage Services. By understanding how to underwrite a loan and stressing the importance of a strong backoffice as the ultimate driver of production, John’s firm has gone from a mortgage broker to a national multi-channel mortgage banker. John is a heck of a nice guy as well and we appreciate John sharing the secrets of hissuccess in our pages this month with our readers.

Tomorrow’s technology todayA good friend of mine recently pointed out that most innovation these days comes due to regulatory require-ments. It’s like the R&D for the industry’s top technology firms are so busy focusing on Dodd-Frank and otherregulations coming down the pike, that they are not able to look into major breakthroughs to help improve theiroperations. I think now the big innovation is how we use this technology we have access to. We have some folkswho have contributed to this month’s “Special Look at Tomorrow’s Mortgage Technology” who see how to takethe technology we have access to today and take it to a whole new level. The section begins on page 40 with apiece from Eric Wiley of Pacific Residential Mortgage talking about using basic time management tools, com-bined with automatically generated LO-integrated communication, to help your production staff focus more ongenerating business and less on managing systems. Add a little social media to the music and you are on yourway to tomorrow’s ever-flowing pipeline of loans. If there is an area that really need technology, it’s the area ofshort sales. On page 41, Laura Hadley of Quandis Inc. talks about reducing the short sale process from 12-plusmonths to 60 days through the use of technology. Impossible you say? Well make sure you read Laura’s piece.Technology is only as good as the people controlling it. Tommy A. Duncan, CMT of Quality Mortgage Services onpage 42 shares with us how it’s really a mix of technology and human interaction that can help ensure that weput out quality loans. Wrapping up the section on page 43 is a contribution from Kristina Bennett of UnitedWholesale Mortgage that goes into what free technology tools mortgage brokers should be looking for from theirwholesale lending partners.

Thanks for giving us this opportunity We really want to make sure you know how much we appreciate this opportunity to keep you informed and howserious we take this mission. We know that our readers are the hardest working, brightest minds and best inclass mortgage professionals. We also know that we are only as good as our last issue. So with that in mind,please understand that we’re always looking for feedback from you. I want to hear it all! Unlike keeping yourdispleasure with your mother-in-law’s dry turkey to yourself, you cannot hurt our feelings … we’re New Yorkers!Please e-mail me personally at [email protected] with any comments, compliments, rants, raves,good, bad, ugly—we want it ALL.

Until next month ...

Andrew T. Berman, Executive Vice PresidentNMP Media Corp.

National Mortgage Professional Magazineis published monthly by NMP Media Corp.

Copyright © 2011 NMP Media Corp.

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The Association of Mortgage Professionals

2701 West 15th Street, Suite 536 � Plano, TX 75075Phone #: (703) 342-5900 � Fax #: (530) 484-2906

Web site: www.namb.org

President—Donald J. Frommeyer, CRMSAmtrust Mortgage Funding Inc.200 Medical Drive, Suite DCarmel, IN 46032(317) 575-4355 � [email protected]

Vice President—Michael Anderson, CRMSEssential Mortgage3029 S. Sherwood Forest Boulevard, Suite 200Baton Rouge, LA 70816(225) 297-7704 � [email protected]

Treasurer—John Councilman, CMC, CRMSAMC Mortgage Corporation2613 Fallston RoadFallston, MD 21047(410) 557-6400 � [email protected]

Secretary—Olga Kucerak, CRMSCrown Lending222 East Houston, Suite 1600San Antonio, TX 78205(210) 828-3384 � [email protected]

Past President—Jim Pair, CMCMortgage Associates Corpus Christi6262 Weber Road, Suite 208Corpus Christi, TX 78413(361) 853-9987 � [email protected]

Rocke Andrews, CMC, CRMSLending Arizona LLC1996 North KolbTucson, AZ 85715(520) 886-7283 � [email protected]

Fred Arnold, CMCAmerican Family Funding24961 The Old Road, Suite 101Stevenson Ranch, CA 91381(661) 284-1150 � [email protected]

Donald Fader, CRMSSMC Home FinanceP.O. Box 1376Kinston, NC 28503-1376(252) 523-5800 � [email protected]

Deb Killian, CRMSGMAC246 Federal Road, Unit C-24Brookfield, CT 06804(203) 778-9999, ext. 103 � [email protected]

Linda McCoyMortgage Team 1 Inc.6336 Picadilly Square DriveMobile, AL 36609(251) 610-0494 � [email protected]

Walter ScottExcalibur Financial Inc.175 Strafford Avenue, Suite 1Wayne, PA 19087(215) 669-3273 � [email protected]

Tom ConwellPresident(800) 445-4922, ext. 1010 [email protected]

Donald J. UngerVice President(303) 670-7993, ext. [email protected]

Daphne LargeTreasurer(901) [email protected]

Marty FlynnEx-Officio(925) 831-3520, ext. [email protected]

William BowerDirector—Tenant Screening Chair(800) [email protected]

Mike BrownDirector—Technology Chair(800) [email protected]

Susan CataldoDirector—Education &Compliance Chair(404) 303-8656, ext. [email protected]

Janet CurtisDirector—New Membership & Elections Co-Chair (212) [email protected]

Renee EricksonDirector—Tenant ScreeningCo-Chair(800) 311-1585, ext. [email protected]

Nancy FedichDirector—Conference Chair(908) 813-8555, ext. [email protected]

Judy Ryan Director—New Membership & Elections Chair(800) 929-3400, ext. [email protected]

Tom SwiderDirector—Legislative Co-Chair(856) 787-9005, ext. [email protected]

Terry ClemansExecutive Director(630) [email protected]

Jan Gerber Office Manager/MembershipServices(630) [email protected]

PresidentLaurie Abshier, GML, CME, CMI(661) [email protected]

President-ElectCandace Smith, CME(512) [email protected]

Senior Vice PresidentJill Kinsman(206) [email protected]

Vice President-Northwestern RegionNita Cook, GML, CME, CMI(360) [email protected]

Vice President-Western RegionLyman King III, CME, CMI(916) [email protected]

Vice President-Central RegionLisa Puckett, CME(405) [email protected]

Vice President-Eastern RegionChristine Pollard(607) [email protected]

SecretaryKatheryn M. Farrell(509) [email protected]

TreasurerJeanne Evans, CME(918) [email protected]

ParliamentarianHulene Bridgman-Works(800) [email protected]

NAMB Board of Directors

National Association of ProfessionalMortgage Women

P.O. Box 451718 � Garland, TX 75042Phone #: (800) 827-3034 � Fax #: (469) 524-5121

Web site: www.napmw.org

OFFICERS

DIRECTORS2011 Board of Directors & Staff

National Credit Reporting Association Inc.125 East Lake Street, Suite 200 � Bloomingdale, IL 60108

Phone #: (630) 539-1525 � Fax #: (630) 539-1526Web site: www.ncrainc.org

National Board of Directors 2011-2012

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The definition of confidence isdescribed as a state of being certaineither that a hypothesis or predic-

tion is correct, or that a chosen course ofaction is the best or most effective. Thedefinition of self-confidence is simplyhaving confidence in one self and inone’s powers and abilities. Self-confi-dence is vital in business. It allows a per-son to be fearless in their pursuit of suc-cess, no matter what obstacles they face.Even failure cannot bring the confidentindividual down because of their posi-tive outlook and ability to see past thehurdles we all face in life.

A few benefits of having self-confi-dence include:

� People look up to self-confident people� Self-confident people are better

friends and partners� Self-confident people are able to

meet work deadlines� Self-confident people have a positive

outlook� Self-confident people are often

healthier� Self-confident people can spend

more time at home and with family� Self-confident people have higher

incomes (close more loans)� Self-confident people have a greater

influence on clients and businesspartners

True confidence cannot be producedartificially, and it’s very important not toconfuse with the “false confidence”which is arrogance. Arrogance is definedas having unmerited confidence—believing someone or something is capa-ble or correct when they are not. So in

reality, you cannot have one with theother. Most who have been around anarrogant person would agree that theirbehavior is generated by insecurities andto compensate for an area of weakness.Arrogance can hurt personal and profes-sional relationships unless exposed andaddressed.

The self-confident will always be thebest leaders. Our industry is a perfectexample of this. Those who have confi-dence and a vision for their career wereable to get past every hurdle they facedand are thriving today. Those who weredriven with arrogance or by greed weresignificantly impacted by the recentindustry changes. If one is living an arti-ficial life or running an artificial businessby compensating for weakness, then thetrail will always lead them to a cliff.

Be proud of who you are and whatyou do. Put your pride aside and confidein confidence!

Tip of the monthStop playing Angry Birds at work.

Andy W. Harris, CRMS is president andowner of Lake Oswego, Ore.-basedVantage Mortgage Group Inc. and presi-dent of the Oregon Association ofMortgage Professionals. He may be reachedby phone at (877) 496-0431 or [email protected] orvisit AndyHarrisMortgage.com.

Confide in Confidence“Too many people overvalue

what they are not and undervaluewhat they are.”

—Malcom S. Forbes

• Daily updated mortgage industry news• Industry blogs• Write your own blog

• Find loan programs• Discover local and national events• Get access to video

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Implementing QualityControl with Automated and

Manual Review ProcessesBy David Rasmussen

In today’s consistently evolving mortgage environment,thorough quality control (QC) procedures surroundingvaluation management are extremely important forsafe and successful lending practices. Any organizationthat has not taken a long and hard look at their ownprocedures is certain to face regulatory scrutiny, not tomention future challenges in maintaining a profitable

business. Even for those that have recently redefined QC procedures, it isimportant to periodically re-evaluate and compare them against currentindustry best practices.

Whether funding a loan, making a refinance decision or investing in aloan/pool of loans, the most prudent QC examination requires a combineduse of a valuation management platform and a manual review approach.

Automated quality control Highly competitive companies in the mortgage industry are utilizing valuationmanagement tools to automatically route base decisions. For example, whenan incomplete appraisal lands on the desk of a reviewer for manual process-ing, significant time is wasted assessing the insufficient report and additionaltime is lost coordinating with the appraisal provider for resubmission. Timeand energy is maximized when an automated system immediately examinesthe appraisal before it hits the desk of the reviewer.

Valuation management platforms can ensure essential compliance stan-dards, such as conformance with the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) standards,the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP) hard stops and essential underwritingstandards. These automated platforms offer client-defined criteria that providethe ability to modify rule sets and adjust to changes in internal/external regula-tions. Additional benefits include the assurance against arbitrary or subjectivedecisions as well as protection against human error. All valuations therebyachieve a “minimum standard” that is set by the organization before valuationsare routed to a reviewer for a manual examination (if necessary).

High-performance systems will also provide the automated rule functional-ity to order and compare side-by-side alternative products such as automatedvaluation models (AVMs), data and analytic risk products. Thresholds can be setsuch that these products are only ordered when deemed appropriate and canbe linked together under a single loan transaction for easy reference.Additional automation of product completeness, compliance and the datacreditability allow organizations already strapped for resources to makeprompt decisions.

Manual quality control As valuable as automated platforms are, they cannot entirely replace thehuman element in making qualitative decisions applicable to mortgage trans-actions. The task of manually reviewing an appraisal report should be done bya trained professional with a keen eye and the ability to quickly perform as

SPONSORED EDITORIAL

continued on page 12

By Jonathan Foxx

Since April 6, 2011,the mortgage indus-try has beenrequired to imple-ment the new loanoriginator (LO) com-pensation rules

(Rule). The Rule applies to closed-endtransactions secured by a dwellingwhere the creditor receives a loan appli-cation on or after April 6, 2011.1 TheRule placed restrictions on residentialmortgage loan transactions in order toprotect consumers against the unfair-ness, deception, and abuse that canarise with certain loan origination com-pensation practices, generally prohibitspayments to loan originators based onloan terms and conditions, eliminatesdual compensation to originators byconsumers and any other person andprohibits “steering” consumers to loansto receive greater compensation.

I have extensively explored the fea-tures of this Rule, unraveling its complex-ity in articles, newsletters, presentations,and panels.2 Indeed, I have even pub-lished a compendium of analysis, calledthe FAQs Outline–Loan OriginatorCompensation, which, as of this writing,consists of more than 400 FrequentlyAsked Questions and reaches in excess of130 pages.3 These are deep and narrowwaters, and considerable caution is need-ed in order to navigate their manydemanding twists and turns.

The development of these rules,from a regulatory perspective, stretchesback to August 26, 2009, when theFederal Reserve Board (FRB) publisheda Proposed Rule in the Federal Registerpertaining to closed-end credit; to July21, 2010, when the Dodd-Frank WallStreet Reform and Consumer ProtectionAct (Dodd-Frank)4 enacted Title XIV intolaw, which amended the Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA) to establish certainmortgage loan origination standards;then to Aug. 16, 2010, when the FRBpublished its Final Rules amendingRegulation Z (TILA’s implementing regula-tion); on through Sept. 24, 2010, as theFRB issued final rulemaking and officialstaff commentary with respect to the loanoriginator compensation rules and anti-steering provisions (Rule); and finallycoming to a virtual full stop on Jan. 26,2011, when the FRB issued its“Compliance Guide for Small Entities onLoan Originator Compensation andSteering.”5 After that, the FRB offeredsome conference calls, a Webinar—whichcleared up some confusion, while causingstill other confusion—and occasional

updates of the oral, rather than thewritten, official variety.6

When April 6, 2011 arrived, themortgage industry was still scramblingto understand the Rule, how to imple-ment it across various origination chan-nels, and, most importantly, how tointegrate it into operational, logistical,and financial components. Vendorsprovided considerable updates andintegration features. Nevertheless, formonths afterward the Rule continuedto perplex and frustrate, particularlywith respect to properly implementingdisclosures and compensation plans. Itstill causes considerable consternation.

As we all know, generally there is noregulation issued—whether the statutesare at the federal or state level—that doesnot have a corresponding regulatoryexamination to assure enforcement. Andso it goes: on Oct. 6, 2011—exactly sixmonths to the day when the Rule becameeffective—the first examination guidelinesfor loan originator compensation werepromulgated.7

In the “State Non-Depository ExaminerGuidelines for Regulation Z—LoanOriginator Compensation Rule,” here-inafter “Examiner Guidelines,” issued bythe Multi-State Mortgage Committee(MMC), we now have a pretty good idea ofthe direction that federal and state regula-tors will be taking in their regulatoryexaminations for loan originator compen-sation. The MMC is a 10-state representa-tive body created by the Conference ofState Bank Supervisors (CSBS) and theAmerican Association of ResidentialMortgage Regulators (AARMR).8

Are these examination guidelines per-fectly worked through? Not really. Not yet.After some field testing, we should expectrevisions. But as a first stab at a complexissue, they are helpful in giving a sense ofthe kind of information and documentationthat examiners will be reviewing. These arerevised procedures and they supersede theRegulation Z Interagency examination pro-cedures. The Task Force on ConsumerCompliance of the Federal FinancialInstitutions Examination Council (FFIEC) hasapproved interagency examination proce-dures for Regulation Z—Truth-in-Lending,including the Rule. The ExaminerGuidelines supplement the Interagencyprocedures and are intended to assist stateregulators of non-depository mortgage loanoriginators and creditors in standardizedand uniform reviews of the Rule.

When the aforementioned ExaminerGuidelines were issued, my firm re-setour audit and due diligence reviews forthe Rule to accord with them, even in

Loan Originator Compensation: The Regulatory Examination

The Easy Part is Over … Now the Real Fun Begins


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We work to make it happen!

Big enough tomatter.Small enough to care!

In the currentmortgage environment, everyoriginator is looking for a true business partnerwhenworkingwith their wholesale lenders.

Themost important aspect of being a lender intoday’s market is the ability to build andmaintain ameaningful relationship with each customer.

At CBCNational Bank,we understand that thesemeaningful relationships coupledwith competitivepricing and efficient technology are the pillars oftoday’s lending environment.

Whenworking with CBC you have a dedicatedteam that provides you:

• Direct access to all underwriters andmanagement

• Competitive pricing on a variety of loanprograms

• A user-friendly LOS systemwith real-timeloan tracking

• The ability to work closely with your AccountExecutive & designated Loan Coordinator,who together will give you the confidence toknow your target closing date will be met

• Regular communication with all staff membersthrough phone calls, emails, and promptlyreturned voicemails

• Respect and customer service at all times.Service is paramount for a successfulwholesale company like CBC National Bank.

CBC National Bank strives to earn your business and welook forward for the opportunity to show you how much we care!

For more information please contact us at 888-486-4304.

Member FDIC

By Larry Cason

Economic condi-tions and ongoingregulatory changescontinue to alter thecourse of the mort-gage banking indus-try. In an ever-evolv-

ing time for mortgage professionals,the idea of lender insurance productsmay be the shelter that many seek.Very few lending institutions can claimthat all their borrowers are insured—ahuge risk for them. Organizations thatprovide lender-placed insurance toinstitutions sell nothing less than peaceof mind in a very precarious time.

According to recent statistics fromRealtyTrac, an online marketplace forforeclosure properties, foreclosure fil-ings have been on the rise as home-buyers continue to default on mort-gage payments. The Web site statedthat foreclosure filings were up sevenpercent since August 2011. Accordingto the report, 228,098 homes in theU.S. received foreclosure filings duringthat month.

Regulatory changes are also set toestablish new standards in terms ofcompliance and required reporting,adding additional pressure for lenders

to more effectively control costs andincrease efficiencies in managing theirloan production pipelines.

Coping with uncertaintyin industry regulationsLenders remain unclear on what will berequired of them in the coming monthsand years as the full breadth of pendinglegislation within the Dodd-Frank WallStreet Reform and ConsumersProtection Act unfolds. The U.S. federalfinancial regulation statute could soonalter much of the nation’s financialservices industry.

Enacted in July 2010, the Act imple-ments a level of demands on lenders,including changes to borrower disclo-sure forms. The notification process forlender-placed insurance now includesthe provision that two disclosure lettersmust be sent to the borrower, but it isnot yet clear what types of documentswill be required or what the subsequentcost to lenders might be.

In general, the burden of identify-ing the right insurance coverage canbe problematic, and resource-strapped lenders may not be posi-tioned to effectively manage thisprocess in-house. Third-partyproviders can alleviate this pressureon lenders, enabling them to better

focus on managing their core compe-tencies—successfully originating andclosing loans. Qualified providers canprovide coverage to force place insur-ance properties when a borrower failsto maintain his or her own insurance,whether it be single family residentialhomes, manufactured homes, condo-miniums or commercial buildings.

Typically, third-party providers candeliver superior levels of expertise andexperience relative to the inner work-ings of the insurance industry, position-ing lenders to more appropriatelymatch individual borrowers with themost appropriate insurance offering fortheir unique situation.

Through relationships with nationalinsurance carriers and managing gener-al agencies, third-party providers helpcontain costs for lenders by compilingand providing research of the bestinsurance options available, and con-tinuing to provide relevant informa-tion that enables lenders to maintainthe best plan as their business evolves.More often than not, lenders shopmuch like a typical consumer does—find the insurance plan that meetstheir immediate needs in the fastestway possible, which often meansaccepting a product with inadequatecoverage or pricing.

Lenders must be aware of required insuranceoptions to reduce risksCertain types of insurance are strictly reg-ulated by the federal government, such asflood insurance. Even in certain areaswith little risk for such disasters, lendersshould be prepared to protect their prop-erties. No lender is exempt from therequirements in place to insure everymortgage loan within its portfolio thatlies within a Special Flood Hazard Areahas coverage in place. In order to guaran-tee full compliance, governmental andregulatory agencies nationwide areactively auditing lenders.

In many instances, penalties are beingimposed for failure to comply. Third-party providers help lenders maintainregulatory compliance through flood pro-grams designed specifically for mortgageservicers. Policy limits can vary from up to$250,000 on residential properties to$500,000 on commercial properties.

Technology also exists that allows forautomated flood zone determination,allowing lenders to further improvecompliance in a more cost-effectivemanner. From a simple street address,lenders can now virtually check to see ifa property is within a flood zone and

Lender Insurance to Play a Key Role in the

Future of Mortgage Banking


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StreetLinks ChoosesMercuryDirect for UMDPCompliance

a la mode inc. hasannounced that

StreetLinks Lender Solutions has chosento launch a MercuryDirect plug-in toreceive the Native XML appraisal dataneeded for streamlined compliancewith the new mandatory UniformMortgage Data Program (UMDP) initia-tive set forth by the government-spon-sored enterprises (GSEs). StreetLinks’MercuryDirect plug-in is a customapplication that provides direct accessto the largest nationwide network ofreal estate appraisers.

Using the MercuryDirect plug-in’sability to integrate custom rule setsdirectly into report delivery,StreetLinks’ extensive quality control(QC) rules run against every appraisalreport prior to delivery. After passingthe QC checks, the plug-in bundles bothPDF and Native MISMO 2.6 XML formatsinto the transmitted file, and thendelivers it to the StreetLinks platform.

“A large percentage of our appraiserpartners utilize a la mode’s industryleading desktop appraisal applicationsand tools,” said StreetLinks ChiefOperating Officer Tony Ebeyer. “OurMercuryDirect plug-in will eliminatedelays and errors that are inherent in thePDF to XML conversion process. UAD-compliant XML data will flow seamlesslyfrom the appraiser’s report creation soft-ware to the GSEs. The result is a hugeincrease in efficiency and 100 percentdata accuracy, which is a win for every-one involved, including the appraiser,the lender, and the GSEs.”

Total Mortgage Approvedas a Fannie Mae SellerServicer

Total Mortgage Services LLC hasannounced that it has received approvalwith Fannie Mae to be a seller/servicer forone- to four-family first lien mortgagesand can now retain mortgage servicingrights, expand product offerings as well assell and pool loans into mortgage backedsecurities. Total Mortgage has beenassigned Fannie Mae Seller ServiceNumber: 27127-000-3.

“We are extremely pleased to be anapproved seller/servicer with FannieMae after going through their rigorous

approval process,” said John Walsh,president of Total Mortgage Services.“Total Mortgage is committed to deliv-ering the perfect mortgage, not only toour investors, but also to borrowers andthis approval will further enhance ourpricing advantage, while positioning usto leverage our operational infrastruc-ture to drive our geographic and chan-nel expansion.”

Total Mortgage is currently licensedin California, Colorado, Connecticut,Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine,Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, NewYork, New Hampshire, North Carolina,Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, SouthCarolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermontand Virginia and the District ofColumbia. Total Mortgage currently hasfive additional state licenses pending.

Bay Equity Continues ItsExpansion With LatestAcquisition

Bay Equity HomeL o a n s h a s

announced that Valencia, Calif.-basedTriStar Home Loans has joined its team ofretail branches. TriStar Home Loans wasco-founded by Hady Breidy in June 2000,and the company currently has fiveemployees in addition to eight loan offi-cers and occupies a 5,500-sq. ft. space.TriStar states that approximately 70 per-cent of their monthly volume funded aspurchase transactions.

Bay Equity was founded in June 2007 bythree brothers, Brett, Jon and CaseyMcGovern, and funded its first loan 11months later. To date, the firm has fundedmore than 7,500 loans totaling more than$3 billion. The company is headquartered inthe heart of San Francisco’s Financial District.

“Because of all the regulatory changesimpacting mortgage brokers, we began toconsider becoming mortgage bankersabout two years ago,” said Breidy, CEO ofTriStar Home Loans, whose company doesan annual volume of approximately $125million. “We spoke with a couple oflenders and those discussions, whichseemed very promising, ended very disap-pointing. Since we had done business withBay Equity on the wholesale side for quitesome time, the [McGovern] brothers askedif we would visit them and check out theretail side of their business. They showedus what they do, shared with us their


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Read the title of this month’s col-umn and you will want to giveme a grammar lesson and possi-

bly have my head examined. Okay …call the grammar slip-up poeticlicense and allow my optimism tocome from a broader view. I agree, ifyou live in the real estate industry,this recession and sparse recovery hasbeen nothing short of devastating.Sure, the super low rates have helpedoriginators increase their incomethrough refinances; however, we allunderstand that our long-term breadand butter is financing purchases.Without enough purchases, realestate does not recover and neitherdoes the general economy.

In addition to the fact that wework in a depressed industry, we areworking under a new regulatory envi-ronment with stricter credit condi-tions. From low appraisals to under-writing with a microscope, what littlemortgage business is out there isexceedingly difficult. In the “olden”days, we couldcharge more fordifficult business,but that’s not pos-sible under thenew compensa-tion regulations.

How can I saythat “It ain’t that bad?” Again, let’s lookat a broader perspective. How bad doesthe “average” American think thingsare? Here is the “prevailing” view fromCNN/Money …

“Economic fears are not diminishing.More than eight in 10 Americans thinkthe economy is in another recession,according to a new CNN/ORC pollreleased in early September. Americanshave “a bad case of economic jitters,”according to CNN Polling DirectorKeating Holland.

The bottom line is … Americans pre-dominantly think we are still in the firstrecession or have started a double-diprecession. So the public’s view is not faroff the view of those within real estate.Certainly we know real estate is still inrecession.

The numbers from the overall econ-omy do not bear out the call of a pres-

ent overall recession. Constructionspending is up, the service sector isexpanding, consumers are still spend-ing cautiously and manufacturing isexpanding. The September employ-ment report was certainly not robust,but it did exceed analysts’ expectations,especially considering the upward revi-sion of the two previous months.According to the numbers, we are notin a recession … so why all the gloomand doom?

First, our growth is too slow to undothe damage done by the deep reces-sion. If someone hits you with a ham-mer several times, your body is stillgoing to hurt after they stop hittingyou. You need medical help. Jobgrowth of 100,000 per month barelykeeps up with population growth, letalone, replacing the millions of thejobs we lost.

Secondly, Europe is a concern. Themarkets are concerned, and rightly so,that a default by Greece and/or failureof European banks could drag us down

into a recession.That is all we hearabout every day—E u r o p e . T h i smakes the con-sumer even lessconfident. We maynot be in a state of

recession now, but economic growthis not likely strong enough to wardoff such a worse-case scenario inEurope.

Thirdly, the government is a dragupon the economy right now. It is greatfor everyone to call for balancing thebudget, however, in the short-term,any jobs lost hurts. Those who are los-ing their jobs include teachers andeven those representing our countryoverseas as our commitment in Iraqwinds down.

This is a pretty ominous one-two-three. I still have not advanced any rea-son for optimism about the future. Wellhere are my own three points regardingthese issues.

� The economy. Yes, growth is tooslow. However, we are a lot closer tomore substantial growth than we

It Ain’t That Bad

“Job growth of 100,000 per monthbarely keeps up with populationgrowth, let alone, replacing the

millions of the jobs we lost.”

Be a Mortgage Hero! This recognition is free to Certified Military Housing Spe-

cialists. Take the FREE Certified Military Housing Specialist course offered online

by USA Cares and tell us how you are “Helping those who defend our homes, pre-

serve their own.” Please contact Program Manager Beverly Frase at

[email protected] to join our national team and be our next Mortgage

Hero. We want to recognize you!

USA Cares Mortgage HerosMary Jo Traversone

Homestead Funding Corporation, Albany N.Y.

“I work closely with borrowers to ensure successful closings. I havebeen able to help borrowers who have been declined by other institu-tions—just because they don’t take the time to know the benefits ofthe VA loan.”—Mary Jo Traversone, Homestead Funding Corporation, Albany N.Y.

When Mary Jo Traversone agrees to work a world away to help a veteran, she meansit! “I have to say,” said Mary Jo, ”I find it very thrilling to have a troop return from over-seas and call me, as my information was posted overseas. I do consider myself an ad-vocate for veterans.” What a relief for a serviceperson to know that, even from a warzone, someone is working to help them secure appropriate housing upon their return.

Mary Jo has been originating U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans for morethan 25 years as a loan officer. As a loan originator, she has worked with small andlarge corporations, providing VA loans for purchase and refinance transactions. She’spleased with her recent move to Homestead Funding Corporation.

“They process and underwrite locally in my Albany office,” she said. “I feel they use‘common sense’ underwriting. Homestead Funding is a mortgage banker dedicated toworking with veterans, while many other agencies are eliminating VA programs.”

She keeps current with military affairs by attending veterans’ functions and partic-ipating in outreach programs.

“I’ve been able to help borrowers who have been declined by other institutions,” shecontinued, “just because they don’t take the time to know the benefits of the VA loan.”

When she helped a 100 percent service-connected disabled veteran with prior creditissues to purchase a home, it was her most memorable moment.

“Due to his disability, he was unable to work and had lost a home to foreclosure.When he attained his 100 percent disability rating, I was able to guide him through theloan process. The extensive documentation required to substantiate the reason for theforeclosure was a bit difficult, but we managed to get his loan done.”

Continually telling the borrower to have faith and that soon he would be a home-owner again, she was able to have contracts drawn with a seller contribution to coverclosing fees. The borrower actually received a small refund at closing.

“This borrower was declined by another institution, and his Veterans Counselor sug-gested he contact me,” said Mary Jo. “I was thrilled to help him own a home again. Ienjoy working with veterans. They’ve given so much of themselves to protect our coun-try, whether it be life, limb or sanity. I am proud to ‘serve those who have honorablyserved our nation.’”

We all know not every transaction ends in a closed loan. Mary Jo tells all of her bor-rowers that they are a work in progress.

“If they aren’t ready today due to credit or employment, I advise what’s required tomeet guidelines and set a time in the future to follow up,” she said.

Mary Jo is building military homeowners, one home at a time and that’s a hero inany book.

Mary Jo TraversoneHomestead Funding CorporationNMLS ID# 5895098 Airline DriveAlbany, N.Y. 12205Phone#: (716) 696-0036

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� Fixed mortgage rates are expected toremain low by historical standards,finishing 2011 at around a 4.5 per-cent average for the year, fallingslightly to 4.4 percent for 2012 andclimbing back up to 4.9 by 2013.

� Total existing home sales will stayaround the 4.9 million unit pace for2011 and 2012, before increasingslightly to 5.2 million units in 2013as the broader economy recovers.The recovery in the new home saleswill have a comparably slow start,and may well be slow for most of2012, but will show some meaning-ful increases in 2013.

� Home price measures that exclude dis-tressed transactions have stabilized,and certain markets are showing year-

over-year appreciation. The FederalHousing Finance Agency (FHFA)‘snational repeat transactions homeprice measure, which does not distin-guish between distressed and non-dis-tressed sales, will continue to declinebefore starting a reversal in mid to late2012, but will vary by state and homevalue.

� Purchase originations will likelydecrease in 2011 from 2010, totaling$400 billion from an estimated $472billion in 2010. Seeing as 2012 willlikely be another year of slow econom-ic growth, purchase originations willincrease slightly to around $412 billionfor the year. As the economy picks up


Decline in Refis to DropOriginations From $1.2Trillion in 2011 to $900Billion in 2012

The Mortgage BankersAssociation (MBA)expects to see mort-gage originations fallfrom an estimated

$1.2 trillion in 2011 to $900 billion in2012. The drop will be driven by a signif-icant decline in refinance originations,while purchase originations will increaseonly slightly. The economy will seeanother year of anemic growth in 2012,and then will grow somewhat faster in2013. Refinance originations are expect-ed to fall despite low mortgage rates aseconomic uncertainty lingers and fewereligible borrowers remain.

“We think growth driven by consumerspending on durables and businessspending on new plants and equipmentwill keep the US out of recession, butthere is significant uncertainty aroundthis forecast”, said Jay Brinkmann, MBA’schief economist and SVP of research andeducation. “Europe is in or soon will be inrecession. There is the risk that theEuropean situation could harm the U.S.financial system, and could lead to fur-ther damage to U.S. consumer and busi-ness confidence. If that were to happen,we think that the US could fall into ashort, and relatively mild recession. Wedo not anticipate any actions out ofWashington that would have a materialimpact on the economic outlook.”

Following are the key points of thelatest MBA forecast:� Real GDP growth will be 1.3 percent in

2011, which began with a dismal 0.4percent growth in the first quarter and1.3 percent growth in the second quar-ter. We expect the second half to aver-age around 1.8 percent, but even thatis on shaky ground, with a weak labormarket, volatile financial markets, andlooming risks of a spillover from theEuropean debt crisis. We expect 2012to continue in a similar fashion, show-ing growth of around 1.7 percent, asEurope enters a recession of its ownand the US economy flirts with a shal-low recession until midway through2012. There should be a modest recov-ery in 2013 with growth reaching 2.4percent for the year.

� The unemployment rate will increaseslowly until the second quarter of2012, hitting 9.3 percent, from thecurrent level of 9.1 percent. It isexpected to be around 9.1 percent for2011, 9.3 percent for 2012, and 9.1

percent for 2013. Even though botheconomic and job growth are in posi-tive territory, they are still insufficientto lower the unemployment rate inthe near term.

NOVEMBER 2011

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valuenation continued from page 6

many quality reviews as possible. It isimportant for the reviewer to have avail-able all the necessary supplemental prod-ucts, scores, maps and comps in a seamlessdashboard. A good appraisal scoring sys-tem will provide immediate direction to areviewer to help focus on the questionableareas of an appraisal. Bringing the relevantdata together under one platform savestime since the reviewer won’t have to openmultiple browsers, visit multiple Web sitesor pull out miscellaneous paper folders toget the necessary information.

In conclusion, quality control in themortgage industry can be approachedfrom multiple ways, but the need to fullyunderstand the collateral backing of each

and every loan cannot be questioned. Avaluation management system will go along way in helping to increase efficienciesand remove the element of human errorproviding a bit of comfort in today’s anx-ious mortgage environment. An automat-ed review should be seen as a complementto the traditional manual review by quali-fied professionals. This two-step approachbrings higher efficiency and empowerslenders to make smarter and consistentevaluations of collateral risk.

David Rasmussen is senior vice presidentof operations at Veros Real EstateSolutions. For more information, call(714) 415-6300 or visit Veros.com.

tor, principal, manager, supervisor,loan processor, underwriter or loanoriginator of the lender or mortgagee:

1. Has been suspended, debarred, undera limited denial of participation (LDP)or has been debarred or suspended byHUD or by any other federal agency.

2. Has been indicted for, or convictedof, an offense that reflects adverselyupon the integrity, competency, orfitness necessary to meet the respon-sibilities of the lender to participatein FHA programs.

3. Is subject to unresolved findings as aresult of HUD or other governmentalaudit, investigation, or review (see ML2010-38 for clarification on meaning of“unresolved findings”).

4. Is engaged in business practices that donot conform to generally acceptedpractices of prudent mortgagees or thatdemonstrate irresponsibility.

5. Is convicted of, or pled guilty or no con-test to, a felony related to participationin the real estate or mortgage loanindustry within seven years prior to thedate of the application for licensing andregistration, or for any felony at anyprior time that involved an act of fraud,dishonesty, or a breach of trust ormoney laundering.

6. Is in violation of provisions of theSecure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE)Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 or anyapplicable provision of state law.

Use of DBA namesFHA now requires lenders to register allof their DBAs though FHA Connectionrather than just those used for advertis-ing FHA programs. FHA Connection hasbeen modified to allow the registrationof up to seven DBAs for each homeoffice or branch. If a lender has morethan seven DBAs, its remaining DBAsmust be registered with the FHA by sub-mitting the additional DBA names anddocumentation authorizing their use toHUD (see ML for address).

Officer changesFHA-approved lenders are now requiredto report to any changes in the identity

of corporate officers, as defined above,to the FHA.

Ownership changesFHA now requires approved lenders toreport all ownership changes, includingnew owners and changes in ownershipinterests, in accordance with the own-ership requirements for their businessform as detailed above.

CommentaryNote that number four above has broadapplication in terms of administeringthe law and gives HUD a great deal oflatitude to revoke a lender’s FHAapproval status. Let this be a clearwarning to companies that walk theline in any of their business practicesand want to take advantage of FHA pro-grams. It has been easy for companiesin the past to hide their unethical busi-ness practices with FHA programs, butthings have changed and HUD hasworked very hard at leveling the play-ing field for reputable lenders byremoving unethical companies andtheir leaders.

This update is not only important forowners of companies but also MLOs.Knowing these criteria can help youmake better decisions about whichcompanies to work for, and can assistyou in judging the integrity of the indi-viduals that run your company. It’simportant to know that you are work-ing for a company that has solid lead-ers. And, if you are considering joininga company, it’s fair to ask questionsabout its leaders so that you can havepeace of mind that you are joining areputable company—or know that youneed to look elsewhere!

Go FHA!

Jeff Mifsud is founder of Michigan-basedMortgage Seminars LLC, a former FHAunderwriter with 15-plus years of experi-ence originating FHA loans, an FHAexpert for LoanToolbox.com and creatorof The FHA Originator, a monthly FHAnewsletter. Jeff may be reached byphone at (248) 403-8181 or visitwww.MortgageSeminars.com.

Mortgagee Letter 2011-34 was issued inlate September, but didn’t get a lot ofattention. In this month’s article, I’ll pointout the highlights of the update. Theupdate announced changes to theFederal Housing Administration (FHA)requirements for obtaining, maintainingand utilizing a lender’s FHA approval.

Identifying officersThe lender must list all of its corporate offi-cers who will be managing, overseeing orconducting the FHA business of the lender.Unless the applicant is a supervised lend-ing institution, the applicant must submita credit report for each corporate officerlisted and a resume for the senior officerswith FHA origination experience (Handbook4060.1, 3-2.A.4 and3-2.A.5). The term“Corporate Officer” isnow defined as a “nat-ural person who is anowner, president, vicepresident, chief oper-ating officer, chieffinancial officer, direc-tor, corporate secre-tary, chief executiveofficer, chairman ofthe board, or member or manager of alimited liability company (LLC).

Identifying ownersThe following list defines which of theowners must be listed on the applica-tion for FHA approval according to thetype of company and the owner’s per-centage of ownership:

� Publically traded company or corpora-tion; if 10 percent or more ownership

� Non-publically traded company orcorporation; if 25 percent or moreownership

� Limited Liability Company; allmembers

� Partnerships; general partners

Office facilitiesAn approved FHA lender may originateand service loans from its home office,branch office and direct lending branchoffice. All office facilities, regardless oftype, must comply with all state licens-ing requirements within the jurisdic-

tion in which the office is located. Inaddition, the U.S. Department ofHousing & Urban Development (HUD)is no longer regulating branch officesfacilities and lenders are no longerrequired to submit evidence ofacceptable home office facilities.However, the FHA will verify compli-ance with these requirements throughon-site visits to the home office toassure that the lender has acceptableoffice facilities as outlined in 2-11.A ofHandbook 4060.1.

Conversion of FHA lender approval typeLenders that want to convert their FHAapproval type must submit a new lender

approval applicationpackage with allrequired exhibits, andpay a new $1,000lender approvalapplication fee.Previously, a lenderhad to submit cer-tain forms and docu-ments along with a$300 fee.

Prohibited branch arrangementApproved lenders must directly pay allexpenses for the operation of theirhome, branch and direct lendingoffices, and may not create “net branch-ing” arrangements in which a party,other than the approved mortgagee,pays some or all of the branch officeexpenses.

Single-family loan origination lending areaFHA has expanded the single-family origi-nation lending area of each home officeand registered branch office to include allHUD jurisdictions throughout the country.Lenders must bear in mind that they mustalso meet each state’s origination andlicensing requirements.

Business changes subsequent to approvalThe FHA now requires that mortgageesnotify HUD within 10 business days ifthe lender or any officer, partner, direc-

FHA Revises Lender Approval Requirements

“It has been easy for companies in the past to hide their unethical

business practices with FHA programs, but things have

changed and HUD has workedvery hard at leveling the playing

field for reputable lenders byremoving unethical companies

and their leaders.”

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If you are a seasoned professional ready for a change and desire more information, call us at 616-667-9000, or send an e-mail to:[email protected] www.PolarisHFC.com/TimeForaChange

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NMLS

National Education

National Training

National Networking

NAPMW is a community of nearly 2,000 professionals across the Country who engage in the mortgage / banking industry. Men and women from all backgrounds have joined NAPMW because they want to excel at what they do. Employers who want excel-lence from their employees engage with NAPMW for up-to-date education. Both professionals and employers have found there is a place for them in NAPMW.

To Join NAPMW visit:

www.napmw.org

or call: 1-800-827-3034

Have Questions? Please

feel free to e-mail us at:

[email protected]

Organized for the purpose of providing education to profession-als in all phases of the mortgage industry, NAPMW offers educa-tion via many venues – seminars and workshops held around the country, on-line, and at its National Education Conference held each May.

NAPMW membership gives you exclusive access to timely educa-tion regarding the regulations affecting your career such as a FREE TO MEMBERS monthly webinar on industry updates AND our 8 hour NMLS continuing education class offering (NMLS Provider # 1400309)

If you believe in helping to elevate the educational standards of this industry, or assisting in developing the most competent industry work force, then you believe in NAPMW.

NAPMW is not a women’s organization. But since women make up the majority of professionals in the mortgage/banking profes-sion, our purpose is to help them advance in business, personal, and leadership development.

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Three Ways toPrepare Your

Referral Networkfor 2012

By Erik Wind

I usually find Halloween to be the “Two Minute Warning”of the year, reminding my clients and myself that onceThanksgiving arrives, the opportunity to write new busi-ness significantly diminishes. Of course, I’ll get a numberof calls I didn’t expect, and transactions I’ve been work-ing on for months will come to fruition, but overall, it’sthe slow period of the year. While my business is tech-

nology, I know it’s the same for the mortgage business.While many use this time to kick back and relax, or even

worry about the slowdown, the producers are using thistime to review their goals and assess if their businessis in a position to reach these goals. Since referralsare such a large part of my business, I examinemy current referral sources, as well as myefforts to obtain new referral sources.

Set your goalsDid you set goals last year? If you didn’t, takethis slow period to put together some real sim-ple plans. Work backwards with the most impor-tant question: How many loans do you want toclose per month? Once you have that answered, howmany referrals will you need to get there? How manyreal estate agents and/or real estate attorneys will you needin your referral network to receive those referrals?

Assess your referral sourcesTake a long, hard look at the people in your referral network who you areputting time and resources toward helping grow their business. Are you get-ting a return on this investment?

For example, an originator friend of mine shares ShortSaleSpeedway with hisreal estate agents. The agents close more short sales, and he gets more mort-gage referrals. In one office, he shares ShortSaleSpeedway with seven agents,but only gets referrals from five. Why aren’t the other two referring? It turns outthat one of the agents has a family member in the mortgage business. With thatknowledge, he can focus his efforts elsewhere, knowing that agent is not in hisreferral network. By weeding out those who aren’t reciprocating the referralrelationship, my friend is able to better help agents who are referring business,and also put more time into gaining fresh sources of referrals.

Attract new referral sourcesNow is probably not the time to be introducing yourself to real estateagents, unless you like walking into empty offices, but it’s a great time tostart list-building. Put together a list of potential real estate offices andagents who you want to meet. Write out a marketing plan that involves get-ting in front of them along with a compelling offer as to why they should dobusiness with you.

Once again, my friend reaches out to each agent/office multiple times bymail, e-mail, phone or even stopping by until he gets to introduce himselfproperly. When he does gain that introduction, he’s ready. In a no BSapproach, he explains how he can help the agent close more short sales andhow he can be a reliable go-to person for the agent’s mortgage needs.

Get your list, plan and offer ready now, so when 2012 rolls around, you’llbe ready.

With a combination of reflecting inward on your current referral networkand outward toward new relationships, 2012 can be an amazing year foryou and anyone you choose to do business with.

Erik Wind is co-founder of ShortSaleSpeedway. He may be reached by phoneat (516) 882-6930 or e-mail at [email protected].

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the midst of actual reviews of loan origi-nator compensation compliance that wewere then conducting for our clients.

Expect the unexpectedAs I have said many times, preparation isprotection. Don’t wait for the regulator’sDocument Request letter to implement anyregulatory requirement. If you wait, by thenit’s often too late. Remember, most exami-nations are look-backs, reaching to the pre-vious examination, or a stated timeframeprevious to the current examination. Mostexaminers have a “No Tolerance” view offirms that cannot provide supporting docu-ments and information in a timely manner.The “record speaks for itself” is the inflexiblestandard! Our audit and due diligencereviews are the property of our client, andas fully confidential as if the client conduct-ed its own review, with its internalresources—which, of course, is certainly aviable option. So, there really is no excusefor not being prepared for a regulatoryexamination for loan originator compensa-tion or any other examination.

In my view, undertaking preparednessaction for a loan originator compensationexamination should consist of the follow-ing basics.9 My remarks include some ofmy firm’s audit and due diligence practicesas well as certain features of the recentlyissued Examiner Guidelines.

Preparation is protectionReview construct� It is critical to set forth the bounds of

the review. Indicate a research rangethat utilizes an audit sequence which,in part, incorporates federalInteragency procedures and guide-lines implemented prior to the effec-tive date of the Rule, as well as feder-al Interagency procedures and guide-lines effective after the date of theRule, as promulgated by the MMCexaminer guidelines, any federalagency, and, when issued, state gov-ernment agencies.

� A significant portion of the reviewshould be devoted to (1) completing theInstitution Information Request andInstitution Questionnaire provided inthe Examiner Guidelines, (2) assemblingitems required in a Document Request,(3) providing information asked for inan Audit Checklist (whether specificallydesigned or Interagency), and (4)including independent review criteriathrough documentation review, on-sitetransaction testing (if required), off-sitesampling of transaction documents,and interviews of institution staff orother parties.

Review components� Report of findings� Review of policy and procedures� Institution information request

� Institution questionnaire� Document request� Auditing of sampling indicia

MethodologyThere are several ways to go aboutpreparing for a regulatory examinationof loan originator compensation.

Prior to determining the most suit-able procedures to follow, threeModules should be outlined, as follows:

• Module 1: Examiner checklist This consists of certain kinds of questions

that would be expected to guide theexaminer throughout the course ofthe examination. It is important tobe familiar with the criteria thatwill be applied.

• Module 2: Institution informa-tion requestThe information that we would seekdoes not apply to dates prior to April6, 2011. However, this module doestake into consideration a very com-prehensive review of all informationand documentation that affect loanoriginator compensation.

• Module 3: Institution questionnaireThis module is meant to save timeand resources. We usually incorpo-

rate this in every DocumentRequest, and, unless we direct oth-erwise, we expect this question-naire to be completed and returnedto us prior to our audit and due dili-gence review. Most clients know tosupport their answers with docu-mentation. Certain questions,though, may be answered with aYes or No response, but most ques-tions require comprehensive, fullydocumentable responses.

ScopeThere are, essentially, three optionsin fulfilling the scope of exam pre-paredness, each of which consists of


loan originator compensation continued from page 6

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one or more of the aforementionedmodules.

• Full scopeThe Full Scope requires the completionof Modules 2 and Module 3, followed bycompletion of Module 1 through a doc-umentation review, on-site transactiontesting, and interviews of institutionstaff or other parties.

• Limited scopeA Limited Scope only requires com-pletion of Module 1, and it excludestransaction testing and interviews,based on the institution’s responsesto Modules 2 and 3.

• Limited scope with off-site testingThis review combines the LimitedScope with off-site sampling of trans-action documents and/or telephoneinterviews of institution staff orother parties.

Caveat: Before moving on to the next sec-tion, I want to mention that the appro-priate risk management approach vis-à-vis the selection of the scope depends ona financial institution’s type, size, com-plexity, and risk profile. Conferring witha risk management professional wouldbe helpful to determining which scope ismost suited to providing the level ofexam preparedness needed.

Information questionnairePlease give earnest consideration to thefollowing questions, as these will comeup in one form or another during anexamination of loan origination com-pensation. The financial institution mayor may not know the answers to all thequestions, but that very fact demon-strates weakness in policies, proce-dures, and compliance enforcement.When my firm issues a DocumentRequest, the Information Questionnaireis now always included. Prior to theexamination, it is unlikely that theexaminer will provide informationabout appropriate answers to thesekinds of questions. While some of thequestions may seem relatively simpleon the surface, they are not really sim-ple at all. The answers are either clearlystated or they are not, and if they arenot stated or incorrectly stated, this initself alerts the examiner to the finan-cial institution’s level of preparedness,its management competence, its imple-mentation awareness, and the addition-al information and documentation thatmay be need to be requested for theexamination.

1. How are loan originators compensat-ed? Provide details of all compensa-tion procedures and calculations.

2. What incentive plans are offered toloan originators? Provide details.

3. Are loan originators ever compensat-ed based on:a. The interest rate or Annual

Percentage Rate obtained on aloan?

b. The loan to value obtained on aloan?

c. Originating a loan with a prepay-ment penalty?

d. The amount of loan fees paid tothe institution or creditor?

4. Are credit scores a determining factorin the amount of compensationearned by a loan originator? Explain.

5. Is debt to income a determining factorin the amount of compensationearned by a loan originator? Explain.

6. Are loan originators allowed to receivereimbursement for third party costs(i.e., appraisal, credit report, etcetera)?

7. Are loan originators allowed to chargemore for third party costs than theactual cost of the service and retainsuch costs as compensation? Explain.

8. Are loan originators allowed to chargefor services other than loan origina-tion services that are performed bythe originator? For example: loanprocessing, document preparation,inspection fees, and so forth.

9. Is the loan originator compensatedany differently when price is increasedby the creditor or employer to offsetloan costs?

10. Is loan originator compensation everreduced in order for the institution tocompete on loan terms? (For example:the institution reduces its rate by 50basis points to induce a shopping con-sumer to stay with the institution, andthe loan originator’s compensation isreduced accordingly.)

11. Are loan originators able to deliverloans to more than one affiliate orsubsidiary of the institution’s parentcompany? If so, are loan originatorscompensated differently based onwhich affiliate the loans are deliv-ered to?

12. Are loan originators allowed to receivecompensation (including yield spreadpremium or similar compensation)from both the consumer and anyother person on the same transaction?

Brokered loans: Questions 13 through18 must be answered by both mortgagebroker loan originators originatingloans and creditor institutions receivingbrokered loans.13. Does the institution allow loan

originators to “steer” consumers totransactions where the loan origi-nator receives more compensationand the loan is not in the con-sumer’s interest? Explain.

14. Does the institution require or usethe steering Safe Harbor provisionunder the Rule?10

15. During the examination period or the


17


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operations and their business model. Wediscovered that they had a great deal ofintegrity and that they deliver on theirpromises, and they’re young, energetic,and hungry to grow.”

The McGoverns built Bay Equity on acombination of innovation and agility withjust the right amount of aggressiveness.Being a direct lender did not make themunique; a focus on technological innova-tion and premier customer service did.Consequently, Bay Equity quickly fash-ioned a reputation as a skilled team oftrustworthy professionals—a team thathas grown to more than 185 employees.

“The guys at TriStar Home Loans–HadyBreidy, Curt Kravitz and Jim Doty–areextremely well established in their marketand do consistent high volume business ina segment of the market that they havebeen successful in for a long time,” saidBrett McGovern, president of Bay EquityHome Loans. “They have been sendingwholesale loans to us for some time, sowhen they decided to consider segueingfrom the mortgage broker side of the busi-ness to the banking side, we were on theirshort list. The more we talked the more werealized we were a good fit for each other.By joining the Bay Equity team, they canfocus on what they do best and turn a lot ofthe administrative responsibility over to us.”

TMS Funding Expands Its Presence With AE Hiring Campaign

TMS Funding, thewholesale residen-

tial lending channel of Total MortgageServices LLC, has announced that it isactively hiring new account executives (AEs)to help expand its wholesale lending mar-ket position throughout the 21 states andWashington, D.C. in which it is currentlylicensed for wholesale mortgage produc-tion. TMS Funding is recruiting high-quali-ty wholesale AEs with two-plus years ofexperience and a current mortgage brokerbase funding conventional, FHA, USDA andjumbo loans. The wholesale lender is offer-ing a highly competitive compensationpackage and access to some of the lowestmortgage rates and best-in-class opera-tional support in the mortgage industry.TMS Funding recently launched a new flex-ible jumbo mortgage product into thewholesale marketplace.

“We see a tremendous opportunity inthe wholesale channel today, as manylenders have exited the channel and theremaining lenders are not providing realvalue either from a rate perspective or serv-ice levels,” said John Walsh, president ofTotal Mortgage Services LLC. “We feel we canleverage our outstanding operation and it’sefficiencies to capture a substantial amountof wholesale business in the future.”

TMS Funding is hiring AEs to servicebrokers in all areas of California; Florida;Georgia; Illinois; Massachusetts; Maryland;Maine; Michigan; Mississippi; NorthCarolina; New Hampshire; New Jersey;New York; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island;

South Carolina; Tennessee; Texas; Virginia;Vermont; and Washington, D.C.

“We are looking to hire 20-30 new AEsby the end of 2011,” said Walsh. “At thattime, we will assess the marketplace andour internal processes and look to poten-tially further increase hiring.”

Greenlight Financial Setto Launch WholesaleDivision and Add 400New Positions

Greenlight FinancialServices has announced

major expansion plans, including thelaunch of its wholesale lending division inthe first quarter of 2012. Executive VicePresidents Mary Glass-Schannault andGretchen Verdugo are tasked with thelaunch of the company’s wholesale divi-sion. Glass-Schannault is nationally recog-nized in the mortgage banking industrywith more than 33 years of leadershipexperience in mortgage operations andoriginations for national wholesale/con-duit channels including REIT managementand capital markets. Verdugo, a CPA, par-ticipated in public offerings of in excess of$1 billion equity capital. Her professionalcareer includes more than 20 years offinancial services experience, includingREIT management and capital markets.Verdugo and Glass-Schannault have each

transacted more than $50 billion of securi-tizations and whole loan transactions.

Bela M. Donine, national sales manag-er, with a background in nationwide cor-respondent originations, will head up theproduction effort with established rela-tionships with traditional broker partnersfor wholesale delivery.

“We are implementing a sustainablegrowth strategy that is designed to increasethe breadth and scope of our product offer-ings nationwide,” said Joann Pham, chiefexecutive officer of Greenlight. “Our positiongives us the unique ability to leverage cur-rent market opportunities to launch newbusiness channels that will allow us to buildupon our 10-year history of success.”

heard on the street continued from page 9

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An Invitation to NAMB WEST 2011By Donald J. Frommeyer, CRMS

Wow ... it is hard to believe that we are getting ready for NAMB/WEST once again, set for Saturday-Monday, Dec. 3-5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Time really flies when you get busy, and it goes to saythat these last four months have been very busy for my mortgage company and I am sure you have beentoo! So, take a few minutes and make your reservations, airline flights and register for this outstandingconference.

We are having some excellent speakers on hand at the event, and please make sure that you completethe registration form for the presentation of USA Cares by Beverly Frase. For those of you who do not

know, this presentation will get you qualified as a Certified Military Housing Specialist, a designation that means when aveteran is looking for a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loan, this should help you put them as ease as to yourqualifications of understanding their situation. I recently received my Certified Military Housing Specialist certification,and I have already spoken with several new purchasers. This certification will enable you to market yourself to Realtorsand it will help get you loans.

I would also like to take a moment and highlight one of our Ruby Industry Partners, Sprint. They became an industrypartner last year at NAMB/WEST and we would really like to thank them. Sprint offers a great program for NAMB mem-bers at a savings 20 percent off for your mobile service. For more information, you can visit the NAMB Web site, click onthe Sprint LOGO, and it will help you compare the cost. I have personally saved $70 per month from my previous carrier,and I now have unlimited texting and calling to other mobile phones. Alex Mohammed, our NAMB Sprint representative,has really offered NAMB members a great opportunity to save money, and in this day and time, we can all appreciate that.Get in contact with Alex at (801) 301-1096 or e-mail [email protected]. He will get you on the road to savingmoney each month. Alex will also have a booth at NAMB/WEST and Sprint is again one of the sponsors of the event.

One of the other great options for NAMB/WEST is that once you pay the registration fee, it includes attendance at theOpening Reception, breaks and lunches, entrance into the Exhibit Hall and all of the trimmings that go with this greatevent. If you need education, eight hours of education will be offered with your registration. We have set aside some gen-eral sessions so it is not all education. We have secured some outstanding speakers who will give you information that you

need to help you in your offices. So don’t wait. Register now.We will also be having a very important Delegate Council Meeting at NAMB/WEST. As we only have

two large conferences per year, the DelegateCouncil needs to meet to handle business for theassociation. This year, the meeting will takeplace Saturday, Dec. 3 and the Board Meetingwill be held Monday at 4:30 p.m.

And as a final note, all fullyregistered attendees will

have a chance to winthe Grand Prize of atrip to Hawaii. Whenyou arrive, you will

receive the Passportthat may just get you

there. So do not delay.Now is the time to go to

NAMBWEST.com to registerand get your hotel reservations

completed at the same time. We havenegotiated new rates this year that have

significantly reduced the cost to attend.I look forward to seeing you all in Las Vegas.

Donald J. Frommeyer, CRMS, is president of the NationalAssociation of Mortgage Brokers. He may be reached by phone at

(317) 575-4355 or e-mail at [email protected].

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NAMB/WEST2011

Saturday-Monday,December 3-5

MGM GrandLas Vegas

Saturday, December 310:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. ..........Registration Open

10:00 a.m.-Noon ................Committee MeetingsSome or all of the following committees could meet during this time slot: ConferenceCommittee, Government Affairs Committee, Membership Committee, Ethics Committee,By-Laws & Education Committee, Communications Committee, and Finance Committee.

1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. ............NAMB Delegate Council Meeting

4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. ............Opening Reception & PAC Auction Event

Sunday, December 48:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. ............Registration Open (Premier Ballroom Foyer)

8:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. ............NMLS Education: FHA (1 Hour)This NMLS-accredited course will be instructed by David Luna of Mortgage Educators. TheNMLS classes presented at NAMB/WEST will meet all of the necessary requirements to renewyour license. These will be taught in a conversational format, not a lecture, where you willbe asked your opinions on what you know. It will be a fun learning environment where youwill walk away having learned something that didn’t hurt and made you laugh.

8:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. ............Three Proven Strategies Mortgage Professionals CanWork With Real Estate Agents Online to GenerateMore Buyers

Presented by Mark Madsen, owner of Mortagedaily.tv and founder of Mortgage Revolution,this session will teach you how to find and connect with the Web savvy agents who are actu-ally making a living from their online presence You will learn to “flip the script,” and lookdeeper at the four unique ways mortgage professionals can position themselves as the mostvaluable asset an agent has online, and much more in this hour-long session.

9:40 a.m.-12:45 p.m. .......... NMLS Education: Federal Law (3 Hours)This NMLS-accredited course will be instructed by David Luna of Mortgage Educators. TheNMLS classes presented at NAMB/WEST will meet all of the necessary requirements to renewyour license. These will be taught in a conversational format, not a lecture, where you willbe asked your opinions on what you know. It will be a fun learning environment where youwill walk away having learned something that didn’t hurt and made you laugh.

9:40 a.m.-10:40 a.m. ..........Stimulate the Economy With the 203K LoanPresented by Ginger Bell, national trainer for Plaza Home Mortgage and founder ofGo2Training.com, this session will teach you the benefits of how the 203k loan andother renovation loan programs will improve and maintain neighborhood values, aswell as put contractors and construction professionals back to work.

10:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. ........ Get Certified for VA LoansPresented by Beverly Frase of USA Cares, this session will cover the Certified MilitaryHousing Specialist designation, and provide attendees with the tools to equip their localcommunity of lenders, Realtors and housing professionals with the knowledge on howto work with military borrowers, whether they use VA or some other type of financing.Learn to “speak their language” by learning their acronyms and build a solid, lastingrapport by being the “local military expert” they need and deserve.

12:45 p.m.-2:00 p.m. ..........Networking Lunch

2:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. ............Expo Hall & Networking ReceptionVisit the industry’s top lenders and vendors in Premier Ballroom 312-317 of the MGMGrand. The reception and raffles will be held during the exhibit hall hours, and atten-dees must be present to win.

Monday, December 58:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. ............Registration Open (Premier Ballroom Foyer)

8:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m. ..........NMLS Education: Reverse Mortgages (2 Hours)This NMLS-accredited course will be instructed by David Luna of Mortgage Educators. The NMLSclasses presented at NAMB/WEST will meet all of the necessary requirements to renew yourlicense. These will be taught in a conversational format, not a lecture, where you will be askedyour opinions on what you know. It will be a fun learning environment where you will walkaway having learned something that didn’t hurt and made you laugh.

8:30 a.m.-9:45 a.m. ............Stop Sending Meatloaf Recipes to Vegetarians: One-to-One Marketing Basics

Presented by Mark Green of Top of Mind Networks, this session will instruct attendeeson how to hit their desired target markets with desired results.

10:00 a.m.-11:15 a.m...........Unlocking Your Success: Disciplines That Make aLasting Difference

Presented by Jim McMahan of LoanToolbox will uncover the keys to becoming a fiscally liter-ate originator in today’s mortgage marketplace. Not only does Jim outline the disciplines thatlead you down the path to success, he also teaches you what steps to take in order to make alasting difference in the lives of your clients and relationship partners.

10:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. ........NMLS Education: Ethics (2 Hours)This NMLS-accredited course will be instructed by David Luna of Mortgage Educators. TheNMLS classes presented at NAMB/WEST will meet all of the necessary requirements to renewyour license. These will be taught in a conversational format, not a lecture, where you willbe asked your opinions on what you know. It will be a fun learning environment where youwill walk away having learned something that didn’t hurt and made you laugh.

11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. ........Session From Ron Vaimberg (topic to be determined)


2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. ............Using Social Media to Leverage Your Mortgage BusinessPresented by Becki Rogers-Neese of Real Assist QC, this session will discuss how to prop-erly implement social media strategies into your marketing and business plan to growleads and increase your profit.

3:15 p.m.-4:30 p.m. ............ Successful Originations in Today’s Challenging andDynamic Market

Presented by Sue Woodard of Mortgage Success Source, this session will present a newapproach to successful originations in today’s challenging and dynamic market. Don’tmiss this opportunity to hear one of the top industry leaders share how you can thrivein this challenging marketplace.

4:30 p.m. ..........................Grand Prize Drawing for a Trip to HawaiiIf entered, you must be present to win this prize.

4:45 p.m.-6:30 p.m. ............NAMB Board Meeting

For more information on NAMB/WEST 2011, including registration, exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities,

visit NAMBWEST.com.

gage brokers and they were telling mehow much they enjoyed the work andthe pay. At that point, I thought that Icould also be successful as a mortgageoriginator. So I interviewed at a coupleof banks, and I ended up accepting ajob at a banking institution where myfriend, Joe Bartolomeo, worked at inConnecticut. I did really well right out ofthe gate, but the bank was bought outtwo years later.

After that job, I moved on to work foranother institution for about one yearand then went back to work with myfriend who initially introduced me to themortgage business. At that time, I toldhim that I wanted to own my own com-pany. Coincidentally, my boss at the timeapproached my friend to see if we want-ed to buy him out. So Joe Bartolomeoand myself made the move. The compa-ny eventually became the foundation forTotal Mortgage Services.

Where was the business coming fromwhen you first started?In the beginning, business was comingfrom traditional referral relationships. Iwould bring donuts to Realtors’ officesand reach out the old-fashioned way.Most of these Realtors had offices andheld meetings each Tuesday. I wouldattend these meetings and field ques-tions for about 20 min., but manytimes, I would be there for over fourhours. Before long, I would find myselfat the Realtors’ office all day. That waswhen I first realized how important agreat back office is to a mortgage origi-nator. I could go out all day, and notworry about the processing aspects ofthe business and just focus on maximiz-ing my earnings potential and growproduction.

Tell us about both of your companies,TMS Funding, your wholesale business,and its parent company, TotalMortgage Services.They are two separate entities, but froma turn time perspective, they are verysimilar. Our turn times are declining inboth our retail and wholesale channels.I hired Victoria Bextel as senior vicepresident of operations and ElainePresta as wholesale operations manag-er about six months ago and our turntimes have significantly improved. Weare focused on hiring the right peopleand having the right processes in place.We are now looking at a general 24-48hour turnaround time. I do not believeany other firm is doing that on thewholesale side. We tell our mortgagebroker partners that if they deliver acomplete package, we can guarantee wewill underwrite the loan within 24 hours.

What about time to close?On the retail side, from application toclose, we are closing in under 40 days.There are plenty of loans closed withina month, but on average, we are usual-ly done in less than 40 days. If it werenot for delays getting information fromborrowers, I have no doubt that wewould close all loans in less than 30days. I believe we are staffed very dif-ferently than other firms, as we havealways been heavily staffed. There wasa time when I had 10 loan officers and20 support staffers and everybody

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John Walsh, PresidentTotal Mortgage Services

“I say it all the time ... problems are just opportunities toget better. We just need to keep reinventing ourselves and

get better and better every day.”

Each month, National MortgageProfessional Magazine will focus onone of the industry’s top players in

our “Mortgage Professional of the Month”feature. Our readers are encouraged tocontact us by e-mail at [email protected] to be considered for afuture “Mortgage Professional of theMonth” feature article.

This month, we had a chance to chatwith John Walsh, president and founderof Milford, Conn.-based Total MortgageServices, parent company to wholesalelender, TMS Funding. A finance major atthe University of Connecticut, Walshbegan his journey in the mortgage indus-try with a sales job at a bank and found-ed Total Mortgage in 1997, with a cus-tomer-centric approach and a clear mis-sion of responsible lending, and anemphasis on a strong back office andcustomer service. Total Mortgage has nothad a buy-back in more than 14 years,which is a true testament to the lender’sresponsible lending focus throughout thelending value chain.

Licensed in 24 states and the Districtof Columbia, Total Mortgage offers avariety of home loan programs, includ-ing low-rate, fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages, jumbo mortgages,reverse mortgages and mortgage pro-grams for struggling homeowners. Inaddition, Total Mortgage offers a FederalHousing Administration (FHA) streamlinemortgage refinance program, includingthe 203(b) FHA loan. In September 2011,Total Mortgage received approval withFannie Mae to be a seller/servicer forone- to four-family first lien mortgagesand can now retain mortgage servicingrights, expand product offerings as wellas sell and pool loans into mortgagebacked securities. Total Mortgage wasnamed to the 2011 and 2010 Inc. 5000list of “America’s Fastest GrowingCompanies” In late 2009, Total MortgageServices announced the formal launch ofits wholesale residential mortgage lend-ing platform, TMS Funding, which hasbeen expanding rapidly and is currentlyaggressively hiring account executives.

John Walsh’s views are quoted exten-sively in the national and mortgagetrade press and he has written numer-ous mortgage industry bylines. He isalso an advocate for the mortgage andhousing industry. In early November

2011, John authored an “Open Letter toMembers of the United States House ofRepresentatives,” urging them to tem-porarily raise the GSE lending limitsback to $729,750 without delay andnot just for “high-cost areas,” butnationwide to help put the nation’shousing sector and economy back onthe road to recovery.

How did you first get started in thebusiness?I attended the University of Connecticutand earned a degree in finance. I reallyenjoyed my time in college and gradu-ated with honors. After I graduated, Itook a job in sales. I always knew Iwanted to be fairly compensated forwhat I did at work, so sales was the per-fect job for me. The harder you worked,the more you were able to make. I heldvarious sales jobs, but in 1993, I wasspeaking with friends who were mort-

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thought the model would not work. I didit because I grew up in this business as asales guy and I always wanted to sell andwanted people on the operations side tooperate. I try never to be short-staffed. Itis hard to say “never,” because there aretimes when refinance booms hit and noone is prepared to double the amount ofloans you do in a month. But, I havealways had the philosophy that if you canhire a great staff, you can provide a bet-ter customer experience, along with abetter loan officer experience and betteroperations experience. It takes care ofeverybody.

Any idea what the pull-through rateis on the wholesale side?At TMS Funding, our pull-through rateis around 60-65 percent. We alwaysstress the same thing, just make suremortgage brokers deliver us a goodpackage and we will guarantee tounderwrite the loan quickly. If brokersget us a good file, we are able to givethem a good price, and can close theloan quickly. It’s a win-win situation.

Are there any business practices thatyou started out with 14 years agothat are still an important part ofyour company today?From the beginning, I have always strivedto do the right thing at all times. Thismust be working, as Total Mortgage hasnot had a buy-back in over 14 years andit is a true testament to us doing the rightthings throughout the lending valuechain. When Alt-A and sub-prime prod-ucts were popular, I would talk to myloan officers and say, “Look, I don’t nec-essarily believe in doing refinances oninvestment properties at 100 percentwith a 580 credit score.” I knew thosetypes of products were out there, but itseems just plain crazy. It takes a littlecommon sense, but I told my team thatwe were just not going to do those typesof loans. We did maybe two or threeoption ARMs and realized you reallyneeded a sophisticated borrower tounderstand that product. We do not placeborrowers in mortgages that they cannotpay or do not have a likelihood of paying.Vince Lombardi once said: “Gentlemen,we are going to relentlessly chase perfec-tion, knowing full well we will not catchit, because nothing is perfect. But, we aregoing to relentlessly chase it, because inthe process, we will catch excellence. I amnot remotely interested in just beinggood.” Each day, I try to improve theprocess. I am not afraid to say whensomething goes wrong and seek out theroot cause of the problem and attempt tofix it. When people make mistakes, they

tend to keep it under the carpet, but thosesmall problems can easily turn into bigproblems, so we attempt to fix them andtake the opportunity to get better throughconstant learning and communication. Isay it all the time … problems are justopportunities to get better. We just needto keep reinventing ourselves and get bet-ter and better every day.

In terms of any kind of referral busi-ness, how important is it to under-write a loan versus just being able tonetwork?I really became successful in this busi-ness once I fully understood how tounderwrite a loan. I think that is anextremely important aspect of being agreat loan officer. If you want to build agreat business, you need your people tounderstand how the process works sothey are selling the right products.

Besides changes forced upon theindustry by regulators, what techno-logical innovations have you seen oflate that stand out in the mortgagebanking side of the industry?All the software and measures that arenow in place to prevent mortgage fraudstand out to me. If those same toolswere in place back in 2002, the industrywouldn’t be in such a mess.

The whole Home Valuation Code ofConduct (HVCC) issue has created manychallenges and it remains a problem interms of getting a quality appraisal. Butthe idea of having a completely sepa-rate individual appraise the propertyhas been very good for the industry. Itactually helps Total Mortgage, especial-ly our wholesale channel. If we areworking with a mortgage broker that isgoing to have a friend appraise a home,that is not good. But by sending out myappraisal company, I know there is avery good chance that the value is in thehome. At the end of the day, there arethings they can do to make it better, butI think HVCC has helped the mortgageindustry.

What do you feel is your greatestaccomplishment to date? I am very proud of our turn time atTotal Mortgage Services and TMSFunding. I am also proud of the way wehave been able to grow as a company.We have progressed from a broker tobanker to wholesaler, and we are nowworking on plans to enter the corre-spondent channel. We are alwayssearching for the next best thing in themortgage industry to help us grow.

I still love the business. It is a funand challenging business, not for the

faint of heart, but for me, it is still thebest place to have a career. Each day isdifferent than the previous and bringswith it new challenges. Is there anoth-er business where you could literallydouble your production overnight? Alot of people exit this business becauseit is so demanding. Total Mortgage hasgrown and accomplished a great deal,and we are aggressively seeking outnew opportunities each day. We havegrown 100 percent organically andhave not purchased anyone else’sproblems, so it’s been a fun ride, witha great group of people.

Getting into correspondent lending isour next big goal. It is sort of an inter-esting time, as you have a major playerlike Bank of America walking away fromthis market. But we will enter the corre-spondent channel as we entered thewholesale channel: Slowly and careful-ly. From a wholesale perspective, I didnot want to make any mistakes. I want-ed to understand clearly what I neededto do first in order to be the best in thischannel. There are other companiesthat are growing more quickly than usright now, but for every one of those,there are companies going out of busi-ness because they grew too fast and didnot have the proper procedures andprocesses in place. You hear storiesabout how companies have grown, forexample, by 500 percent in six monthsor so. To me, that could be a sign oftrouble because you have to look athow they are handling their operationswith such drastic growth. It’s easy to getthe business, but it is what you do withit once you get it that will determineyour longevity in this industry. If you getthe right team in place, who want to do

the right thing, share a similar mindset,and have the same morals and ethics,you put yourself in a good position tobe successful.

Do you have any regrets to date inyour career?Not many at all, but I wish that I had theoperations manager and team I havenow back in 2003. In addition, I wishedI transitioned sooner from broker tobanker, as I left a lot of funds on thetable from 2002-2004. In 2005, webecame a banker, so it took us eight orso years to make that transition frommortgage broker to mortgage banker.Fortunately, I had experience in being abanker, so I was able to capitalize onthat when we began the broker-to-banker transition. Had I done it in 2000instead of 2005, it would have been awhole different story for Total Mortgage.If I had the proper staff in place, I couldhave done a lot more business. You lookback at 2003 and it was such a tumul-tuous time in this industry. I try to learnthose lessons every day.

Is there any particular managementstyle or philosophy that you employ?I am a firm believer of open communi-cation from top to bottom of our organ-ization. It doesn’t matter if it is anadministrative person that has a greatidea or a top salesperson in the firm;we at Total Mortgage Services try to fos-ter a culture where no idea is a dumbidea. I have implemented ideas frompeople who have been here only a fewweeks. I want to hear what everyonehas to say.


“That was the secret to my success … take care of the backoffice operations first and the sales will come.”

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nmp mortgage professional continued from page 21

Are there any social media strategiesthat you have implemented into yourbusiness model?I think it is important to deliver usefulinformation and content to borrowers.Putting information out there just toput information out there will not be abig help in the long run. I believe it isimportant to deliver relevant informa-tion about your company or provide rel-evant education to the market place.You need to make sure your informa-tion is accurate, timely and useful. Youwant to be a resource for borrowers.

As a message to your wholesaleclients, what are some of the ways inwhich a small- to mid-sized mortgageoriginator can grow their business?Should they focus on consumer-direct, referrals, infinity programs? The most important thing brokers shouldfocus on is their own operations. If youhave a sound operation with confidentsalespeople who know the products theyoffer, then the programs begin to sellthemselves. That was the secret to my suc-cess … take care of the back office opera-tions first and the sales will come. All ofthe traditional ways to get business arestill viable in today’s market and the pur-chase market is definitely going to comeback. If you can support the purchasemarket and get people to commit to clos-ing on time, your business will grow.

Besides real estate agents, are there anyother groups that mortgage profession-als should be networking with?In addition to past clientele, I would sayfinancial planners, insurance agents, andpretty much the standard list of resources.If you did a great job for your client in thepast and provided a great customer expe-rience, you have earned the right to askthem for referrals. Total Mortgage is alwayslooking to get business from our currentclients. It’s always at the tip of our tongues.

When I started this business, I alwaysgave five business cards to everyone. Iwould say: “I’m going to give you suchgreat service, that I’ll expect you to get mefive great referrals when we are done.” Idid that for about a year, and after a while,I thought it was ridiculous. But after a year,I didn’t have to go out on the road any-more. I was still going to Realtors offices,but my business was made up of repeatcustomers as they trusted doing businesswith me. If you do a good job, they aregoing to tell others, the same thing if youdo a bad job, they will tell others.

Do you miss interacting with borrowers?I am at a different stage now, but I definite-ly enjoyed it when I started in the business.I took loans until 2001. I enjoy people, andI like to help people, so I did enjoy that sideof the business. I had fun, and sometimes,the interview would take two hours becauseI loved talking with people and learningabout them. You get to learn everything …the good, the bad and the ugly.

Do you think that the loan originatorcompensation rule has helped or hurtthe individual mortgage loan originator?I think there has been a lot of wasted timeand energy, and at the end of the day, Ireally don’t think it benefits the consumer.I believe there are a lot of factors they did-n’t consider when they put the LO com-pensation rule in place. It is hurting the LOand the client, and you’re going to haveless competition because there will be lessprofessionals out there offering products.It has been tough on the industry, and it isan example of overregulation. There arepieces that are good and pieces that arebad, but telling how much an LO will makedoes not compute to me. I don’t under-stand how that can be applied.

Are there any books out there thatyou’ve found influential?I love Good to Great: Why Some CompaniesMake the Leap... and Others Don’t by JimCollins. In fact, I have read the book severaltimes. There are so many points that I likeabout that book. It discusses getting theright people aboard the bus, and it is a bookthat I quote quite often. I have given it tomany co-workers to read. It’s definitely myfavorite business book. Collins also wroteanother great book, Built to Last: SuccessfulHabits of Visionary Companies. I also recent-ly read another book, The Billion DollarMistake: Learning the Art of InvestingThrough the Missteps of Legendary Investorsby Stephen L. Weiss that discussed Fortune500 companies that went by the wayside.The book looks at about 10 differentFortune 500 companies, and you see howthese companies make mistakes and thatthere are always pitfalls out there that mustbe avoided. We need to learn from thesemistakes, as well as from their success.

Do you draw inspiration from any oneparticular person or have a mentor?I am inspired by my family. My passion ismy kids … it’s not the money, it’s wantingto provide a better and safer life for my kids.

Is there anything that worries youabout the future of the mortgagebusiness?I am worried about more regulation. I won-der what could be next. They have done somuch so fast. There are some benefits toregulations, but some of it is over the top.When you look back at loans that wereacceptable in 2005 as compared to today,the banks underwrote them and told methey were okay and they closed these loans.Now they are coming back and saying theyshould not have approved the loan andnow it is our fault. That scares me becauseit happened to a lot of companies.

Are you excited about the future ofthe mortgage industry?I think there is tremendous opportunityout there for companies that are well-posi-tioned. There is a lot of business to be hadand I think Total Mortgage and TMSFunding are both in a position to grow.

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The launch of the wholesale division fol-lows Greenlight’s recent introduction of theirreverse mortgage division and the expansionof their government-insured lending chan-nel, including FHA and VA-insured mort-gages. Along with broadening the scope ofthe business, Greenlight continues to widentheir national footprint through the expan-sion of their state licensing.

In conjunction with the channel expan-sions and their retail national marketingcampaigns, Greenlight intends to hire anadditional 400 mortgage professionalsacross all divisions centralized at the firm’sIrvine, Calif. headquarters. The hiringeffort encompasses all levels of productionstaff, including licensed loan agents,account executives, processors, underwrit-ers and funders.

MetLife to Explore Sale of Its Forward MortgageBusiness

MetLife has an-nounced that, in

addition to its previously announceddecision to explore a sale of MetLifeBank NA’s depository business, thecompany will now also explore a sale ofthe bank’s forward mortgage business.MetLife Bank began originating forwardand reverse mortgages in 2008 throughits MetLife Home Loans division.

MetLife Home Loans will continue tooriginate forward mortgages, while thebusiness is being marketed for sale. Thecompany also remains committed to con-tinuing to service all of its mortgage clients.

NewDay’s ServicingPortfolio Hits the $500 Million Mark inGovernment Loans

NewDay Financial, anational U.S. Depart-ment of Veterans Affairs(VA) and reverse mort-

gage lender, has announced that the com-pany has built its servicing portfolio tomore than $500 million in governmentloans. NewDay Financial has been servic-ing government loans for nearly two years,and to date, has serviced more than 3,000loans. Approximately 85 percent of thecompany’s portfolio consists of VA loans,while the remainder are Federal HousingAdministration (FHA) loans. NewDay’s seri-ously delinquent loan rate is well belowthe national average, which the companyattributes to its use of powerful data ana-lytics and information technology.

“When NewDay became Ginnie Mae-approved, we were already equipped withthe talent and knowledge to securitize andservice loans, positioning us for this quickand ongoing progression,” said BruceGiacoma, chairman of NewDay Financial.“By using strong analytics, we can originateand service the best quality loans andcontinually grow our portfolio on amonthly basis. This milestone repre-sents NewDay’s continued dedicationto working with veterans, ensuring they

have a solid opportunity to achieve andmaintain homeownership.”

Ranieri and Ross PurchaseLarge MultifamilyOriginator and ServicerFrom Deutsche Bank

Ranieri Real EstatePartners LP (RREP), areal estate financialservices company,and private equityfunds affiliated withWL Ross & Company

LLC, have entered into a definitive agree-ment to acquire Deutsche Bank BerkshireMortgage (DBBM), a subsidiary of DeutscheBank. DBBM originates multifamily loansfor Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and theFederal Housing Administration (FHA).DBBM is the second largest originator ofFannie Mae loans and services a $28 billionmultifamily loan portfolio.

DBBM was founded in 1988 andbecame a unit of Deutsche Bank in 2004. Ithas 160 employees and operates out ofthree primary offices in Bethesda, Md.;Boston and Irvine, Calif. and has addition-al offices in Dallas, Los Angeles, Nashvilleand Seattle. Jeff Day will remain as chiefexecutive officer and the current manage-ment team and staff are expected toremain with the company.

“The DBBM team has built a top-tiercompany with a solid business model andproven track record of providing neededliquidity to the multi-family housingindustry,” said Jon Vaccaro, co-founderand CEO of RREP. “We are very pleased topartner with WL Ross, Jeff Day and theDBBM team at this important time. Weexpect the fundamentals of the multi-fam-ily market to continue to improve and theshifting preference toward renting overhome ownership to fuel significant newdemand, making DBBM a strong platformfor future growth.”

The acquisition is expected to be com-pleted by the close of 2011, and the com-pany will be renamed following the clos-

Photo credit: George Doyle

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By David Lykken

Halloween may be behind us, butthere is still a scary nightmarishcrisis facing us! Do you know

what it is? This crisis is far worse thanloan originator (LO) compensationchanges, worse than the Dodd-FrankAct and even worse than the worldwidedebt crisis. For those of you who havebeen reading this column for the pastseven months, you know what I amtalking about. It is that “planet Earth isin the midst of a serious leadership cri-sis!” Another way to put it is that we areexperiencing a “leadership deficit” or a“leadership void!”

Consider for a moment what is goingon in Europe, specifically, in Greece,and the effect it is having on our mar-kets. Globalization has had more thanjust a “ripple effect” on the world’seconomy; it has been more of a tsuna-mi. Think about it for a minute. Greece,if (or more like, when) it defaults on itsdebt, will have a huge domino affectacross all of Western Europe and couldvery likely crater our country’s debt-rid-den economy. The result of globaliza-tion is an interconnectedness of ourmarkets with Europe that has scaryramifications. A lack of leadership with-in the European community is com-pounding their problems. Europeanleaders seem to prefer denial and/ordelusion over taking decisive responsi-ble actions to correct the structuralissues perpetuating their financialdemise. And we are no better off hereat home. Polls suggest that the vastmajority of Americans are disillusionedwith leadership inside the beltway ofWashington, D.C. and the disillusion-ment is directed at both sides of thepolitical aisle. But here’s the beautifulpart of our system … WE CAN DO SOME-THING ABOUT IT!

We are gearing up for one of themost important election seasons of our

nation’s history. This process of changethat “We the People” have before us isamazing, but we have to act! The solu-tion to this leadership crisis is fairly sim-ple and straightforward—throw out thebad leaders and bring in new “good”leaders. Simple enough, right? Well, onthe surface, it may seem simple, but “Wethe People” haven’t had the best trackrecord of picking “good” leaders inrecent years. Many in the electorate arediscouraged and sadly disengagedbecause they feel that they have had thewool pulled over our eyes more than afew times. Many have been duped bygreat campaign slogans like, “ChangeYou Can Believe In” and “Yes We Can!“only to realize that three years later, weare in worse shape today than before …or, at a minimum, no better off.

The age-old definition of insanity isexpecting different results from thesame old actions. So, what are the sameold actions that we need to change toturn around this crisis? We need tolearn how to recognize a good leader byunderstanding the characteristics thatmake up a great leader. The good newsis that we do have leaders, even strongleaders, walking amongst us—some ofwhom I believe are reading this article(hint hint, wink wink)! Yes, I am talkingabout YOU! And if you sense a draw toleadership, give serious study to what ittakes to be a great leader and then ifstill so inclined, step up and boldlyanswer the call to leadership. Lordknows we need folks to step up andanswer the call. If nothing else, I canguarantee that you will be better for iteven if you don’t end up being a leader.

My own self-realization is that Ineeded to learn how to recognize goodleaders. This launched my quest tostudy the subject of leadership, andspecifically, identify the key characteris-tics that are resident in a good leader. I

wanted to develop my own list of mini-mum basic requirements I wanted in astrong leader. That is what inspired meto start writing this series of articles atthe first of the year entitled “The SevenCharacteristics of Leadership” or “The 7-Cs of Leadership.” This series of articlesis sort of my own personal journal ofwhat I have learned in my studies.

Author’s note: I would personally liketo say “thank you” to the many who havetaken the time to write me expressinghow much this series of articles hashelped you. I really appreciate your con-tinued feedback and encouragement. Iintend to stay on this journey, learningall I can and will continue to share withyou what I learn each month.

So, as I am about to start writingabout the seventh “C” (characteristic) ofleadership, let us start with a quickrefresher of the first six of the “7-Cs” res-ident in outstanding leaders. They areas follows:

1. CharacterCharacter is found in the deepest part ofour innermost being, and it causes us todecide to go one way or another on themost important of issues. It is like a coreprocessor deep within each of us thatreceives input, processes it and makesthe determination on the best course ofaction for any given situation. It is com-monly referred to as the heart of a per-son. Character is usually developedthrough difficult and painful circum-stances. That is why it is so important thatwe look into someone’s life journey andexamine the choices they have madebefore we determine if they are capableof leading. This process of examinationwill reveal character. Character is like aninternal compass—if it is off, even by acouple of degrees, you will end up whereyou didn’t intend to go. It is the corner-stone in the foundation of every leader.

2. ConvictionConviction is the next building block inthe foundation of a great leader and isimmediately adjacent to the corner-stone of character. Conviction is whatyou have as an absolute resolve in yourheart to be true and accurate. A strongleader leads from the core of theirbeing. That is why conviction anchoredin good character is essential to goodleadership. If you follow someone withdeep convictions anchored in a com-promised character, there is a very highprobability that they will lead yousomewhere you wished you hadn’tgone. If you doubt me, think about ourcountry’s current direction.

3. ConfidentGiven the difficulties that lie ahead, astrong leader must be someone whohas an unwavering confidence that isrooted in deep conviction in soundprinciples and good character. It is notabout power. The counterfeit to confi-dence is arrogance, which can be spot-ted from a mile away.

4. CharismaticI believe that the best leaders exude gen-uine self-less magnetic warmth and havean amazing ability to relate to others.Unlike character which, as I said, is devel-oped, charisma almost always is a gift.Either a leader has it or they don’t.Charisma is not an essential component ofleadership, but it is almost always present.

5. ClarityA good leader cuts through and elimi-nates confusion. They bring clarity tosome of the most convoluted and seem-ingly confusing matters. A strong leaderintensely studies whatever issue theyare facing and forms a clear planunderstandable by all, and then will beable to communicate it concisely.

The Compassionate Side of Leadership

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6. CommunicatorBecause the two most recent articles Iwrote were published in this publica-tion on the topic of communication, Iwon’t review much other than to saythat a strong leader knows how torelate and effectively communicatewith the broadest and most diverseaudience. Love him or hate him,Ronald Regan was renowned for hisability to effectively communicate to abroad and diverse audience.

7. CompassionateThis is defined as “Having or showingcompassion (a feeling of sympathy andsorrow for those dealing with a misfor-tune and is accompanied with a strongdesire to alleviate the suffering) and isevident in an emergency or time of cri-sis.” With this characteristic being themain topic for this month’s article, Iexpound on it in more detail below.

Compassion is the quality that allowsa leader to connect with those he or sheleads. Compassion is actually a verystrong characteristic that has mistaken-ly been confused with and miscon-strued as weakness. Compassionateleaders of the past are some of ourmost powerful leaders in history. Theyare touched, but not de-railed, by themisfortunes of others. They have astrong desire to “make things right.”Some of the best turnaround managershave been some of the most compas-sionate mangers. By that, I mean thoseleaders/managers who have beeninvolved with a turnaround manage-ment situation, connect with peoplewith compassion, all the while, takingcorrective action to make things better.The compassionate component of lead-ership is less evident or needed wheneverything is going well. The compas-sionate component of leadership ismost needed when circumstances lookbleak if not impossible. In situationslike this, the very people you need toturn a negative/bad situation aroundare often the biggest impediment toturning things around. This is wherethe expression, “They are their ownworst enemy” most likely comes from.

The kind of compassion that makesfor this kind of great leader originatesin the heart. In the book titled, TheTruth About Leadership, written byJames M. Kouzes & Barry Z. Posner,which by the way I recommend you addto your library on leadership, theauthors wrote about 10 time-testedtruths that are essential for leaders inthese turbulent times. The tenth truththat they write about is “Leadership isan Affair of the Heart.” In this chapterof their book, the say that “Leaders puttheir hearts in their business and theirbusinesses in their hearts.” What makesup a business (a company)? It is not abalance sheet or an earnings state-ment. It is the people … pure and sim-ple! A compassionate good leader leadspeople from the heart. Interestingly,“compassion” and “character” (the first“C” in my list above), are all about theheart, i.e., they are heart issues.

Another book I recently enjoyed read-ing was The Steve Jobs Way, written by JayElliot with William L. Simon. There’s noquestion that Steve Job was an amazingleader. He changed the way we interactwith technology more than any other per-son. In the book, it is easier to see SteveJobs’ “passion” than his “compassion.” Infact, there were many engineers who werelocked in legacy thinking (the way thingshave always been) that just couldn’t catchthe vision during the development of therevolutionary iPhone. Steve was relentlessand didn’t come across as a compassion-ate leader with those that argued “Youcan’t build a phone with just one button.”But if you were one of the engineers whocaught the vision and worked creativelywith Steve, you saw the compassionateside of him. Visionary leaders may notcome across as compassionate leaders, butthey are if you are connected to theirvision/passion.

Compassion, when it comes from theheart of a good leader with good val-ues/character, can move people toachieve results they themselves neverthought possible, and can help themovercome seemingly insurmountableobstacles. Learn to recognize true com-passion in a leader. Even better, learnhow to be a compassionate leader andwatch what happens. Who knows … youmay be one of those leaders walkingamong us.

I challenge you to go back, find andstudy all of the articles in this “7-Cs ofLeadership” series. I encourage you toread them and study them. I have a pas-sion to see leaders rise up among usand answer the call. Let’s work togetherto end the leadership crisis with whichwe are fighting. Like that old war posterread, “Uncle Sam Need YOU!” If you area leader, we really need you! If youdon’t believe you are a leader, then atleast copy down the description of the7-Cs above and determine to only fol-low those leaders who embody allseven. Then, get active in the upcomingelection season. It is critical that you doif you want to continue to live with theliberties and freedoms we enjoy.

David Lykken is president of mortgagestrategies and managing partner withMortgage Banking Solutions. He has morethan 35 years of industry experience andhas garnered a national reputation, andhas become a frequent guest on FOXBusiness News with Neil Cavuto, StuartVarney, Liz Claman and Dave Asmanwith additional guest appearances onthe CBS Evening News, Bloomberg TVand radio. He may be reached by phoneat (512) 977-9900, ext. 10, or [email protected] [email protected].

To listen to author David Lykken’s onlineradio show, “Lykken on Lending,” log onto www.lykkenonlending.com.

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Give And You Shall Receiveby Mary Beth Doyle, Founder

Can you believe it’s already November? Even in a challenging market, we have plenty of reasons to be thankful. That’s why it’s important in the next several weeks to be proactive and take necessary steps to dramatically improve closed loan production. The key to maximizing profitability is to touch base in a meaningful way with as many clients, partners, and prospects as possible. LoyaltyExpress can get the job done effectively & efficiently for you.

As the leading mortgage marketing company in the United States, each day LoyaltyExpress plays an integral role in the success of top-producing loan officers and executives. Here’s why:

Our proprietary technology & world-class infrastructure allow us to automate consistent, high-impact communications that keep loan officers in front of their customers, partners, and prospects.

Our programs & products yield exceptional results. By combining high-quality direct mail, e-mail, and on-demand marketing solutions targeted at individual needs – we consistently exceed even the most challenging objectives.

Our technology is intuitive & easy-to-use. If you need assistance, our industry-leading client services team is available to answer questions by telephone or e-mail.

Take the time to recognize the value that LoyaltyExpress can deliver. Visit www.loyaltyexpress.com or call 866.435.7050 to learn more. It would be a pleasure to help.

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ing. Completion of the transaction is notcontingent on financing, but is subject toapproval by the GSEs and the FHA, as wellas other customary closing conditions.

“We believe that multifamily is a fun-damentally important and growing sectorof the housing market,” said James B.Lockhart III, vice chairman of WL Ross. “Wehave long been interested in this sector,and we are confident that we have identi-fied the right vehicle and point in the realestate cycle to pursue an investment. Welook forward to working with Ranieri RealEstate Partners to build on DBBM’s strongperformance.”

BuildFax and DataVerifyForm UAD CompliancePartnership

BuildFax and DataVerifyhave announced a part-nership to help lenders

meet the property improvement validationrequirements outlined in the UniformAppraisal Dataset (UAD), offering a com-pletely automated solution for validation ofproperty improvements. BuildFax data pro-vides crucial improvement informationwhich is fundamental to new lending stan-dards and required for compliance withFannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s UniformAppraisal Dataset (UAD).

“Fueled by continued economic uncer-tainty and unemployment, mortgage fraudis on the rise and remains somethingwhich lenders must continually guardagainst,” said Kent Johnson, vice presidentof DataVerify. “Innovative resources, ofwhich BuildFax’s Property HistoryIntelligence shines as a top-tier example,are a strong complement to DataVerify’sstrategy of delivering products that providelenders with the critical insight they needto lend safely.”

DataVerify reports that, in the last 90days, 387 lenders have adopted theProperty Improvements IntelligenceReports of BuildFax through DataVerify’sindustry-leading enterprise-wide risk mit-igation platform known as DRIVE. Theaddition of BuildFax data has providedDRIVE system users with access to differ-entiated data assets, including propertyimprovement history and the relatedvalue of those improvements. Such com-prehensive information gives lendersgreater insight into collateral risk, whichenables them to review, process, and con-fidently approve mortgage applications ina faster, more efficient manner.

“The DRIVE system is the perfectapplication for BuildFax’s game-chang-ing property intelligence,” said HollyTachovsky, president of BuildFax.“While regulations and economicmalaise are making lending tougher,BuildFax is providing solutions to makelending decisions easier and smarter.And with HUD and FHA having extend-ed the deadlines for UAD complianceuntil January 2012, even more lendersnow have time to integrate BuildFaxdata into their processes.”

NAREB and HUD Partner to Fight Housing Discrimination

In an effort to end dis-criminatory treatmentAfrican-Americans andother minorities, the

U.S. Department of Housing & UrbanDevelopment (HUD) and the NationalAssociation of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB)have announced a partnership to worktogether to promote fair housing inminority communities. In Fiscal Year 2010,27.8 percent (2,820) of the 10,157 fairhousing complaints HUD and its fair hous-ing partner agencies received alleged racediscrimination against blacks. At the sametime, a recent HUD report showed that thenation’s “worst case housing needs”increased by 3.2 percentage points amongAfrican-American families.

The Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) between HUD and NAREB willhelp end discrimination by informingconsumers in African-American andother minority communities and publicand private industry members abouttheir fair housing rights and responsi-bilities under the Fair Housing Act.

“This partnership advances HUD’s andNAREB’s joint vision and commitment toend housing discrimination,” said JohnTrasviña, HUD Assistant Secretary for FairHousing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO).“We have turned to the nation’s oldestminority real estate trade association tobring our message of fair housing educa-tion and enforcement to neighborhoodsacross America. With NAREB, we also pro-mote industry compliance and a betterconsumer service.”

Under the MOU, HUD and NAREB willconduct joint seminars, workshops andforums on ways to identify unlawfulsales, rental and lending and related gov-ernment contracting discrimination.Additionally, they will work together toeducate people in all communities abouttheir fair housing and related govern-ment contracting rights and avenuesavailable to them should they experiencediscrimination. Furthermore, NAREB willemphasize the importance of fair hous-ing and equal opportunity to real estateprofessionals as well as work with otherorganizations and institutions in AfricanAmerican communities, including faith-based groups, government agencies.

“NAREB has fought the battle over thelast 64 years to make sure that people ofall colors have access to fair and equalopportunities in housing, which webelieve is in the forefront of what Americarepresents,” said Julius Cartwright, presi-dent of the National Association of RealEstate Brokers (NAREB). “We are extremelyproud to partner with and have the addi-tional reinforcement of HUD on this veryimportant initiative designed to preserveand stabilize minority neighborhoods andcommunities across the United States.”


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Saturday, December 310:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. ..........Registration Open

10:00 a.m.-Noon ................Committee Meetings

1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. ............NAMB Delegate Council Meeting

4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. ............Opening Reception & PAC Auction Event

Sunday, December 48:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. ............Registration Open (Premier Ballroom Foyer)

8:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. ............NMLS Education: FHA (1 Hour)

8:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. ............Three Proven Strategies Mortgage Professionals

Can Work With Real Estate Agents Online to Gen-

erate More Buyers

9:40 a.m.-12:45 p.m. .......... NMLS Education: Federal Law (3 Hours)

9:40 a.m.-10:40 a.m. ..........Stimulate the Economy With the 203K Loan

10:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m........... Get Certified for VA Loans


2:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. ............Expo Hall & Networking Reception

Monday, December 58:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. ............Registration Open (Premier Ballroom Foyer)

8:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m. ..........NMLS Education: Reverse Mortgages (2 Hours)

8:30 a.m.-9:45 a.m. ............Stop Sending Meatloaf Recipes to Vegetarians:

One-to-One Marketing Basics

10:00 a.m.-11:15 a.m...........Unlocking Your Success: Disciplines That Make a

Lasting Difference

10:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m...........NMLS Education: Ethics (2 Hours)

11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m...........Session From Ron Vaimberg (topic to be determined)


2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. ............Using Social Media to Leverage Your Mortgage

Business

3:15 p.m.-4:30 p.m. ............Successful Originations in Today’s Challeng and

Dynamic Market

4:30 p.m. ..........................Grand Prize Drawing for a Trip to Hawaii

4:45 p.m.-6:30 p.m. ............NAMB Board Meeting

NAMB/WEST 2011 Loan Originator Conference

Saturday-Monday, December 3-5MGM Grand Las Vegas • 3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South • Las Vegas

New in 2011!Attendees of the 2011 NAMB/WEST Conference will receive a Passport for the Ex-hibit Hall on Sunday, Dec. 4. Passports will need to be validated by each ex-hibitor in order to be eligible for drawings. The grand prize drawing, a trip toHawaii, will be held at the conclusion of the conference on Monday, Dec. 5. At-tendees must be present to win. As a bonus, attendees who book their hotelwith the group rate before Wednesday, Nov. 9 will receive an extra Passport.

Agenda at a glance(Subject to change)

Hotel informationNAMB/WEST has discounted rates for conference attendees at the MGM Grand LasVegas, located at 3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South in Las Vegas (www.mgm-grand.com). Any attendee who books their reservations under the NAMB GroupRate will be eligible to receive an extra Passport. The extra Passport will increaseyour chances to win prizes at the conference.

Group ratesFriday, December 2........................$110Saturday, December 3....................$110Sunday, December 4........................$80Monday, December 5 ......................$80Room rates are subject to state and local taxes. The group rate will be offered untilWednesday, Nov. 9.

Reservations can be madeby calling (877) 313-5757 or(702) 891-7777, or visitinghttp://goo.gl/kjd3b. In orderto secure the NAMB GroupRate, you must identify your-self as part of the National As-sociation of Mortgage Brokers(NAMB) Conference.

Check in for the MGMGrand is 3:00 p.m. and checkout is at 11:00 a.m. For your convenience, MGM Grand offers room regis-tration at McCarran Airport. There is an Airport Registration Desk located inthe south baggage claim area, near the bottom of the escalators descend-ing from the C and D gates, next to carousel #1 and #2. Shuttle service isavailable from 9:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m. Porterage service is available 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. only.

Conference feesMember Registration FeeAccess to all conference events. You must be an NAMB member in good stand-ing by Friday, Nov. 18 to obtain the member rates. If you are not a member ingood standing by this date you will be charged additional fees upon arrival to theconference. To check the status of your membership, go to www.namb.org.Early fees (on or before 11/09/11)—$200Regular fees (11/10/11 or later)—$250

Non-Member Registration FeeAccess to all conference events.Early fees (on or before 11/09/11)—$350Regular fees (11/10/11 or later)—$450

Visit Exhibit Hall OnlyThis is for mortgage originators only.Early fees (on or before 11/09/11)—$100Regular fees (11/10/11 or later)—$100

Cancellation and refund policy: Notice of cancellation must be made in writing(no exceptions) and sent to [email protected] or faxed to (303)798-3668. Cancellations received by 5:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Nov. 9 will be re-funded 50 percent of the registration fee that was paid. Any cancellation receivedafter that date will receive no refund.

For more information on the

NAMB/WEST 2011 Loan Originator

Conference, contact Kinsley at (303) 798-3664,

e-mail [email protected]

or visit www.nambwest.com.

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MBA and EverFi Team Up on Financial Literacy Initiative

The Mortgage BankersAssociation (MBA) hasannounced a partner-ship with EverFi, a finan-

cial literacy software company, to bring thelatest in new media technology to teach,assess and certify adults in our communitiesin hundreds of topics in financial literacy. Inaddition, MBA members will be the first tooffer EVERFI@WORK, the company’s newsuite of financial literacy platforms for adultcustomers.

“Financial literacy has long been a cor-nerstone for the MBA and its members,”said David H. Stevens, MBA’s president andchief executive officer. “This program willuse the latest in new media to bring the coreconcepts of personal finance to life for ourmember’s customers and their families. Itwill include everything from mortgages,credit scores, savings, planning for retire-ment and much more.“

The program, which will launch inDecember, will allow MBA members toprivate-label EverFi’s programs and pro-vide them to customers, communitygroups, schools and through otherchannels in the community.

“This is a great day for American con-sumers,” said Tom Davidson, EverFi’schief executive officer. “Our goal at EverFihas been to tie financial literacy to everyschool, every consumer, every product inthe U.S. The commitment today by theMortgage Bankers Association is going tochange lives coast to coast.”

ISGN and United Guaranty Announce Tech Partnership

ISGN Corporation hasannounced that it is nowoffering a direct connec-

tion to United Guaranty ResidentialInsurance Company/United GuarantyMortgage Indemnity Company through itsMORvision Plug-In Partner Network.Lenders using ISGN’s MORvision loan orig-ination system (LOS) can now get upfrontquotes, order mortgage insurance andreceive MI certifications from UnitedGuaranty without having to leave theirMORvision systems. The MORvision Plug-InPartner Network is a collection of dozensof third-party providers that has beenseamlessly integrated with MORvision,ISGN’s end-to-end loan origination system.

Prior to this direct connect upgrade,United Guaranty had a basic MORvisionplug-in. Access was limited to PerformancePremium customers who had to exit theirMORvision systems and log into the UnitedGuaranty Web site, UGCorp.com, to requestquotes and order mortgage insurance. Nowwith the new direct connect plug-in,Performance Premium lender customerscan order and receive mortgage insurancerate quotes—including a PDF of thequote—and MI certificates without leavingtheir MORvision systems. Pertinent informa-

tion is automatically transferred, eliminat-ing the need to re-enter rate quote dataoutside the LOS, saving lenders time andmoney.

MORvision users now have a custom-designed screen where they can not onlysubmit MI data directly to United Guaranty,but also receive MI rate quotes and MI cer-tificate attachments, which are auto-popu-lated into the appropriate MORvision loanfiles. The United Guaranty submissionscreen uses the MISMO standard mortgageinsurance format and offers an intuitivestreamlined user interface that requiresfewer clicks than when ordering from theWeb site. This customized submission sys-tem has been built directly into MORvision.

MBA Partners With Spare Key onPhilanthropic Venture

The Mortgage BankersAssociation (MBA) hasannounced the creationof a national 501(c)(3)non-profit organization

to be the umbrella for philanthropic ven-tures by MBA and its members to helpAmerican families and communities. MBAhas selected Spare Key, a charity based inMinnesota devoted to making mortgagepayment grants to assist parents with crit-ically ill children, as a model for its newnationwide philanthropic initiative. Withplans to roll out Spare Key nationally sothat eventually millions of families arehelped, MBA will initially establish threepilot programs, the first of these in theWashington, D.C. area.

“Spare Key Minnesota has providedassistance to almost 1,300 Minnesotahomeowners with critically ill or seriouslyinjured children by making a mortgage pay-ment on the family’s behalf, allowing themto spend time with their child,” said DavidH. Stevens, MBA’s president and CEO. “SpareKey’s assistance allows parents the ability totake unpaid leave from their work so theycan be with their child and involved in theirmedical treatment and recovery at a verycritical time.”

Spare Key was founded in Minnesotain 1997 by Patsy and Robb Keech afterthe death of their two-and-a-half yearold son, Derian, who had been bornwith a genetic birth defect and enduredmany hospitalizations, and five openheart surgeries in his short life.

The MBA will charter the Spare Keychapters, ensuring that each chapter followsnational tenets and guidelines, and will pro-vide the necessary guidance and support tohelp each chapter become successful, lever-aging the resources of Spare Key Minnesota.

eLynx and eSignSystemsPartner on eVaultTechnology

eLynx, a portfolio com-pany of AmericanCapital, has announced


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a little more speed in 2013 andhome sales and home prices alsostart to increase, purchase origina-tions are expected to increase to$770 billion for the year.

� Despite lower mortgage rates towardsthe end of the year, refinance origina-tions in 2011 will be lower than in2010, falling to $783 billion from anestimated $1.1 trillion, as there werefewer eligible borrowers left to refi-nance. We expect this “burnout” tocontinue through 2012 and 2013, evenas rates remain below five percent,with refinance originations fallingsteadily to $495 billion and then $332billion, respectively.

Mortgage Servicers Underthe OCC’s Microscope

The U.S. Office of theComptroller of theCurrency (OCC) hasannounced its inde-

pendent foreclosure review process ofthe nation’s mortgage servicers. OnApril 13, 2010, the OCC, along with theBoard of Governors of the Federal ReserveBoard (FRB), and the Office of ThriftSupervision (OTS) announced enforcementactions against 14 large residential mort-gage servicers and two third-party vendorsfor unsafe and unsound practices relatedto residential mortgage servicing and fore-

closure processing that occurred in 2009and 2010. Independent consultants arecharged with evaluating whether borrow-ers suffered financial injury through errors,misrepresentations, or other deficiencies inforeclosure practices and determiningappropriate remediation for those cus-tomers. Where a borrower suffered finan-cial injury as a result of such practices, theconsent orders require remediation to beprovided.

“The independent foreclosure review isa significant component of the mortgageservicers’ compliance with our enforce-ment actions,” said acting Comptroller ofthe Currency John Walsh. “These require-ments help ensure that the servicers pro-vide appropriate compensation to borrow-ers who suffered financial harm as a resultof improper practices identified in ourenforcement actions.”

The 14 mortgage servicers covered bythe enforcement actions began mailing let-ters on Nov. 1 to eligible borrowers thatexplain how to request a review of theircase if they believe they suffered financialinjury as a result of errors, misrepresenta-tions, or other deficiencies in foreclosureproceedings related to their primary resi-dence between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31,2010, and the property securing the loanmust have been the primary residence. Themortgage must have been serviced by oneof the following mortgage servicers:

America’s Servicing Company, Aurora LoanServices, Bank of America, Beneficial,Chase, Citibank, CitiFinancial, CitiMortgage,Countrywide, EMC, Everbank/Everhome,First Horizon, GMAC Mortgage, HFC, HSBC,IndyMac Mortgage Services, MetLife Bank,National City, PNC, Sovereign Bank,SunTrust Mortgage, U.S. Bank, Wachovia,Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo.

Borrowers may also visit Indepen-dentForeclosureReview.com for moreinformation about the review and claimprocess. Requests for reviews must bereceived by April 30, 2012.

In addition to this outreach and claimsprogram, independent consultants willalso review a variety of sample cases fromeach servicer. Where they identify issues,they will conduct additional secondaryreviews to identify as many affected bor-rowers as possible.

“The challenge is substantial, but thesteps we have required the servicers totake are vitally important to resolvingthese issues in a way that respects therights of those who have been harmedand helps to restore confidence in the sys-tem,” said Walsh.

Walsh said the reviews will take severalmonths to complete, considering the largepool of borrowers that could be part of thereview. The enforcement actions alsorequire the servicers to correct other defi-ciencies in residential mortgage loan serv-icing and foreclosure practices. Work relat-ed to correcting these deficiencies is alsounderway and includes enhancing over-sight of third-party foreclosure serviceproviders, upgrading management infor-

mation systems associated with mortgageservicing and foreclosure processing, andimproving communication with customersby establishing a single point of contactand eliminating “dual tracking,” in whichservicers continue to pursue foreclosureeven though a borrower may have beenapproved for, or is performing under theterms of a loan modification or trial mod-ification, among other steps.

FHFA Mandates That GSEs Adopt Improvementsto Foreclosure AttorneyNetworks

The Federal HousingFinance Agency (FHFA)has directed the govern-ment-sponsored enter-prises (GSEs), Fannie

Mae and Freddie Mac, to transitionaway from current foreclosure attorneynetwork programs and move to a sys-tem where mortgage servicers selectqualified law firms that meet certainminimum, uniform criteria. Under cur-rent practice, in certain states each GSEdesignates law firms eligible under theGSEs’ criteria to undertake foreclosurework and mortgage servicers, thenselect and work with these firms.

The new approach is in line withFHFA’s Servicing Alignment Initiativethat produced uniform foreclosure pro-cessing standards to assist servicers,homeowners and lenders. The FHFAbelieves these efforts will lead to


nmp news flash continued from page 11

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greater transparency and benefit delin-quent borrowers who become subjectto the foreclosure process. Further, thechange will be supportive of theConsent Orders entered into by finan-cial regulators and servicers.

The changes will be implementedafter a transition period in which inputwill be taken from servicers, regulators,lawyers and other market participants.During this period, existing contractsremain in place and in effect.

Shadow Inventory Drops to 1.6 Million Units Nationwide

CoreLogic has reportedthat the current residen-tial shadow inventory, asof July 2011, declinedslightly to 1.6 millionunits, representing a sup-ply of five months. This is

down from 1.9 million units, a supply of sixmonths, from a year ago, and follows adecline from April 2011 when the nation-wide shadow inventory stood at 1.7 millionunits. The moderate decline in shadowinventory is being driven by a pace of newdelinquencies that is slower than the dis-position pace of distressed assets.

CoreLogic estimates the current stock ofproperties in the shadow inventory, alsoknown as pending supply, by calculatingthe number of distressed properties notcurrently listed on Multiple Listing Services(MLSs) that are seriously delinquent (90days or more), in foreclosure and realestate-owned (REO) by lenders.

Transition rates of “delinquency to fore-closure” and “foreclosure to REO” are usedto identify the currently distressed non-list-ed properties most likely to become REOproperties. Properties that are not yetdelinquent, but may become delinquentin the future are not included in the esti-mate of the current shadow inventory.Shadow inventory is typically not includedin the official metrics of unsold inventory.

Highlights of CoreLogic’s reportinclude:� Of the 1.6 million properties cur-

rently in the shadow inventory,770,000 units are seriously delin-quent (2.2-months’ supply), 430,000are in some stage of foreclosure (1.2-months’ supply) and 390,000 arealready in REO (1.1-months’ supply).

� As of July 2011 the shadow invento-ry is 22 percent lower than the peakin January 2010 at two million units,8.4-months’ supply.

� The total shadow and visible invento-ry was 5.4 million units in July 2011,down from 6.1 million units a yearago. The shadow inventory accountsfor 29 percent of the combined shad-ow and visible inventories.

� The aggregate current mortgagedebt outstanding of the shadowinventory was $336 billion in July2011, down 18 percent from $411billion a year ago.

“The steady improvement in the shad-ow inventory is a positive development forthe housing market,” said Mark Fleming,chief economist for CoreLogic. “However,continued price declines, high levels ofnegative equity and a sluggish labor mar-ket will keep the shadow supply elevatedfor an extended period of time.”

Rep. Garrett SubmitsProposal to Revamp the GSEs

Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ),Chairman of the FinancialServices Subcommittee onCapital Markets andGovernment-SponsoredEnterprises, has unveiled a

proposal to reform the secondary mort-gage market to ensure robust privateinvestment in the U.S. mortgage marketwithout a government guarantee.

“Since taking control of the House inJanuary, we have remained steadfast inour drive and determination to end theongoing bailout of Fannie Mae andFreddie Mac, protect taxpayers from futurebailouts, and encourage private capital tore-enter the secondary mortgage market,”said Rep. Garrett. “Now that we have takenthe important step of introducing a seriesof bills to wind down the government-backed mortgage twins, it’s time to startthinking about the ways we can jumpstartthe private market to step in once they’regone. My proposal to reform the secondarymortgage market will facilitate continuedstandardization and uniformity, ensurerule of law and legal certainty, and provideinvestors with the standardization andtransparency necessary to ensure that adeep and liquid market develops in theabsence of Fannie and Freddie.”

Throughout the 112th Congress, Garrettand his Republican colleagues on theFinancial Services Committee have takenan incremental approach to gradually chipaway at the government-sponsored enter-prises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.In March, House Financial ServicesCommittee Republicans unveiled eightbills during the first round of legislationand then followed it up with a secondround of seven bills in May. To date, 14 ofthe 15 bills have been cleared through theCapital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee andare scheduled to be considered by the fullFinancial Services Committee in the nextfew months.

Delaware AttorneyGeneral Biden Files SuitAgainst MERS

Delaware Attorney GeneralBeau Biden has filed suitagainst the MortgageElectronic Registration

System (MERS) charging that MERSCORPand its subsidiary Mortgage ElectronicRegistration Systems Inc. have repeat-edly violated the state of Delaware’sDeceptive Trade Practices Act.

the secondary market overview continued from page 10

were a few years ago. It is a muchshorter jump from adding 100,000jobs per month to adding 250,000(where we need to be), as opposedto losing 400,000 jobs per monthand scratching our way to a posi-tive of 100,000. At least that is theway my calculator works.

� Europe. I believe the world willtake the action necessary to put aplan in place to avoid economiccalamity in Europe, just as we didwhen the fiscal crisis hit in 2008.Already in mid-October, thenations are formulating a plan torescue banks and countries. Willthis plan succeed? Some analyststhink that the plan will not bebroad enough in scope to beeffective. Remember, I am theeternal optimist.

� The government. As I have men-tioned time and time again, thereduction of government budgetswill prove to be a negative influ-ence upon growth in the short-term. However, the long-termhealth of our economy requiresthis pain. Just like the hurricanes,earthquakes and government debtnegotiations that have all sloweddown the economy this year, gov-ernment “shrinkage” remains asubstantial but temporary factor.

If you were to look for evidencethat we are closer to recovery thanmany think, look at the bond mar-kets. It is true that rates moved torecord lows in the face of the sum-mer slowdown and in reaction tonegative statements by the FederalReserve and the introduction of their“Operation Twist.” These low rateswere indicative of the prevailingview—recession is either here orimminent.

But as soon as we received“decent” employment news and posi-tive news from Europe, the bond

market dove with a vengeance. The10-year Treasury moved up close to0.50 percent within about 10 days. Ihave been saying for months not toget too used to super low rates. Goodeconomic news is all we need tomove the markets in the other direc-tion. That good news will give thestock markets and the consumerconfidence. This is the next steprequired in order to turn it allaround. Note that these rates rose inthe face of implementation ofOperation Twist. The Fed will not beable to keep rates low in the face ofa recovering economy, nor will theydesire to do so.

Could Mother Nature, Europe orthe debt negotiations throw anotherwrench in this scenario? Absolutely.I cannot predict the future. I like therefinances. They are making loanofficers busy and freeing up morecash for consumers. However, weknow rates will have to rise beforepurchases pick up because the mar-kets will react before consumers do.And I repeat my warning to loan offi-cers: You should be instilling a senseof urgency for those who are consid-ering refinancing. Yes, some arewaiting until rates hit 3.5 percent,but there is a lot more room forthem to rise than to fall, and there isa daily cost of waiting if they arealready in a profit situation withregard to today’s rates. If you don’tknow how to calculate that number,e-mail me … “The Optimist?”

Dave Hershman is a leading author forthe mortgage industry with eight booksand several hundred articles to his cred-it. He is also a top industry speaker. Ifyou would like to stay ahead of what ishappening in the markets, visitwww.ratelink.originationpro.com for afree trial. Dave’s OriginationProMarketing System can be found atOriginationPro.com and he may bereached by e-mail at [email protected].

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“Since at least the 1600s, real prop-erty rights have been a cornerstone ofour society,” said Attorney GeneralBiden. “MERS has raised serious ques-tions about who owns what in America.A man or woman’s home is not just hisor her largest investment, it’s their cas-tle. Rules matter. A homeowner has theobligation to pay the mortgage on time,and lenders must follow the rules ifthey are seeking to take away some-one’s house through foreclosure. Thehonor system won’t work.”

Biden feels that MERS engaged, andcontinues to engage, in deceptive tradepractices that cause confusion amonghomeowners, investors and other stake-holders in the mortgage finance system,seriously damaging the integrity of theland records that are central to Delaware’sreal property system, and leading toimproper foreclosure practices. Thesedeceptive trade practices fall into threebroad categories:� MERS, through its private mortgage

registry, knowingly obscures impor-tant information from borrowersand the information that MERS doesprovide to borrowers is frequentlyinaccurate. The opacity of MERS’mortgage registration databasemakes it difficult for consumers toknow of or challenge inaccuracies inthe MERS System.

� MERS often acts as an agent withoutauthority from its proper principal.Because the MERS System was bothunreliable and frequently inaccurate,MERS often does not know the identityof its proper principal. Where the nameof the owner of the mortgage loanrecorded in the MERS System does notreflect the true owner, any action MERStakes on behalf of the purported owneris without authority.

� MERS is effectively a “front” organiza-tion that has created a systemicallyimportant mortgage registry, but failsto properly oversee that registry orenforce its own rules on its membersthat participate in the registry. Ratherthan maintaining an adequate staff toprovide MERS’ services, MERS operatesthrough a network of over 20,000 dep-utized non-employee corporate officerswho cause MERS to act without anymeaningful oversight from anyonewho works at MERS.MERS, which is incorporated in

Delaware and based in NorthernVirginia, was formed in 1995 to facili-tate the growing mortgage finance mar-ket. Large banks, such as Bank ofAmerica and Wells Fargo, the quasi-governmental institutions Fannie Maeand Freddie Mac, and other partici-pants in the mortgage-lending indus-try created MERS to bypass the countyRecorders of Deeds offices throughoutAmerica. Unfortunately, there was lit-tle to no outside oversight of MERS’murky registry or transparency forhomeowners. MERS did not meaning-fully audit its records and failed toeven enforce its own rules governingmembers’ conduct.

The complaint cites an example of arecent foreclosure in New Castle

County, Del. in which MERS foreclosedon a loan in which it had no interestand without naming the real party ininterest. In fact, the entity upon whosebehalf MERS sought to foreclose hadactually been dissolved months prior.MERS’ own records indicated numeroustransfers in and out of MERS that werenot reflected in the county records, asrequired by MERS’ own rules. The con-fusing path and inaccurate recordsassociated with this mortgage are notan isolated instance of bad recordkeeping by MERS.

Financial Institutions See Rise in Fraud inDefaulted Mortgages

The Financial CrimesEnforcement Network(FinCEN) has reportedin its Second Quarter2011 Analysis of mort-

gage fraud suspicious activity reports(SARs) that financial institutions filed29,558 Mortgage Loan Fraud SARs inthe second quarter of 2011, up from15,727 MLF SARs reported in the samequarter of 2010.

A large majority of the MLF SARsexamined in the second quarterinvolved mortgages closed during theheight of the real estate bubble. Theupward spike in second quarter MLFSAR numbers is directly attributable tomortgage repurchase demands andspecial filings generated by severalinstitutions. For instance, FinCEN notedthat 81 percent of the MLF SARs filedduring the quarter involved suspiciousactivities that occurred before 2008; 63percent involved suspicious activitiesthat occurred four or more years ago.

“We’re continuing to see a large num-ber of SARs filed on activity that occurredmore than two years ago, an indicationthat financial institutions are uncoveringfraud as they sift through defaulted mort-gages,” said FinCEN Director James H.Freis Jr. “But we also continue to see indi-cations of ongoing mortgage fraud activi-ties. FinCEN’s report released today raisesawareness of the common scams thathomeowners and lenders may encounterwhen arranging or modifying homefinancing.”

The Q2 2011 FinCEN report showedthat misrepresenting income, occupancy,or debts and assets, followed by debtelimination scams and scams involvingthe fraudulent use of social security num-bers, topped the types of suspicious activ-ity reported by filers of MLF SARs. FinCENexamined a subset of quarterly filingsthat reported suspicious activity occurringwithin 90 days of filing, to better under-stand the latest trends in the reporting ofsuspected mortgage fraud.

Other suspicious activities noted inMLF SARs include identity theft, falsestatements and false documents, debtelimination scams, fraud involvingshort sales and appraisals, forgedrescission of notice of default, advancefee scams, buy and bail schemes, andmoney laundering.


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NRMLA Study FindsSeniors Own More Than$3 Trillion in Home Equity

An estimate of seniorhome equity ownedby Americans aged 62

and over stood at $3.14 trillion as of theend of the second quarter in 2011measured by the National ReverseMortgage Lenders Association(NRMLA)/RiskSpan Reverse MortgageMarket Index (RMMI). The index tracksthe reverse mortgage market opportu-nity by analyzing and reporting ontrends in senior home values and sen-ior home equity levels.

The RMMI continued its slide in thesecond quarter of 2011, falling by twopercent to 149.9, its lowest level sincethe second quarter of 2004. In the sec-ond quarter of this year, housingprices in 340 of the 395 MSAs (includ-ing the 10 largest) tracked by FHFAand RiskSpan saw quarter-over-quarter declines, sending aggregatesenior housing values down 1.6 per-cent to $4.16 trillion.

Senior mortgage debt levels fell for theninth straight quarter to $1.02 trillion,leaving seniors with $3.14 trillion in equi-ty, a level $63 billion lower than in thefirst quarter.

“While the senior equity level is 22 per-cent off of its Q2 2006 peak, the equitylevel of the overall population is down 38percent from its Q1 2006 peak,” said PeterBell, president of NRMLA. “This is due tothe relatively fast growth and lower mort-gage debt levels of the senior population.”

Ginnie Mae IncreasesProgram Flexibility forIssuers and WarehouseLenders

Ginnie Mae hasannounced that it isproviding its issuerswith greater flexibilityto pledge mortgage

servicing rights for financing. Ginnie Mae’sannounced enhancements provide pro-gram flexibility by clarifying and limit-ing the circumstances under whichGinnie Mae can refuse a transfer ofservicing to the issuer’s creditor. These“Acknowledgement Agreement” changeswill make it simpler for Ginnie Mae tohonor servicing pledges and permit thetransfer of related servicing rights. Inthe Ginnie Mae program, the“Acknowledgement Agreement” lays outthe legal rights and responsibilities ofGinnie Mae, its issuer and the issuer’s cred-itor when a Ginnie Mae servicing portfolioserves as collateral for a loan.

“As part of our ongoing effort to meetthe needs of Issuers and their creditors,and ultimately provide increased liq-uidity for consumer lending, GinnieMae has taken steps to make our pro-gram more flexible,” said Ginnie MaePresident Ted Tozer. “The updatedagreement offers additional flexibility

to warehouse lenders, while still pro-tecting Ginnie Mae’s interests as theguarantor of the securities.”

Additionally in the new agreement,Ginnie Mae no longer requires credi-tors to name a stand-by issuer when anAcknowledgment Agreement is execut-ed; instead, when a portfolio needs tobe transferred, the creditor is given theopportunity to identify an approvedGinnie Mae Issuer to assume the port-folio. In exchange for limiting its abili-ty to refuse a transfer of servicing,Ginnie Mae requires the creditor toaccept the portfolio.

The changes to the AcknowledgementAgreement are aimed at addressing con-cerns of Issuers that it can be difficult topledge Ginnie Mae servicing as there hasnot been certainty regarding whetherGinnie Mae will agree to transfer the col-lateral to the creditor.

“This new agreement balances theinterests of Ginnie Mae, its Issuers andtheir creditors and takes us one step clos-er to our goal of ensuring the Ginnie Maeprogram has a large, diverse Issuer basethat makes it possible for borrowers ingovernment programs to obtain the bestinterest rates,” Tozer said.

Recently, Ginnie Mae issued guid-ance to clarify the rights of creditorswhen Issuers pledge mortgage loansprior to securitization, allowing ware-house lending arrangements to pro-ceed more smoothly. The updatedAcknowledgement Agreement offersadditional flexibility to creditors thatare not Ginnie Mae Issuers and elimi-nates obstacles that prevent smoothservicing transfers.

Report Shows Heatingand Utility Needs AmongIssues Facing AmericanHomeowners

MortgageKeeperReferral Services,developer of aWeb-based appthat connects

struggling homeowners with qualifiednon-profit and government agencies,has released its third quarter 2011Homeowner Needs Status Report. Thereport showed that homeownersreceived from MortgageKeeper nearly224,000 referrals between July andSeptember 2011—the most referralsever requested. Utility assistance wasthe most requested category for help(15 percent of referrals). Food assis-tance (13 percent) and employmentservices (12 percent) rounded out thetop three most needed services.

“The number of homeowners infinancial trouble keeps rising, and localassistance is the best, most reliablemeans of help,” said Rochelle NawrockiGorey, president of MortgageKeeperReferral Services. “MortgageKeeper is

FCRA Certification for Your Employees

Coming to a credit reportingagency near you!By Terry W. Clemans

To keep up with today’s ever-increasing regulatory envi-ronment, the National Credit Reporting Association Inc.(NCRA) has developed a certification program designedfor the users of credit reports (employees of mortgagelenders, and property managers/landlords) to assistthem in understanding the various federal laws andnational credit repository guidelines that regulate their

access to credit data. Access to consumer credit data is critical to their busi-ness operations and for continued access, tight compliance with these reg-ulations is mandatory.

Those who participate in the certification program will be provided witha study guide and expected to complete a certification test. A major portionof the test is knowledge of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Additionally,the test will cover areas of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act(FACTA the 2003 overhaul to the FCRA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB),the Red Flags Rule, and specific national credit repository requirementsthat also impact a credit report user’s access to consumer credit data. Asolid working knowledge of the responsibilities for those who come intocontact with consumer credit reports is required by federal law. Any com-pany that is granted access to a consumer’s credit report data needs to besure that anyone in their organization with access to these reports knowshow to properly obtain that credit data and how they maintain and disposeof it when the transaction is complete.

This entire process is being scrutinized more than any other time in his-tory, both internally by our own industry, and by the federal regulators whooversee compliance. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the newConsumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have authority over this dataas well as over those who use it, and have been taking action for its misuse.With the devastating problems millions of Americans have had due to theabuse of the information by fraudsters and computer hackers looking forany possible gateway into the systems, the increased scrutiny is not goingto subside. Being certified on your knowledge of the regulations about thesafeguarding of this data is an important step to being assured your accessto consumer credit bureau data will continue.

The program is online and features a comprehensive study guide thatprovides all of the materials needed to be able to learn the informationrequired to pass the test. The test features 30 multiple choice and true/falsequestions that can be taken in an open book (if the user prints the studyguide) format. Since only 45 min. is provided to complete the 30 questions,the test-taker must know the data thoroughly to be able to answer 75 per-cent of the questions accurately and to obtain FCRA Certification. Retestingis allowed if the person is not successful on the first attempt. After success-fully completing the test, an FCRA Certification will be downloaded to doc-ument successful completion of the program. Retesting is suggested everyyear to keep up with the latest changes in the complex regulatory world inwhich we operate.

Developed by NCRA and sponsored by 80 percent of the credit reportingagencies in the U.S. that can provide credit reports that meet the standardsof Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the U.S. Department of Housing & UrbanDevelopment (HUD) for mortgage lending, the test will be provided free ofcharge to the customers of NCRA member credit reporting agencies. It isimportant to note that while certification is not currently mandatory, therehave been strong indications from at least one of the national repositoriesand federal agencies that further education to the laws and advanced train-ing may be required in the near future.

To obtain access to the FCRA Certification Program, ask your creditreporting provider if they are a member of the NCRA or contact the NCRAat NCRAInc.org to locate an agency near you that can sponsor your FCRACertification beginning Jan. 1, 2012.

Terry W. Clemans is executive director of the National Credit ReportingAssociation Inc. (NCRA). He may be reached at (630) 539-1525 or e-mail [email protected].



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For a free demo, contact Erik Wind, at (800) 262-3783, ext. 701 or visit

shortsalespeedway.com/freedemo

Why Is It Easy to Trap Real Estate Agents with ShortSaleSpeedway™?

Many real estate agents shy away from short sales because of the complexityinvolved in doing it themselves. When they refer the work to an attorney or thirdparty negotiator, they risk losing a great chunk of their commission.

ShortSaleSpeedway™ automates the short sale process, by creating all ofthe documents a real estate agent needs to create the superior short saleproposal exactly how banks want to see them.

How Can ShortSaleSpeedway™ Help YOU Trap Real Estate Agents?

Your company can have your very own, private labeled version ofShortSaleSpeedway™ that you offer at no cost to your real estate agents.They will now have the tools provided by your company to be a true short salesspecialist. Now they can negotiate short sales with ease and not have to giveaway their commission to someone else. You’re providing them with a tool thatputs more money in their pocket.

What Do We Provide You?When you have your own ShortSaleSpeedway™, we provide you with the

following:Your own customized private labeled ShortSaleSpeedway™ siteAccess to reporting on all borrowers being put into the systemTraining for you, your real estate agents and a dedicated support teamMarketing materials to promote your ShortSaleSpeedway™ to real estateagentsIn many cases, the setup for the private labeled site costs you nothing!


the company’s partnership witheSignSystems to make the firm’s SmartSAFEeVaulting software available as part of theeLynx electronic closing network (eCN). TheSmartSAFE Bundle offers a complete solu-tion to store, access, and manage legallybinding electronic mortgages. The additionof eVault services to eCN, gives eLynx cus-tomers electronic options for all stages inthe life-cycle of a loan.

“Lenders understand the value of anend-to-end electronic mortgage workflowbut want to avoid the high risk of disruptingtheir established systems and processes,”said Sharon Matthews, president and CEO ofeLynx. “eLynx’s customers can now easilyand seamlessly extend their existing loanfulfillment to include eVaulting services.”

“eVault services allow lenders to improveefficiency and transparency of mortgages byreducing funding times and improving loanquality through an electronic workflow,”said Kelly Purcell, executive vice presidentof marketing and sales for Wave’seSignSystems division. “SmartSAFE builds onthe strong compliance foundation alreadybuilt into eCN with additional audit logs andcontrols required for eMortgage lending.We’re proud to be part of the eCN solution.”

eLynx’s eCN solution has become anindustry-recognized electronic closingplatform, with more than one millionloans being processed annually andapproximately 100,000 settlement agentsregistered in eLynx’s nationwide settle-ment agent database to close loans.

Mortgage Professionalsto Watch� The Mortgage Bankers Association

(MBA) has elected its leadership forthe 2011-2012 year, includingMichael W. Young, CMB, chairmanof the board of Cenlar FSB, as chair-man; Debra W. Still, CMB, presidentand CEO of Pulte Mortgage LLC aschairman-elect; and EJ Burke, EVPand group head of KeyBank RealEstate Finance, as vice chairman.

� Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS)has announced the appointment ofHugh R. Harris as president and chiefexecutive officer.

� Rick Sharga, former senior vice pres-ident of RealtyTrac Inc., has joinedCarrington Mortgage Holdings asexecutive vice president. CarringtonProperty Services LLC, a subsidiary ofCarrington Mortgage Holdings, hashired Michael Harris as president.

� Jennifer Creech has been promotedto the position of president and CEOof InHouse Inc.

� 360 Mortgage Group has announcedthe addition of David White as anaccount executive.

� Jay Jacobs has been named seniorvice president of ServiceLink’sDefault Abstract Solutions Group.

� Multi Financial Services CompanyInc. has announced the addition ofSonja Grant Wheeler to its firm.

� Mike Forgas, former CEO of NationalReal Estate Information Services(NREIS), has joined Urban LendingSolutions as chief strategy officer.

� Brandy Sams has joined WFGNational Title Insurance Company asdirector of the firm’s DefaultDivision.

� Radian Guaranty Inc., the mortgageinsurance subsidiary of RadianGroup Inc., has announced the addi-tion of several new team membersnationwide: Christine Brown joinsthe firm as senior account managerin the Maryland and Washington,D.C. areas; Katherina DiMartino hasbeen named senior account manag-er in the Illinois, Indiana, Missouri,Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio regions;Rona Draper has joined the Radianteam as director of regional newbusiness development for theAlaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada,Oregon and Washington regions;Deanna Kase has been named senioraccount manager for the Tampa Bayand northern Florida regions; BairdMarble as senior account manager inthe southern California region; andRebecca McDermott as senioraccount manager in the southernTexas region.

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lender insurance to play key role continued from page 8

receive a Standard Flood HazardDetermination more quickly.

The rise in the number of real estate-owned (REO) properties nationwidepresents unique challenges as well.While most insurance carriers will notcover REO properties without also pro-viding lender placed hazard and floodprograms, third-party offerings mayinclude plans that are tailored toward“stand alone” REO properties independ-ent of a lender placed program.

Some lenders may seek insurancethat covers multiple property types.Blanket Insurance Protection eliminatesthe need for lenders to track each indi-vidual policy, reducing the cost associ-ated with servicing loan portfolios. Thistype of protection includes hazard cov-erage for first mortgages, second mort-gages, home equity line of credit andcondominiums.

Other options may include VendorSingle Interest Insurance, policies whichprovide lenders with either Named Perilor All Risk physical damage in the eventof an uninsured loss. Such a case mightoccur if a borrower fails to insure theircollateral.

Third parties also provide lenderswith a unique opportunity for insuranceoutsourcing. There are outsourcingservice providers available for everyportfolio, no matter the size. Today’stechnology can match lenders with thesolution that works best for them from

institutions with as few as 1,500 loansto those exceeding one million loans.

Contain costs, improveefficiencies In uncertain times, lender insuranceproducts provide a safe haven forlenders. Experienced third-partyproviders can help lenders more accu-rately evaluate their insurance needsand identify the best plan that matchesthe individual needs of each lender. Asthe economy continues to show slug-gish rates of recovery, lenders will sim-ply be required to insure propertythemselves to protect their bottom line.

Larry Cason is president and founder ofThe IL Group. Founded in 1980, The ILGroup is based in Gulf Shores, Ala. Thebusiness provides customized lenderplaced products and services to lendinginstitutions nationwide. For more infor-mation, visit TheILGroup.com or call(251) 968-9888.

“More often than not, lenders shopmuch like a typical consumerdoes—find the insurance plan

that meets their immediate needsin the fastest way possible,

which often means accepting a product with inadequate

coverage or pricing.”


last three years, in how many transac-tions has the institution required orused the steering Safe Harbor provisionunder the Rule? Institution mayanswer with a number or the percent-age of total loans originated.

16. Does the institution require third partyoriginators to use the steering SafeHarbor provision?

17. If a creditor, what action does the insti-tution take to monitor third partycompliance with the steering SafeHarbor provision?

18. If the institution does not require oruse the steering Safe Harbor provisionwhat methods does it use to determinethat steering has not and will notoccur?

19. How long does the institution retaincompensation agreements?

20. How long does the institution retainrecords of actual compensation?

21. How long does the institution retainrecords that support the optionsoffered under the steering Safe Harborprovision?

Documents and informationI would like to end this article with a briefoverview of the kinds of documents thatshould be involved in a thorough reviewinvolving loan originator compensation.The list I am providing is not meant to becomplete, since each financial institutiondiffers in many ways. This is a general listthat we would require in a DocumentRequest. A financial institution should beprepared to provide the documentationand information virtually immediately. If alot of time is needed to get the documentstogether, the financial institution is, unfor-tunately, simply not prepared for the exam-ination and should expect the examiner tonotice the lack of preparedness.

In addition to the Institution InformationRequest and Institution Questionnaire that Ihave described, expect to provideEmployment Agreements for Loan Officers,Sales Managers, Producing BranchManagers, and Non-Producing BranchManagers. If the Compensation Plans arenot part of the Employment Agreements,but separately attested to, then expect toprovide them for these same individuals. Alist of affiliates will be required (i.e., titlecompanies), if applicable.11

Wholesale channels must be able todeliver the Wholesale BrokerAgreement, Compensation Plan, andany Announcements. Indeed, any origi-nation channel must be ready to pro-vide Presentations and all relevantAnnouncements.

Examiners will audit certain areas ofinterest that directly impact actual loanoriginations. In this regard, expect to pro-vide the loan application register for allapplications taken from April 6, 2011 to thedate stipulated in the examiner’sDocument Request letter. For that sameperiod, also expect to provide Monthly

Production Reports, and Rate Sheets.Finally, the examiner will test the data

provided against a complete analysis ofloan originator specific data, such as theloan number, loan originator’s name, andborrower’s name, as well as the subjectproperty state, each MLO’s compensationpayments, and each MLO’s date of employ-ment or affiliation.

Final words of adviceMost of our clients know that I tend to be aMother Hen when it comes to taking careof their mortgage compliance needs. Iadmit it wholeheartedly. In my opinion,each institution should appoint its ownversion of a Mother Hen in order to assurethat examination preparation for loanoriginator compensation is properly vettedand readied.

The penalties for violations are steepand could be catastrophic, not only withrespect to the so-called “traditional” penal-ties, such as actual damages, statutorydamages (up to $4,000 for each individualaction and potential class action), andattorneys’ fees and costs, but also there is“enhanced” liability for creditors, such asrefunding all finance charges and fees paidby the consumer (unless the creditordemonstrates that the failure to comply isnot material). Loan originators are exposedto penalties of the greater of actual dam-ages or three times the compensation orgain on the loan (i.e., liability even if thereare no damages); a longer “statute of limi-tations” for loan originator compensationand certain other violations so that actionsmay be brought until the end of a threeyear (i.e., not a one year) period from thedate of the violation; and, state AttorneysGeneral are authorized to enforce viola-tions of loan originator compensation andcertain other requirements.

Given the penalties for violations ofthe loan originator compensation guide-lines, now is the time to prepare, inadvance, and be continually ready for theinevitable notice of the forthcoming reg-ulatory examination.

Jonathan Foxx, former chief compliance offi-cer for two of the country’s top publicly-trad-ed residential mortgage loan originators, isthe president and managing director ofLenders Compliance Group, a mortgage riskmanagement firm devoted to providing reg-ulatory compliance advice and counsel tothe mortgage industry. He may be contactedat (516) 442-3456 or by e-mail [email protected].

Footnotes1–Due to litigation, the April 1, 2011 implemen-tation date was temporarily stayed. The stay wasdissolved. The effective compliance implemen-tation date of the Rule is April 6, 2011.2–For instance, Foxx, Jonathan, “LandmarkFinancial Legislation: New Rules for MortgageOriginators–Part I: Reformation andRegulations,” National Mortgage ProfessionalMagazine, August 2010, Volume 2, Issue 8, pp.

28-42; Foxx, Jonathan, “A New Era of MortgageReform–Part II: Legislation–Reactive orProactive,” National Mortgage ProfessionalMagazine, September 2010, Volume 2, Issue 9,pp. 22-28; Foxx, Jonathan, “A New Era ofMortgage Reform–Part III: Consumer FinancialProtection–Bureau and Bureaucracy,” October2010, Volume 2, Issue 10, pp. 22-40; Foxx,Jonathan, “The Birth of an Agency,” NationalMortgage Professional Magazine, September2009, Volume 1, Issue 5, pp. 24-27; and Foxx,Jonathan, “The CFPA Controversy: Asking theTough Questions,” National MortgageProfessional Magazine, October 2009, Volume 1,Issue 6, pp. 22-25. All newsletters and articlesthrough 2011 are available at: http://publica-tions.lenderscompliancegroup.com/.3–See information about the FAQs Outline–LoanOriginator Compensation by visiting the Librarysection of my firm’s Web site, http://lenderscom-pliancegroup.com.4–HR 4173: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reformand Consumer Protection Act, 111th Congress(2009-2010): “A bill to promote the financialstability of the United States by improvingaccountability and transparency in the finan-cial system, to end “too big to fail”, to protectthe American taxpayer by ending bailouts, toprotect consumers from abusive financial serv-ices practices, and for other purposes.”Sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) andSen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT).5–Compliance Guide to Small Entities, RegulationZ: Loan Originator Compensation and Steering,12 CFR 226, Federal Reserve Board, Jan. 26, 2011.6–July 21, 2011 is the date, pursuant to Dodd-Frank, that the Consumer Financial ProtectionBureau (CFPB) receives rulemaking and exami-

nation authority over the “enumerated laws,”the so-called “Designated Transfer Date.” SeeDesignated Transfer Date, Bureau of ConsumerFinancial Protection, Federal Register, Vol. 75,No. 181 (09/20/10). The Designated Transfer Datemust be between Jan. 17, 2011 and July 21,2011, unless the Treasury Secretary deter-mines that the orderly implementation of TitleX is not feasible within 12 months; but, in nocase may the Designated Transfer Date belater than Jan. 21, 2012. In fact, the loan orig-inator compensation guidance was trans-ferred to the CFPB on July 21, 2011.7–The State Non-Depository ExaminerGuidelines for Regulation Z–Loan OriginatorCompensation Rule is dated Oct. 6, 2011,although the announcement of its issuance wason Oct. 7, 2011.8–The Multistate Mortgage Committee (MMC)released this set of examiner guidelines toassist state regulators in implementing theFRB’s loan originator compensation restric-tions under Regulation Z [12 C.F.R. §226.36(d), (e)]. Earlier this year, the MMC alsoissued the Mortgage Examination Manual,which provides information and criteria forthe examination of multistate mortgage enti-ties, and further provides guidance on exam-ination planning and administration.9–Please take note: This article is being pub-lished in the November 2011 edition of NationalMortgage Professional Magazine, and it reflectscertain information available at this time. Pleasebe mindful that regulatory requirements andpreparedness actions may change in the futureand at any time.10–See §226.36(e)(1).11–See §226.36(d)(3).

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� Don R. Baskin has been named areamanager for the Tennessee regionfor Churchill Mortgage.

� Crescent Mortgage Company hasannounced the promotion of KellyByers to the position of chief operat-ing officer and chief financial officer.

Your turnNational Mortgage ProfessionalMagazine invites its readers to submitany information, events, passages, pro-motions, personal or professionaloccurrences that seem appropriate

and/or other pertinent data to theattention of:

Heard on theStreet/Mortgage

Professionals to Watchcolumn

Phone #: (516) 409-5555E-mail:

[email protected]

Note: Submissions sent via e-mail are pre-ferred. The deadline for submissions is the1st of the month prior to the target issue.

Veros Releases NewSapphire CollateralValuation ManagementTool

Veros RealE s t a t eSolut ions

has launched Sapphire, a Web-basedordering and review platform that willinitiate the next generation of collater-al valuation management. Available ina series of packaged editions, each sup-ported by a range of add-on options,Sapphire provides structured flexibilityto manage valuation strategies fromthe beginning to the end of the loanlifecycle and enables clients to select afeature set tailored to their specificbusiness model. The platform includescomprehensive order, quality control(QC), review, reporting, analysis andself-administration functions, as well asmodules for Uniform Collateral DataPortal (UCDP) submission, preview anddelivery, appraiser panel management,vendor management, channel opti-mization, and many more.

Designed from the ground up withease of use in mind, Sapphire offersmodular functionality that clients canintroduce as necessary to reflect evolv-ing business demands and changingregulatory requirements. Recognizingthat lenders are continually managingtheir business operations to accommo-date new government regulations andrequirements, Veros created Sapphireto help these organizations stay organ-ized, transparent and compliant.

“Sapphire was created with threegoals in mind,” said Adrian Newby,chief technology officer for Veros.“First, we wanted the most intuitiveuser-experience available in the indus-try. For a system to make a meaningfulcontribution to organizational produc-tivity, the learning curve needs to beshallow. Second, we wanted to pro-vide flexibility by designing modulesthat allow clients to select capabilitiesspecific to their needs without incur-ring costs for functionality they nei-ther need nor want. Third, we wantedto bring some ground-breaking newcapabilities to the marketplace. Forexample, powerful vendor manage-ment and pipeline optimization fea-tures and comprehensive, self-servicereporting and analysis capabilities areincluded.”

AllRegs Releases NewPolicy and ProcedureManual Templates

AllRegs hasannounced theavailability ofseven new Policyand Procedure

Manual Templates, pre-written by indus-try experts. All Policy and ProcedureManuals are offered for a one-time pur-chase price per company. The templatesare delivered in an MS Word documentand can be personalized by the customer,using their company brand by performinga simple find and replace function, or cus-tomized to include their own internal pol-icy and procedures.

“Developing a policy and proceduremanual is a necessary yet costly process,both in terms of time and resources,” saidDan Thoms, executive vice president forAllRegs. “Creating these detailed manualscan take the focus away from actually con-ducting your business. Our Policy andProcedure Manual Templates are a turn-key solution that keeps you focused onyour business goals while still meetingimportant agency, regulatory or corporatepolicy requirements.”

The latest Policy and Procedure ManualTemplates available include: Advertising


and Marketing Policy Manual, AppraiserIndependence Policy Manual, BrokerQuality Control (QC) Plan, FHA DelegationPolicy Manual, Loan Repurchase andRescission Policy Manual, SAFE Act PolicyManual, Servicemembers Civil Relief Act(SCRA) Policy and Procedure Manual, andWholesale Quality Control and BrokerMonitoring Policy Manual.

Currently, AllRegs offers 20 Policyand Procedure Manual Templates, withmore titles in development. Currentofferings focus on a variety of topics—including anti-predatory lending, mort-gage underwriting, loan originator (LO)compensation, federal compliance,employee handbook policies and more.

Non-Agency CorrespondentProgram From New PennHelps Serve ForeignNationals, Investors andOther Borrowers

Nationwide mortgage lender New PennFinancial LLC has announced the launch

of its correspondent business channel thatwill buy non-agency loans from approvedclients. Approved correspondents can offerNew Penn’s non-agency portfolio loanproducts to their customers. The loans’expanded guidelines enable more borrow-ers to qualify for financing—for example,those seeking jumbo loans or secondhomebuyers. These loans provide moreflexibility in loan qualification, loanamounts and other criteria, and includespecialized programs for real estateinvestors and foreign nationals.

“We’re pleased to offer approvedclients the opportunity to serve morecustomers by offering our unique port-folio programs,” said Jerry Schiano,president and chief executive officer ofNew Penn Financial LLC.

New Penn recently hired KareyGeddes as VP of sales for the newlyformed Correspondent Division. Geddeshas more than 20 years of experience incorrespondent lending, and has servedas senior vice president at BANC ofManhattan Capital, a partner at TheWinter Group and VP at Credit Suisse

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new to market continued from page 35

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First Boston prior to joining New Penn.“There are limited options today for

correspondent lenders to originate highquality loans that do not fit agencystandards,” said Bob Wexler, head ofNew Penn’s Correspondent Division.“New Penn’s proprietary loan programsfill a major gap in today’s market andthe Correspondent channel helps usreach more of these borrowers.”

Interthinx’s ValueGUARDUpgrade to FeatureIncreased Transparencyand Interactive GoogleMapping and LaunchesQC Offering

Interthinx hasa n n o u n c e dthe release of

major enhancements to its risk solution,ValueGUARD, strengthening the platformwith data fortification, improved visibility,and an elevated user experience offeringinterior and exterior MLS photos of neigh-borhood comparable sales, listings anddistressed property exhibits, as well asinteractive Google mapping with satelliteimages and the ability to select compara-bles from neighborhood sales and listings.

Using analytics along with proprietary,public and MLS data (including brokerremarks) and imaging, ValueGUARD assists

users in increasing their risk detection pro-ficiency, while offering product trans-parency. Problematic issues surroundingproperty value and marketability can beeasily identified, prioritized and ultimatelymitigated.

“The market has enthusiasticallyembraced our ValueGUARD offering as aprimary tool in its mission to increase theintegrity and quality of collateral as suretyfor a loan. However, Interthinx is constant-ly working to address the market’s ongoingneeds, enhancing and adjusting our solu-tions to the pertinent issues of the day,”said Mark Chapin, chief valuation officer atInterthinx. “A fierce commitment toresearch and development, backed by ourstability and the support of our parentcompany, enables continual product inno-vation. We believe the current enhance-ments to ValueGUARD are spot-on andreflect our users’ need for accuracy andefficiency in their processes.”

Interthinx has also announced thelaunch of its Quality Control (QC) ReviewServices, combining automated technolo-gies with deep, loan-level audit expertise.The Interthinx approach to QC file reviewsis designed to ensure compliance and mit-igate risk for lenders and investors by usingonly certified professionals. The staff forInterthinx QC Review services includes:Certified fraud examiners, certified mort-

gage bankers, compliance lawyers and cer-tified appraisers.

“A quality control system of the highestcaliber must be made available to the ail-ing mortgage markets,” said Kevin Coop,president of Interthinx. “Business-as-usualin regard to QC file review will not suffice.Issues creating tremendous anxiety forlenders include lack of compliance expert-ise, underperforming QC, risk of repur-chase, and resource constraints. Clientswho leverage Interthinx QC Review Servicescan alleviate administrative burdens whileexperiencing efficient and cost-effectiveoutsourcing of scalable and customizablestaffing resources. Capacity is ensuredwithout sacrificing control or quality.”

ClosingCorp LaunchesCompliance Upgrade for GFE Data

ClosingCorp has announced the launch ofits SmartGFE Service 2.0, a one-click, onlinesolution giving mortgage lenders fastaccess to Real Estate Settlement ProceduresAct (RESPA)-compliant Good Faith Estimate(GFE) data. ClosingCorp launched its origi-nal SmartGFE Service in 2010 to deliver liverates for local and national real estate clos-ing services, as well as transfer taxes andrecording fees, enabling lenders and bro-kers to create instant, accurate GFEs. Basedon market demand for greater efficiencyand precision, ClosingCorp developed theSmartGFE Service 2.0 to eliminate the needfor loan officers to make decisions andmanually input information already exist-ing in a loan file. The 2.0 solution requiresvirtually no user interaction and instanta-neously generates real-time, geocodedrates for GFE Blocks 3-8 from thousands ofpreferred providers throughout the U.S. atany time.

“The regulatory environment, as well ascompetition for mortgage applicants, con-tinues to require timely and accurateGFEs,” said Paul Mass, president ofClosingCorp. “We made significantenhancements to our SmartGFE Serviceand know our 2.0 release will dramaticallyincrease the productivity of mortgagelenders while significantly reducing theamount of tolerance violations being reim-bursed to borrowers given our ComplianceGuarantee. The SmartGFE Service 2.0 pro-vides custom configuration options tolenders at any level—corporate, branch orindividual, enabling them to improve workflow efficiency and increase GFE data qual-ity, all while accessing their own uniquepreferred provider’s data.“

The SmartGFE Service 2.0 is an integrat-ed rules-based engine that allows lendersto configure their vendor preferences andcustomize settings once to haveCompliance Guaranteed data deliveredinstantaneously into their GFE, itemizedfee work sheet and service provider list.The SmartGFE Service 2.0 incorporatesclient-specific business rules to ensureappropriate fees are included in eachquoted price. The service instantly notifiesusers if transfer tax or recording feeschange, and it is backed by a complianceguarantee to eliminate tolerance viola-

tions. Lenders can override decisions on aper-transaction basis, allowing them toretain ultimate control over the entireprocess.

New eMASON OnlinePortal Unites All Involvedin Mortgage Process

eMASON Inc.,developer ofthe Clarifireb u s i n e s s

process automation software for thefinancial servicers industry, hasunveiled the Clarifire Community,enabling servicers to drive compliancewith U.S. Department of the Treasuryregulations, while delivering a solutionto borrowers—and all others involvedin mortgage servicing—that providesreal-time access to borrower delin-quency management processes.Clarifire Community is the portalthrough which borrowers, servicers,investors, title agents, realtors, regula-tors and other mortgage industry play-ers can finally come together in oneplatform to synchronize activitiesrelating to mortgage loans.

With Clarifire Community, borrowersaccess their single point of contact withjust one click. Banks and servicers oftenhave over a dozen customer points ofentry. With Clarifire Community, this isconsolidated into one solution. A livechat feature, Clarifier Concierge, expe-dites the flow of information borrow-ers need. Clarifire automates the myri-ad business processes that touch themortgage loan, each to servicer specifi-cations, while providing an action orcontact trail that is both accountableand auditable. The various workflowsand user interactions involved indelinquency management now hap-pen in one place, in a secure, easy touse, intuitive platform.

“Clarifire Community lets servicersdeal accurately and efficiently with thevolume of work they see today and arelikely to continue to see in the future,”said Jane Mason, founder and chiefexecutive officer of eMASON. “The tech-nology also gives borrowers a voice byletting them be informed participantsin the process, which is what our regu-lators want to see. Technology is theheart of the solution.”

In addition to its auditable singlepoint of contact features, ClarifireCommunity generates documents, suchas borrower final workout agreements,and delivers them through a secureInternet connection. Messages aredelivered instantly to borrowers, tellingthem that the documents are ready inthe communication method of theirchoice, e-mail or text message.

NexBank Reaches Out toNon-Conforming MarketWith New ProductOffering

NexBank hasannounced the

launch of the Mortgage ConnectProgram, a suite of traditional, non-conforming mortgage products to sup-

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• Multiple National Lenders• 580 FICO FHA• Local Underwriting• VA-USDA-203k-Reverse• Onsite Migration Assistance

If you would like to learn more about our BranchPartner business model, please inquire:

http://FrostMortgage.com/NMPRegulation and Licensing Department, Financial Institutions Division #621 • Branch License #00621

port loans from $250,000 to $2 million-plus. The Mortgage Connect programfeatures common-sense underwritingand is funded directly from NexBank’sbalance sheet. According to Jed Meaux,vice president and head of NexBank’sMortgage Division, the success of thebank’s recent Jumbo Connect programled management to create MortgageConnect.

“Our Jumbo Connect mortgage pro-gram specialized in non-conformingloans between $417,000 and the $2 mil-lion-plus range,” Meaux said. “It provedthat there’s a strong need in the currentmarket for traditional, non-conforminglending products with common-senseunderwriting and fast turn times.”

NexBank Chief Executive Officer JohnHolt said that by satisfying continueddemand for traditional non-conform-ing solutions in the North Texas mar-ket, the Mortgage Connect programplays a strategic role in the bank’sgrowth and expansion plans.

“As the Texas housing market contin-ues to weather volatile economic times,we want NexBank to be a key resourcefor mortgage brokers looking for com-mon-sense solutions at competitiverates,” said Holt.

DocMagic Announces theAvailability of Its FreeeSign Technology

DocMagic Inc.has announcedthat it is makingits eSign plat-form availableto any user at

no cost. DocMagic’s eSign solution givesusers the ability to capture electronicsignatures for any document saved in a.PDF file format. It digitally seals thosedocuments to prevent fraud, providesaccess and audit trail capabilities, doc-ument versioning, and e-mail notifica-tions. The eSign Solution works byleveraging DocMagic’s proprietaryClickSign technology, which has tradi-tionally been used by borrowers toelectronically execute agreements, dis-closures and notices provided in con-junction with a mortgage transaction.DocMagic has taken this technology toa new level by enabling open access tothis innovative system—for free.

“We developed eSign to be used forany document purely as goodwill for theindustry, and we did it for free toencourage greater adoption of electron-ic signatures,” said Dominic Iannitti,president and chief executive officer ofDocMagic. “I strongly believe that ouroffering will revolutionize the way docu-ments are signed by creating a dominoeffect among companies using it. We arelaying the foundation for other softwarevendors to follow suit and our aim is toreduce the need to rely on paper andhelp organizations go green.”

Setup and use of the platform isquick, easy and completely free to any-one interested in using it. An applica-tion programming interface (API) isavailable that provides a collection ofXML-based Web services that enables

seamless integration with any platform.As a result, data can easily be passed fromeSign to various back-office systems.

Moody’s Analytics toBegin Offering the LPSHome Price Index

L e n d e rProcessingServices Inc.( L P S ) h a s

announced that Moody’s Analytics willbegin offering LPS’ Home Price Index(HPI), which shows historical pricetrends for residential properties in theU.S. Moody’s Analytics will offer the LPSHPI through its data delivery platform,DataBuffet, to clients who depend on orare exposed to housing markets, such aslenders, commercial banks, residentialmortgage-backed security (RMBS) mar-ket participants, insurance firms andgovernment institutions.

“We are excited to work with Moody’sAnalytics to bring a new and progressiveproduct to capital markets professionalsand investors who need it, especially intoday’s volatile market,” said KyleLundstedt, managing director of LPSApplied Analytics. “Moody’s Analytics isknown and respected for providingtrusted guidance, and LPS is confidentour home price index can add valuewith a solution that brings increasedaccuracy, coverage and timely informa-tion to the industry.”

LPS’ data provides comprehensivecoverage for approximately 75 percentof U.S. properties, and the LPS HPI pro-vides prices for 98 percent of these atthe ZIP code level. There are no gaps inhistorical data for this broad geograph-ic coverage.

The LPS HPI collects prices for morethan 13,500 ZIP codes nationwide,including many in non-disclosurestates. Within each ZIP code, the LPSHPI explicitly provides five price levelsto show the varied price histories ofentry-level homes, high-end homes andhomes priced in the middle of the mar-ket. The LPS HPI tracks real estate-owned (REO) discounts down to the ZIPcode level. These are used in the HPIanalysis to correct for distortions thatotherwise occur when REO sales areincluded in price-data analyses. Moreimportantly, the LPS HPI reports thesediscounts to support better estimates ofsales prices on REO properties. The LPSHPI can also help market participantsdetermine the impact REO sales have onindividual markets, allowing non-dis-tressed and distressed property valuesto be estimated.

MortgageFlex ReleasesNext Generation LOS

MortgageFlex Systems Inc. hasannounced the launch of the newestgeneration of LoanQuest, the compa-ny’s flagship enterprise loan originationsystem (LOS). The origination platform


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one way mortgage servicers and hous-ing counselors can find help for strug-gling homeowners and for individualstransitioning out of their homes.”

Counselors and servicers who sub-scribe to MortgageKeeper’s databaseprovide struggling homeowners with alist of exhaustively researched, best-in-class non-profit and governmentagencies in seconds. Often the agen-cies are located just a few miles fromthe homeowner.

“Homeowners in the South are fac-ing high electric bills from the summerheat wave, and some families up Northare still paying off bills from last win-ter,” said Gorey. “Their heating, cool-ing, and water costs are skyrocketing,and show no signs of dropping.”

MortgageKeeper Referral Servicesassists more than 2,000 families findanswers and assistance every day.Subscribers include Saxon MortgageServices, Ocwen Loan Servicing, andthe Homeownership PreservationFoundation’s 888.995.HOPE hotline.MortgageKeeper connects individualsin financial distress to reputable com-munity services. Borrowers withaccess to outside resources have addi-tional opportunities to cure default,benefiting the homeowner, servicers,and investors.

Recording Fees andTransfer Taxes NamedTop Hurdle on GFE and HUD-1

Ernst PublishingCompany hasreported that asurvey the firmconducted showsthat 80 percent of

respondents considered recording feesand transfer taxes to be the top chal-lenge that the Good Faith Estimate(GFE) and HUD-1 present to them. TheErnst survey was e-mailed to more than8,600 clients of the firm, of whichalmost six percent responded.

“That such a large majority ofrespondents considered recording fees

and transfer taxes to represent theirmost difficult problem is surprising,”said Gregory E. Teal, president andchief executive of Ernst. “Clearly, froma business standpoint, there is muchriding on populating the GFE in asaccurate a fashion as possible. The fail-ure to do so can result in expensive conse-quences, so understandably there is anxi-ety over that effort.”

To be sure, technology plays a keyrole in producing these fees and help-ing to ensure their accuracy. Whilelenders have invested in the technolo-gy, understanding the complexity of thefees and the due diligence necessary tomaintain the systems requires tremen-dous focus.

“Automation can make handlingthese fees easier, if it is provided by aprovider who builds in the idiosyn-crasies needed to reflect these feesaccurately and updates them continual-ly,” said Teal. “Retaining a third-partythat sources its own data and deliversinnovative solutions will ensure accura-cy, save time, and cut costs.” Thirty-ninepercent of respondents reported thatcosts decreased as a result of automat-ing their processes.

The results of this survey are similar toone Ernst completed about six monthsago that also showed that handlingrecording fees and transfer taxes was thenumber one challenge for clients.

Your turnNational Mortgage ProfessionalMagazine invites you to submit anyinformation on regulatory changes,legislative updates, human intereststories or any other newsworthy itemspertaining to the mortgage industry tothe attention of:

NMP News Flash columnPhone #: (516) 409-5555

E-mail:[email protected]

Note: Submissions sent via e-mail are pre-ferred. The deadline for submissions is the1st of the month prior to the target issue.

e-mail: [email protected]: www.calyxsoftware.com

allows lenders to differentiate themselvesfrom the competition by providing a lend-ing solution that meets their unique needswhile still being affordable and easy tomaintain. The LOS provides extensive userconfiguration flexibility of the core systemand a comprehensive, easy to use tool setfor additional system tailoring. The tech-nology platform puts lenders in control oftheir system functionality, not the vendor.Lenders can build to their strengths whileenhancing staff performance, increasingcapacity and improving quality and cus-tomer service.

During the past three years,MortgageFlex strategically entered intoan extensive research and developmentmode to rewrite its LOS from the groundup including a redesign of the databaseschema. LoanQuest retains all the func-tionality developed over the past 30years while adding significant enhance-ments that take advantage of the latesttechnology. LoanQuest has been com-pletely re-engineered utilizingMicrosoft’s latest version of .NET archi-tecture including several technologiesnot available in earlier versions of .NET.

LoanSifter Launches New Real Time Mortgage Data Index

LoanSifter Inc. has announced thelaunch the LoanSifter AvailableMortgage Rate Index (AMRI), a real-timemortgage rate index that provides arealistic idea of what borrowers typicallypay for a loan. The LoanSifter AMRI isderived from actual daily mortgage ratesearches and can be found online atLoanSifterMortgageIndex.com. TheLoanSifter AMRI can be used by mortgagelenders, journalists, borrowers and otherparties to gain insight into the current costsof getting a home loan, the current pricingenvironment, and the overall climate formortgage rates, as well as to identify trendsin the mortgage market.

Developed after examining traditionalindices of mortgage rates and discoveringflaws in their approach and resulting infor-mation, the LoanSifter AMRI leverages theLoanSifter database through the daily min-ing of real-time rate searches to create a setof residential loan rate data charts on whatrates are offered in the marketplace.

“Current mortgage rate indices are use-ful, but they do not provide an accuratereflection of what is happening in the mar-ket in real time,” said LoanSifter PresidentBruce Backer. “In addition, other markettools ignore the variation that exists amongborrowers in their willingness to pay pointsor closing costs, as well as the differences incharacteristics of loans and borrowers. TheLoanSifter AMRI provides all this and more,giving the mortgage industry a much morecomplete view of the realities of the mar-ket as they happen. Meanwhile, consumersget a closer view into the costs of currentlyavailable loans.”

Aklero Amps Up QC WithNew PreQx Offering

Aklero Risk Analytics,a provider of auto-mated data and doc-ument validity assur-ance for the mort-gage industry, has

announced the launch of PreQxdesigned to perform an automatedquality control (QC) check once the filehas reached a clear to close status.During this final stage, PreQx performsan automated QC audit using Aklero’sdocument and data validity platform,Q-Close. The technology automates thevast majority of the manual audit taskscontained in a pre-closing checklist.Moreover, it automates the review andscrutinizes data and original docu-ments for issues that include the bor-rower’s income, property valuation andthe latest credit report.

“Many lenders recognize that repur-chase risk is prevalent in today’s marketand that, early in the originationprocess and prior to the closing, lendersrequire more certainty that their loansmeet the investor’s eligibility guide-lines,” said Brian K. Fitzpatrick, CEO atAklero. “Traditional quality controlsolutions do not adequately address thetimeliness and cost efficiency of pre-closing audits. In a pre-closing audit,time is of the essence and the com-pleteness of the audit is paramount.PreQx is the industry’s first automated,document based pre-closing audit solu-tion that solves the time and cost issuewhile providing our clients with themost effective quality control safety netin the mortgage industry.”

PreQx can be combined with Aklero’saudit services or lenders can use theirinternal audit teams to review resultsand complete the audit. In both cases,PreQx removes the majority of manualaudit tasks associated with a pre-closingaudit and focuses the auditor’s timeand attention on the total risk pictureof the loan. This enables users to have amore granular review while significant-ly increasing the effectiveness and pro-ductivity of audit resources.Additionally, PreQx focuses on dataaccuracy by evaluating the data in thedocuments to the data in the loan orig-ination system (LOS).

Acris Launches Consulting Service toDevelop Cloud-BasedMortgage Ops

Acris Technology, the software develop-ment company behind Mortgage VCO, afull suite of cloud-based software appli-cations and business support resourcesfor mortgage bankers and lenders, has



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Company/Contact About the company

(888) 934-7740 • MortgageVCO.com

(800) 848-4904 • www.allregsmortgage.com

(800) 362-2599 • www.calyxsoftware.com

(714) 489-8859 • www.comergencecompliance.com

(800) 258-3488 • www.creditplus.com

(800) 445-4922 • www.CreditTechnologies.com

(800) 554-1872 • idsDoc.com

(800) 333-4510 • www.interthinx.com

Acris Technology is an ISP provider of cloud-based mortgage technology.

Mortgage industry resources, training andbusiness intelligence.

The most used LOS provider offeringaffordable and compliant solutions.

We specialize in mortgage originator duediligence and surveillance.

Credit Plus is a credit reporting provider tothe mortgage industry.

Founded in 1990, serving the mortgagelending community nationwide.

Compliant closing and initial mortgagedocument preparation services.

Interthinx is a leading national provider of riskmitigation solutions.

(800) 326-3539 • www.mortgageflex.com

(615) 591-2528 • www.qualitymortgageservices.com

(800) 778-4920 • www.streetlinks.com

mortgageflex provides loan origination andservicing software.

We provide QC services nationwide. Our abilityto provide the examinations and complianceverification is supported by extensive experi-ence in mortgage lending.

StreetLinks provides a broad and innovativesuite of lending solutions.

COMPLIANCE TOOLS DIRECTORY

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Technology Supports the PeopleWho Drive Our Business

By Eric Wiley

Anyone who has been in this busi-ness for any period of time hasheard the rumor. A fancy ATM,

and more recently, the Internet will bereplacing loan originators (LOs) whichwill reduce lender costs, save consumertime, and generally make residentialmortgage brokers and our professionalcounterparts a thing of the past. All ofthis would happen because creditwould be able to be accessed immedi-ately, assets electronically verified,homes analyzed for value via databasecomparisons, and incomes validated byemployers through a central repository.This rumored obsolescence has every-thing to do with technology’s perceivedrole in our business.

Is technology friend or foe? Is it anecessary evil? No, on both counts. Is itsomething to be embraced by manage-ment? Absolutely. Does it or should it,replace the human element? Not at all.The fact is, technology serves toincrease our individual value to anorganization which makes people lessof a professional commodity than everbefore … and that is good for everyone.

The mortgage business has alwaysbeen about people serving people.What has changed is how technologyenables us to serve those people. If weare honest in our assessments, most ofus love the practical side of technolo-gy, but need to be better at managingthe efficiency of its use. Cell phonesare now small computers that arealways with us. Laptops have theirown data services and can be opera-tional all the time. Our offices are nolonger the sole location for gettingwork done and then, at the end of theday, leaving work at work. Thanks totechnology, we are more efficient,accessible and far better empoweredto serve people.

Managing technology is paramountto your own mental health, as well asthe long-term sustainability of yourcareer, and ultimately, the financialhealth of your organization. You needto run technology, not allow technologyto run you which is becoming more andmore of an issue for each of us. We allhave some difficult times in this

respect. We are becoming increasinglybusier, lots of e-mails are hitting ourinbox, our Facebook Page needs con-stant updating, and it builds fromthere. To help in this managementprocess, here are some helpful hints wepractice at Pacific Residential MortgageLLC (PRM) that have been garneredthrough the management of LOs of alldifferent personality profiles and pro-ductivity levels.

� Electronic calendars enable all of usto schedule our week in advance,and that should be done by the priorFriday. This insures that your mostimportant business (and personal)commitments are integrated intoyour calendar and thanks to tech-nology, you will be prompted asscheduled times approach. Think ofthis as building a short-term busi-ness plan that can be modified asnecessary.

� Prioritize activities that areenabled by technology. While aloan application may trump a cal-endar-scheduled activity, it is vitalthat “low-hanging fruit” supportedby technology (automated market-ing messages to clients, statusreports on loans, etc.) are beingcultivated with regularity.

� E-mail technology is a primarycommunication tool that facilitatesthe business process, while oftentimes, slowing it down as well.Proper management of your e-mailcalls for figuring out which mes-sages are hot and which can waitfor a few hours and then torespond accordingly. Everyone’spriority is not your priority andyour referral partners and clientsare likely handling their e-mailtechnology with this mindset.

� Loan status reports, preferably onesthat are automated to go out atcertain checkpoints, are what weuse at PRM to maintain transactionflow and supplemental contact.Some LOs feel they must infuse

their own personalityand/or personal touch-es to their loan statusreports. Our experi-ence shows that suchpersonalization servesno useful purpose andin fact, Realtors andclients love the sim-ple, automated statusreports we send them.The reason? Thesereports happen elec-tronically, without fail,on every transaction ascheckpoints are reached.The LO is misallocatingvaluable time by tryingto personalize eachone of these messages.Rule of thumb in man-aging this technology:Deal personally with exceptions, notthe rule.

� Database marketing technology hasenabled our industry to reach outwith frequency and efficiencyunlike ever before. My advice: Dothe least, get the most. Just likeloan status updates, don’t try to beoverly personal. These are simplyelectronic or print media that haveyour name, contact information,and most likely your photo—weview database marketing as onemore means of getting out yourbusiness card to sustain name andcompany awareness. The key tosuccessful use of this technology ismaking sure the database is up-to-date and includes referral sourcesplus current and past clients.

� Social media is a relatively new tech-nology that is an exciting and effec-tive tool for communicating to themasses and targeted groups. PRMhas embraced it’s use for many rea-sons, two of which are its low costand the ease at which it can be keptcurrent. As part of our application ofthis technology, we support our LOswith in-house marketing resourcesso they can leverage the company’songoing social media outreach on apersonalized basis.

� Dovetailing your company’s genericsocial media presence with yourown personal social media presenceis an effective application of thistechnology. My experience has

taught me that withoutlinking company affilia-tion to personal market-ing, you are not capital-izing on the significantmarke t momentumbeing established by thevery organization youare part of, and resultswill reflect that lostopportunity. Similar toe-mail, it is important tomanage time spent onlineengaged with this media.We have seen many indi-viduals invest way toomuch time in socialmedia to the point ofdiminishing financialreturn. Remember: Socialmedia, while a greattechnology for our indus-

try, won’t get you many immediatedeals. It is, however, a great way tobe get found in online searches anda solid way to validate yourself to areferral who is checking out bothyou and your company.

The mortgage business will contin-ue to be about people serving people,and technology will enable us to bebetter at it. How you manage yourpersonal use of technology in doingyour job will have an impact on howefficiently and quickly you grow yourbusiness. Ironically, the best way tocharacterize use of technology is witha not-so-technical piece of advice:Keep it simple. Doing so will yield pos-itive results on many fronts. If whatyou’re doing with technology is toocomplicated, costs too much money,or takes too much time to utilize, thendump it. Remember, all of us in thisindustry get paid when clients arefound and a loan is closed for them.Our success will never be measured bythe number of e-mails we respond to,or the tweets we read or send in a day.Our success will come from the wayswe engage technology to support thepeople who drive our business.

Eric Wiley is chief operating officer andco-founder of Pacific ResidentialMortgage LLC. He has served on theboard of the Oregon Association ofMortgage Professionals (OAMP) and is anactive member of the Oregon MortgageLenders Association (OMLA). He may bereached by phone at (503) 905-4902 or e-mail [email protected].

“The mortgage business has alwaysbeen about people

serving people. What has changed is

how technologyenables us to serve

those people.”

Moving Through the Short SaleProcess Using Technology

By Laura Hadley

The mortgage meltdown, depreciatinghome values and a dragging eco-nomic landscape have foreclosures at

an all-time high. However, short sales areincreasingly emerging as a viable, pre-ferred alternative to foreclosures. But,many short sales can take more than a yearto complete, and even when a suitablebuyer and price are agreed upon, deals canstill fall out and the foreclosure processensues anyway.

The short sale process involves a numberof different parties and moving parts thatmust all work together concurrently to suc-cessfully complete a deal. More than any-thing, visibility is critical to preventing con-fusion, lost information, missed deadlines,neglected tasks, etc. Today, utilization tech-nology is key to providing some much-need-ed visibility into a notoriously convolutedprocess that is often handled manually.Unfortunately, many lenders and servicershave not implemented technology to ade-quately handle an influx of short sale appli-cations. The parties involved to completedeals include servicers, lenders, seller, buyerand real estate agents. It is crucial that theyhave the transparency to all be on the samepage, share information, and completetasks in a timely manner.

By and large, completing a manual shortsale involves countless numbers of e-mails,phone calls, voicemails, facsimile transmis-sions and document imaging uploads thatare constantly sent back and forth to variousparties. To manage such a complicatedprocess full of minutia, using these types ofinefficient mediums is a recipe for disaster.E-mails are missed, voicemails are notpicked up, documentation is commonlymisplaced, and overall communicationbecomes hampered from the start. All toooften, these types of encumbrances create aprolonged “waiting game” with little visibil-ity into status, which quickly causes buyersto become frustrated and pull out of thedeal. Then, a new suitable buyer must befound and the process starts all over again.By this time, an NOD (Notice of Default) hasprobably been filed, which inserts a newparty into the equation—the foreclosureattorney. The servicer must then begin time-ly, closely monitored communications withthem or the house can potentially be fore-closed upon with little notice.

With technology, however, short salescan be completed in as little as 60 days, not12-plus months. Technology establishesvisibility, speed and efficient processing,thus dramatically cutting down on thelength of time it takes to complete a shortsale. Web-based short sale applications arecommercially available that automateshort sale workflows and streamlines com-munications. Typically, these types of solu-tions encompass a centralized Web portalthat the buyer, seller and real estate agentscan log into, view the status of the loanand upload documents in a standardizedformat. Servicers then use the applicationinternally to effectively manage communi-cations between all parties, monitor tasksand reduce the sheer volume of phonecalls, voicemails, e-mails and faxes.

Servicers no longer have to contendwith lost or misplaced information, andstacks of paper and files. Short salerequests can be kept as separate and dis-tinct, offer negotiations are managed andcentralized, and borrowers and agents arecontinually involved and updated on thestatus of the process. Servicers can easilyreceive and complete short sale packagesdirectly from the borrower or its listingagent, which includes complete financials,property valuation data, lien verificationand all supporting qualification documen-tation that is needed. In addition, theseapplications integrate directly with leadingmortgage servicing platforms and third-party partners, which improves dataintegrity, workflow and response times.

So what does all of that boil down to?The need to eliminate terrible communi-cation, tremendous inefficiencies, a lack ofvisibility, and an overall disjointed processthat’s incredibly slow. With the use of theright technology, you can dramaticallyspeed up time frames to successfully getshort sales approved in as little as twomonths. You should note that most ser-vicers use antiquated back-office technolo-gy that is ill-equipped to handle heavyshort sale volumes. With a flurry of increas-ing short sale applications, having oldtechnology, or worse yet, no technology, isa huge problem.

There are mortgage technologies that arecommercially available on the market todaythat bring much needed transparency, ease

of communication and dataexchange to the detail-inten-sive short sale process.

Lenders could enjoy thebenefits that various mort-gage technology providersoffer such as short sale pro-cessing platforms, businessrule-driven workflows, datacollection and imaging,document management,priority queues, system-to-system integrations, real-time visibility, automatedapprovals and more.

The technology is there.It’s just that some lenders andservicers never implementedplatforms, and are now chal-lenged in handling an ongo-ing influx of short sales veryinefficiently. The bottom line is that the shortsale process doesn’t need to be so broken.

Technology can cut a 12-month-plus process down totwo or less months. Thevalue of technology is clear-cut … it just needs to beimplemented.

Laura Hadley is vice presi-dent of product develop-ment for Quandis Inc., adefault management mort-gage technology provider.She is a 20-year veteran ofthe mortgage industry andhas extensive experience indefault servicing and mort-gage technology. Throughouther career, Hadley has heldexecutive-level positions atUSRES, UBS, People’s ChoiceHome Loans, LPS and Option

One. She may be reached by phone at (949)382-1178 or e-mail [email protected].

“With the use of theright technology, you

can dramaticallyspeed up time frames

to successfully getshort sales approved

in as little as twomonths.”

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Is Mortgage Technology Really the Waveof the Future?Weighing the cost of human interaction in the age of technology

By Tommy A. Duncan, CMT

While I cannotspeak on usingtechnology to

lower your applications toclose in a short amount oftime because I am not auser of such technology, Ican speak on what I see asa result of technology usedin this manner. It is a giventhat the cost of technology,the purchase of a softwarelicense and the cost to setup that technology canhurt, especially as volumesare at record lows in manypockets of the nation. Thereare many factors even aftersetup and license purchasethat one must consider aswell in adapting any newmortgage technology:bandwidth, cabling instal-lations, routers, firewalls,servers, multitask machines, and in somecases, hosted data centers. And do not for-get the cost of operating systems and othersoftware licenses services like backups. Ifsomething breaks or service is disrupted,then there are even more costs if you don’thave someone in the office to take care ofit. The bottom line, the cost of technologyis getting increasingly expensive to supporta broker or lending operation. Once theloan production starts flowing, then thecost of the technology investment may payfor itself, but as a company grows, its tech-nology must grow as well.

I am convinced that technology signifi-cantly contributes to closing loans faster, butthe humans processing the loan are the cen-ter of gravity of the loan approval and theefficiency of the technology being used.There are too many people involved andtouching the loan in a given period of timefrom the borrower, loan officer, processor,underwriter and the multiple revisits thatmay result in the delay of the closing. Thetechnology can only move as fast as the peo-ple who are using the technology.

Fraud detection is another cost associat-ed with technology that is only as good asthe people using it. From some mortgage

loan audits, there are someunderwriting defects wherethe underwriter did not ana-lyze the data produced fromthe technology used forfraud detection and loansslipped through and werefunded. A good example isthe analysis of tax transcriptsand income and expensesreported to the IRS. Eventhough tax transcripts are avery valuable tool when val-idating income, the under-writer must have the abilityto understand these com-plex transcripts in order tomake a sound credit deci-sion. If they do not under-stand complex tax tran-scripts, some loans will getthrough that should needmore analysis or should bedenied.

The automated valuation model (AVM) isanother technology-based tool that is some-times misused for some loan scenarios.Some underwriters pull an AVM to helpthem make a judgment on value of a prop-erty, but the data is usually not current oraccurate from the data source. The govern-ment-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) will nottake an AVM except from their respectiveAVM source of a Home Affordable RefinanceProgram (HARP) loan because of incorrectdata from some AVM sources.

In some cases, the underwriter needs astronger collateral risk tool rather than anAVM, such as Appraisal Defect Detectionand Prevention (ADDP). There are timeswhen an underwriter needs a collateraltool that provides risk measurements andscores to assist underwriters if they are notfamiliar with a particular region. If they donot have the collateral technology to sup-port them, the loan can be challenged fora repurchase if the value is off or seriousappraisal defect are in the appraisal.

The credit report is important and nec-essary, but quality control (QC) mortgageaudits often find where not all credit lia-bilities are entered correctly into the auto-mated underwriting system or after the

loan is funded, an item show up that wasnot initially detected that should havebeen disclosed during the loan application.The problem is, the borrower did not dis-close this, thus misrepresenting the creditliability did not synchronize with thedepositories in a timely manner which isprobably a function of a human to have itsubmitted. Even though the technology isexcellent, there are still the asymmetricalor the human factor that caused the tech-nology to not work as it was designed.

Occupancy is very difficult to determine,and as far as I know, there is no real knowntechnology that can verify if properties areoccupied or going to be occupied by theborrower. Even though occupancy fraud isnot as high as income fraud, asset fraudand appraisal fraud, it is very difficult toverify with technology and requires moremanual efforts with a flare of creativity tovalidate.

Figure 1: FHA &Conventional MortgageFraud Detection

It is amazing that we are see mortgage loanmisrepresentation or fraud approachingnumbers last seen pre-2009 with the abun-dance of fraud detection and technologythe industry has available today that wasnot available before 2009.

Figure 2: Purchase andRefinance MortgageMisrepresentation orFraud

As the data shows, the purchase marketcontinues to exceed the number of mis-representation or fraud before 2009with an arsenal of pre-funding QC and

technology available with historicallythe lowest mortgage production vol-umes in years. The refinance market issteadily climbing, and the year 2011still has a story to tell.

Figure 3: Non-Banks vs. Banks

As you can see from the data, the non-supervised financial institutions are thelargest producers of mortgage loansthat contain misrepresentations ormortgage fraud. One would think thatthe same technology available at thebanks is also available at the non-banks. Again, I do not think it is thetechnology that is the issue. It is theend-users of this technology. The bankslikely have more resources at hand, likea budget, staffers and heavy oversightto help promote stronger lending prac-tices where non-banks lack thesethings. At this point, the real costshould be evaluated at what is the cost ofloan quality or not having loan quality.Repurchase have placed a number offinancial institution on the scratch anddent sale from the Federal DepositInsurance Corporation (FDIC) andother have simply folded altogether.Personally, I am a believer of the olddays of manual underwriting, andwhen you place the cost of manualunderwriting and the cost of technolo-gy, I will take manual underwritingover technology for now because mostall of the fraud found in the loan thatproduced this data came as the resultof some type of automated underwrit-ing system.

Tommy A. Duncan, CMT, is president ofQuality Mortgage Services LLC, aprovider of mortgage quality assuranceand mortgage compliance solutions. Hewas instrumental in developing thefirm’s QA/QC software currently in use bymortgage bankers/lenders. Tommy maybe reached by phone at (615) 591-2528,ext. 124 or e-mail [email protected]. You may also visit QualityMortgage Services LLC on the Web atwww.qualitymortgageservices.com.

“I am convinced that technology

significantly contributesto closing loans faster,

but the humans processing the loan arethe center of gravity ofthe loan approval and

the efficiency of thetechnology being used.”

Save Time, Money and be More SuccessfulUtilizing Free Lender Technologies

By Kristina Bennett

Purchasing high-end loan originationsoftware (LOS), electronic signatureprograms or other important mort-

gage technology tools can become costlyand quite involved for brokers to absorb.However, there are a number of wholesalersthat offer broker-oriented technology toolsfor free. If you are an originator or a bro-ker/owner, you’ll want to partner withlenders that offer you free tech-savvy pro-grams and tools. It isn’t necessary to buyapplications, pay for software licenses, incurservice fees and other costs when you canlean on a lender’s technology applications toeliminate additional overhead and gain effi-ciencies that result in greater success.

To maximize your success and efficien-cy, there are a number of things to consid-er before developing a relationship with alender. Whether you’re an independentoriginator, or you own a broker business,you’ll find the below checklist valuable toassist you in navigating through the differ-ent bells and whistles that lenders provide.The following tools will ease your job as anoriginator, processor or broker owner:

Product qualifying toolsThis is essential to allow a broker to inputminimal information from the borrower todetermine specific products they qualify for.As a broker, this tool reveals product optionsand the associated payments for fixed-rate,adjustable-rate, government or convention-al loans, with or without monthly mortgageinsurance to cover with your borrower.These tools can also show you what yourcompensation is with the lender.

E-sign or e-consent technologyWith more borrowers on the go and havinglimited time to actually sit down and com-plete an application, e-sign technology isbecoming priceless in a fast-paced world.Some lenders may also allow borrowers toe-consent the Truth-in-Lending (TIL). Thissaves time and allows the originator to col-lect money for the appraisal right away.

Accessibility to scan,upload and track yourloan package and conditions onlineThere is no reason to waste time withlenders that require a package to be

mailed, or even worse, a package to befaxed. If lenders give you the ability toelectronically upload a package, itbecomes much easier to see exactly whatis attached and track your documents. Italso alleviates playing the blame gameof if or when a package or conditionswere actually submitted.

Robust LOSSome lenders allow their brokers to log into a secure Web portal and take theentire application online. This is a hugebenefit, not only due to the expense ofmost origination software systems, butbecause it is not a thick-client applica-tion which must be downloaded andinstalled on a broker’s desktop. Instead,the 1003 is taken via a secure Web site,thus enabling brokers to take a borrow-er’s application from any location, onany computer, laptop, smart phone,iPad or tablet that has Internet access.

The more tools you can utilize from alender the better. You need to be focusedon selling and working with your borrowers,not spending time and money on tools thatyour lender could be offering you. Makesure you align with lenders that comple-ment your abilities with technology.

Brokers should also look for additionallender offerings available via their Websites that considerably cut down yourapplication time to clear and close. Somekey functions to consider include:

Online Case Number accessiblyWorking with a lender that provides anonline Federal Housing Administration(FHA) Case Number system which ensuresyou can speak with a live person to orderyour FHA Case Number within 48 hours iscrucial. As we all know, the originator thatpulls the case number first wins. As a bro-ker, once you have a Case Numberordered, it means you have a commitmentfrom the borrower and control to order theappraisal and move forward with the loan.

Is it easy to order theAMC appraisal with yourcurrent lender?It should be as easy to log into yourpipeline via the lender’s Web site.Typically, a link resides within the broker’s

pipeline that swiftly takesthem straight to theappraisal managementcompany’s (AMC’s) site toorder an appraisal. Service-oriented lenders make it asconvenient as possible toorder appraisals and securea commitment with theirAMC for standard four toseven day turn times.Another feature that savesyou and your processorstime is an AMC that e-mailsyou and your lender theappraisal the minute it iscomplete, thus avoiding lagtime.

Time is money … we all know thatAnother benefit that cansave you and your processorhours is an AutomatedFindings Help Desk. It can be nearly impos-sible to know what the coded errors onautomated Desktop Underwriter (DU) find-ings mean. This could take hours to figureout just to get your approved findings. If alender offers help interpreting DU findings,it means they have specialists who knowexactly what each and every error is, andthese errors can be fixed within minutes.This is a huge benefit if your lender pro-vides free DU assistance.

Length of time in thewholesale businessThere are wholesale lenders in operationtoday that have either closed their doorsand started new companies, or existingretail lenders that have re-started whole-sale channels. As a broker, when you’re

evaluating lenders to part-ner with, it’s important totake into account thelength of time they havebeen in the wholesale busi-ness. Some retail and start-up lenders that haverecently jumped back intothe wholesale arena arelight in their technologyofferings and processes.From a business and tech-nology perspective, itbehooves you to thorough-ly understand the type anddepth of broker-facingtechnology they offer.

In summation, thereare important technology-based features, benefits,services and more that willhelp you be more success-ful and enjoy a competitive

advantage. If the lenders you are currentlyworking with do not offer you these typesof technological tools, then it’s time toresearch lenders that do. In a cut-throatlending landscape where is it is paramountto close purchases and refinances as quick-ly as possible, it’s imperative to be alignedwith lenders that offer these type of bro-ker-facing technologies for free.

Kristina Bennett is the business manager forUnited Wholesale Mortgage (UWM). Kristinais responsible for representing UWM atmortgage and real estate seminars through-out the country, along with rolling out newlending products and programs for UWM’sbroker network. She may be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or visitUWMCO.com.

“The more tools youcan utilize from alender the better.

You need to befocused on selling and

working with yourborrowers, not

spending time andmoney on tools thatyour lender could be

offering you.”43


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MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THE RETURN OF THE

PREDICTIVE METHODS CONFERENCE

PMC2012.com

June 4-6, 2012DANA POINT, CA

Hosted by

The Predictive Methods Conference, PMC and Veros are registered trademarks of Veros Software. ©2011 Veros Software - All rights reserved.

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MARK YOUR CALE

PREDICTIVE M ENDAR FOR THE RET

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Appraisal Management Company

Branch Recruitment

Appraisal Management Company

Branch Manager

Freedom Mortgage Corporation, The BEST Branch Solution, Period.

Freedom Mortgage [email protected]

800.220.9498

Find out what Guaranteed can do for you. Branch Program for Professionals. It's what we do.

Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company, Inc.108 Corporate Park Drive, Ste 301

White Plains, NY 10604888-329-GHMC • www.joinguaranteed.com

Established in 1993 and headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin,Inlanta Mortgage is a multi-state mortgage banking company com-mitted to delivering superior service to our branch clients.For more information, call 262-513-9853 or visit www.inlanta.com.

Inlanta MortgageW229 N1433 Westwood Drive, Suite 103

Waukesha, WI 53186www.inlanta.com • 262-513-9853

RealEstateBestJobs.com ....................201-489-0256Currently working with various bankers & federally chartered banks.Seeking established, new branches & Loan Officers Nationally. Weare a top recruiting firm handling all types of mtg positions.

Church Financing

• Church Purchase & Construction • $100,000 to $2,500,00• Church Refinance & Cash Out • Churches all 50 states

• 75% of Appraised Value • 20 Yr. Fixed Rate

CONCORD CHURCH FINANCENATIONWIDE FINANCING FOR CHURCHES

Pre-qualify Online @ www.Concordchurchfinance.com800-926-0399 • Fax: 858-756-8108

Flagship Mortgage Corporation ........1-800-492-5239Multi-State mortgage bank has management opportunitiesavailable for experienced, successful & ethical professionals.Click/Email: flagshipmortgage.net/[email protected]

StreetLinks Lender Solutions provides an innovative andcomprehensive suite of valuation services and lending technologysolutions used by lenders and appraisers nationwide to improveeveryday business operations.

StreetLinks industry-leading products include LenderPlus™ full-service appraisal management, LenderX™ lender-executedappraisal management software, BPOs, SCORe™ appraisalvalidation reviews and more. Our commitment to quality andservice, embodied by our partnership approach to clients andappraisers, continues to set us apart as the nation’s premierlending solutions partner. For more information, visitwww.streetlinks.com.

StreetLinks Lender Solutions(800) 778-4920

[email protected]

We help you Meet & Exceed UMDP enforced by the GSE’sWe Improve your evaluation of collateral with “REALviewTM” Appraisals submitted in a MISMO/XML or PDF format.We’ve raised the bar for Appraisal Management Services!

HVCC Appraisal OrderingNational Appraisal Management Center

www.HVCCAppraisalOrdering.com Please call 866-396-6260

Accounting and Audit

A full service CPA firm specializing in the needs of the mortgageindustry. Providing monthly bookkeeping services,FHA andfinancial statement audits , corporate tax preparation and con-tract CFO services. Contact us today to learn more.

Branch Manager

iServe offers a complete product mix - aggressively priced, withhassle-free service & turntimes. Branching & Loan Officer opportunities available nationwide. For a change, focus on production, quick closes & a good night's sleep!

iServe Residential Lendingwww.iservelending.com

[email protected]

United Northern Mortgage Bankers......888-600-8808Limited room available for established Team Leaders andLicensed Mortgage Originators. Become part of an established30-year Mortgage Banker with a proven track record and success.

• Mortgage Branch Employment Opportunities

• We work with some of the top mortgage branch companies inthe industry!

• With hundreds of branch employment opportunities out there,making a choice on who to sign up with is not an easy task! Weare here to help!

• Hiring Licensed Mortgage Originators for branch managementand loan origination.

• Bank and Broker status to choose from, multi-State lending andmore...

Visit our site or call us today to speak to one of our representatives.

Mortgage Brokers Network Corp, Inc.1-888-589-7048

The Mortgage Industry’s Matchmakerhttp://mortgagebrokersnetwork

Mark Wilson Certified Public Accountants9455 Ridgehaven Ct, Suite 101 • San Diego, CA 92123

619-649-0712www.markwilsoncpa.com

CENTERED ON YOUR NEEDS - FOCUSED ON YOUR SUCCESS

NO File Fee or Monthly Fees

• Get a BPS payback from our volume incentive that your loanofficers can’t see

• You have the ability to control your loan officers pricing• Create, Customize and Optimize your branch’s compensation

plan• Recruiting Support – Our network of recruiters place producers

in your branch!• Full Eagle Lender and we’re currently looking for high-quality

Producers in TX, GA, AL, TN, FL, MS, and SC

Hometown Lenders(888) 606-8066

[email protected]

Does Advertising in the Resource Registry Work? It just did!Call 888-409-9770 ext. 4 to Register your company.

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Direct Mail

• Specializing in Official Snap Packs for Greater Open Rates• Envelope Mailers, Business Reply, Postcards and Much More• Targeted Mortgage Lists with Many Selects• Complete Design, Printing and Mailing Services

Your Complete Mortgage Marketing Solution.Call Us Today!(800) 922-9860

www.envisiondirect.net/catalog/mortgage.htm

Document Preparation

Document Preparation (SaaS)

ProClose provides compliant closing documents and software forResidential Mortgage Lending. Created with closers in mind, we help make a lender’s staff more efficient and supported.

Mortgage Banking Systems - ProClose1360 Beverly Rd. Ste 200, McLean, VA 22101

800-783-2283 · [email protected]

Mortgage Loan Closing Document Preparation & Compliance ServicesFulfillment Services Including Pre-Funding Review & Post-ClosingInterfaces with Leading Loan Origination Software SystemsForeclosure – Loss Mitigation Services

Robertson | Anschutz800-343-7160

[email protected]/info.html

Mortgage Loan Closing Document Preparation & Compliance SoftwareLoan Documents and Compliance – Web-based/SaaS – Easy to UseIntuitive – Secure and Reliable – Integrates with Leading LOSFree Setup and Support – Extensive Compliance Audits

Docs on Demand800-343-7160

[email protected]

Errors and Omissions Insurance

Doc Management

DocVelocity is an end-to-end paperless solution designed tosimplify the loan origination experience. Imagine having all yourdocuments in the loan process as electronic files, all online, frompre-approval to closing. DocVelocity provides: Fast and easy loandelivery to any lender … Automatic doc sorting, naming and filing… Real-time online document sharing for anyone you choose …Friendly and intuitive user interface … No start-up fees, and freetraining and support. DocVelocity addresses importantcompliance issues while giving your office the competitiveadvantage of being paperless. It streamlines all aspects of themortgage process and most important, it does so in one easy-to-use and inexpensive package. DocVelocity is the flagship productof Paperless Office Solutions, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary ofFlagstar Bancorp. Visit www.docvelocity.com to find out more.

DocVelocitywww.docvelocity.com

(877) [email protected]

CB Malaga Insurance Services LLC......877-245-5887Insurance broker providing errors & omissions (E&O)insurance to mortgage brokers and bankers. All loan types.Available in 22 states. www.CBspecialty.com

Best Rate Referrals ............................................800-811-1402Mortgage marketing company with decades of combined expe-rience providing quality leads, mailers, lists and dialer products. www.bestratereferrals.com & www.mortgageleads.org

Contact Management/CRM

LoyaltyExpress, the leading mortgage marketing company in thenation, delivers high-impact marketing that substantially increasesproduction levels. Direct mail, e-mail, and intelligent alerts arecombined to deliver unprecedented results. Learn more today.

LoyaltyExpress877.938.1175

[email protected]

Continuing Education

NMLS approved 20 hour Prelicensing EducationNMLS approved Continuing EducationLive Classroom Instruction, Web Delivery and Private EventsThe SAFE-Smart ExamCram, Powerfully Innovative Test Prep

Abacus Mortgage Training and EducationPO Box 780

Summerfield, NC 27358888-341-7767 • www.GetYourEd.com

Time is running out...are you ready?

Pass the S.A.F.E. Act Test, meet your 20 hours of Pre-licensure,and complete the 8 hours of Continuing Education you need

• The Ultimate Test Prep Kit and Test Prep Boot Camps – Covereverything to pass the S.A.F.E. Act Test — on your first try.

• 20-hour Pre-licensure - Packed with everything to successfullycomplete your pre-licensure requirements.

• Continuing Education - Exciting, NMLS approved courses thatmeet your Continuing Education needs and build your business.

MSS Learning Center(800) 963-1900

www.MortgageSuccessSource.comEmail: [email protected]

Events

“The Expo for Real Estate Professionals"For ongoing Networking Events throughout the year please visitwww.nycnetworkgroup.com.

NYC Real Estate Expo LLCAnthony Kazazis - Director

[email protected] • www.nycrealestateexpo.com646.210.2545 • 914.763.8008

FHA Audit and Licensing

First National Compliance Solutions Inc.1-800-400-4134

www.firstnationalcompliance.comBonnie Nachamie & Jonathan Pinard have assembled a team ofexperts to assist Mortgage Brokers, Mortgage Bankers, Federaland State Chartered Banks & Credit Unions with their mortgagecompliance needs.

Hard Money/Private Lending

ACC Mortgage, Inc.932 Hungerford Drive #6 • Rockville, MD 20850

240-314-0399 • 240-314-0336 faxWeApproveLoans.com

We are doing traditional subprime lending, fix & flip lending andhard money lending.

Windvest Corporation ............................877-285-0777Specializing in rehab loans for property investors in So. CA.Up to 60% ARV, 12.99% fixed rate, 3.5-5 points, 1 yr. term.Fast & professional service since '94! Visit windvestcorp.com!

Franchise

LenderCity Home Loans888.880.2489

www.LenderCity.com

LenderCity Home Loans is now offering individual franchises. Thisis perfect for the L.O. who has always wanted to open their ownbrokerage but didn't know how. Benefits include:

• Growing with a recognized brand

• Local and National marketing and advertising

• Online search engine marketing

• More aggressive lender pricing based on volumeincentives

• A proven system that generates more revenue thanaverage broker shops

• Ability to retain your license, existing corporation, andautonomy

• Lead generation

• Processing and closing services also available

Call 888-409-9770 ext 4, to register your company.

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Loan Management Systems

Xetus ....................................................877-GO-XETUSXetusOne is a powerful, easy-to-use loan management systemthat streamlines loan processing. Our affordable SaaS applicationsare lenders #1 choice for origination, subordination & modification.

Leads

Leads

Our network attract over one million visitors per month. Our paidlead program as well as our free lender directory will help you con-nect with targeted new consumer traffic from with high-intent con-sumers searching online for the right mortgage lender.

MortgageLoan.comSM

www.mortgageloan.com • 877-390-4750MortgageLoan.com is the largest online directory

for mortgage professionals and a favorite of consumers shopping for mortgage loans.

AAA Refi Leads.....AAA Refi Leads.....AAA Refi LeadsLearn how I went from failure to success by mailing cheap refiletters from home, closed 71 loans & made $248,954.62 last yr.I’ll show you exactly how I did it. Go to: www.Refi-Leads.NET

Income Verification Services

Advanced Data (800) 537 - 0458

[email protected]

Advanced Data is a leading national provider of data services,streamlining income and employment verification with proprietarysoftware. Clients can submit 4506-T directly through Encompass360.Also ask about our AVM and flood services!

Loanbright helps mortgage companies capture and close morebusiness through its marketing and software tools. An INC. 500awardee, Loanbright has helped thousands of companies since1999 by providing them with well over 3 million qualified sales leads.

Loanbright27902 Meadow Drive, Suite 375

Evergreen,CO 80439866-391-2709 • www.Loanbright.com

Reach affluent and creditworthy consumers who are in-market andready to transact. Bankrate is a consumer direct Web site, NOT alead aggregator. Qualified leads for every sized budget, and payonly for performance. No set up fees! No contracts! No risk!

• Reach self directed, highly qualified consumers that are activelysearching for mortgage loans• Geo-targeting – reach the right consumers in the right markets• Our proprietary Advertiser Portal gives you complete controlover your campaigns, budgets, and performance reports.• YOU determine your daily/weekly/monthly budget• Pay only for consumers who click on your listing• NO cancellation fees

Try us risk-free! Call 561-630-1257or visit www.bankrate.com/cpcprogram/ for more details.

Internet’s Leading Consumer Mortgage MarketplaceAttracting over 8 million unique

consumers every monthwww.Bankrate.com • 561-630-1257

Loan Origination Systems

Calyx Software, the #1 provider of mortgage solutions is dedicatedto offering reliable and affordable software that streamlines, inte-grates and optimizes the loan process. Find out how PointCentralcan streamline your business and create compliant processes today.

Calyx Software 800-362-2599

[email protected] www.calyxsoftware.com

Mortgage Forms

• HUD Settlement Cost Booklets• CHARM Booklets• Uniform Residential Loan Applications• HUD Case Binders

www.LendingForms.comSame Day Shipping (orders placed prior to 3pm et)

24/7 Secure e-Commerce SiteSave 33-50%

Income Verification Services

Platinum Credit Services, Inc.................631-299-2084Tax return vertification (4506 tax transcript done in less than24 hours in most cases). Call Lorenzo Pugliano, Presidentand CEO at 631-299-2084.

Regulatory/Compliance

Comergence Compliance Monitoring is the mortgage industry’s onlyComplete broker desk management software and outsource solutionfor TPO management and monitoring. We can supplement lenders in-house management and monitoring resources departments.

Comergence Compliance Monitoring, LLC630 The City Drive South, Suite 205 • Orange, CA 92868

Office: 714-740-9000 www.ComergenceCompliance.com

Are you a broker/owner or current branch manager looking toexpand your business into Mortgage Banking with FHA capabilities?Then our PARTNER BRANCH ADVANTAGE© program is perfect foryou. We are offering you all the benefits of partnering with an estab-lished lender while still enjoying your independence. US MortgageCorporation is a nationwide FHA Direct Lender with a 16 year longreputation of excellence.

YOUR SUCCESS IS OUR SUCCESS!

For more information contact THOMAS R. SIRICO, VicePresident of Business Development at (917) 923-1472 or emailat [email protected].

We look forward to sharing our services with you!

(800) LOANS-15www.usmortgage.com

Retail Branch

#1 USDA RD lender in multiple states with strong FHA/VA/CONVproduct lines as well. Don't be held hostage by a captive brancharrangement. Bank it or broker it. Have a business name/identityyou don't want to give up? We allow DBAs (subject to state rules).

Polaris Home Funding Corp.616-667-9000

[email protected]/timeforachange

Sign-on weekly at nmpmag.com/lykkenonlending

Wholesale/Residential

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Wholesale/Residential

Wholesale/FHA

Icon Residential, a wholly owned subsidiary of Grand Bank N.A.,is one of the nation’s leading Conforming, Jumbo, FHA and VAwholesale lenders. Our strength, success and longevity isderived from delivering customers service that exceeds ourvalued business partners expectations. With deep industryknowledge, financial stability and innovative technology weprovide the solutions for our business partners to fund loanswhile avoiding risk.

• Direct Access to Underwriters• Competitive Pricing• Innovative Technology• Paperless Solution• Bank Funding

Icon Residential Lenders(888) 247-4207

www.iconwholesale.com

Wholesale Reverse Mortgages

Veros Real Estate Solutions is a premier technology leader in the mort-gage industry and proven leader in enterprise risk management andcollateral valuation services. Veros combines the power of predictivetechnology and data analytics for advanced automated solutions.

Veros Real Estate Solutions2333 North Broadway, Suite 350 • Santa Ana, CA 92706

(866) 458-3767www.veros.com • @verosres (Twitter)

• Arizona • Nevada • Texas • California • New Mexico • Utah• Colorado • Oregon • Washington

88 Kearny Street, 3rd FloorSan Francisco, CA 94108

Phone: (415) 632-5150 • Fax: (925) 226-1938www.bayeq.com

Now Wholesale Lending in:

Wholesale/Correspondent

BankFinancial ..........................................800-894-6900 We have money to lend for apartments, $250M to $2MM, up to75% LTV. We offer competitive rates, fees & terms. We’re com-mitted to helping you and your clients close the deal. Call us.

AMX/Land Home Financial ..................800-349-4172 AMX/Land Home Financial Services Wholesale LendingDivision - Great Rates, Great Programs, Great Service.Offering financing options that work in today's market. • Paperless! Quick and Easy!

• Top Tier Account Executives• Committed to Wholesale• Operations that Earn Your Business

TMSfunding Wholesale Lending326 W Main Street • Milford, Ct. 06460

888.371.2989 • WWW.TMSFUNDING.COMYour Partner in Success!

We offer competitive pricing and fast turn-times for FHA, VA,Conventional, and USDA programs without having a retail pres-ence in the industry. We are a wholesale lender with 22 years ofexperience and believe in exceptional service.

Terrace Mortgage4010 W. Boyscout Blvd., Suite 550

Tampa, FL 33607866-934-4631 • www.terracemortgage.com

CBC National Bank is one of the nation’s fastest growingwholesale lenders offering Conventional, FHA, VA, and USDA.The most important aspect of being a leader in today’s market isthe ability to build and maintain a meaningful relationship witheach customer. We understand that these meaningful relation-ships coupled with competitive pricing and efficient technologyare the pillars of today’s lending environment.

We are now hiring Account Executives in AL, TN, KY, VA, & MD.

Contact Stu Ehrlich in our HR department at

[email protected] for further details.

Big Enough to MATTER…Small Enough to CARE

CBC National Bank3010 Royal Boulevard South, Ste. 230

Alpharetta, GA 30022888-486-4304

If your ad was here, you would be seen by

191,181 MortgageProfessionals looking

for resources to help themin their business.

The Resource Registry is a directory of lenders(wholesaler or retail thatare recruiting), affiliatedservices and resources

that is seen by more than 191,181 active

Professionals.

Call 888-409-9770 ext. 4to register your company.

Bookmark this!Access these listings

online atnmpmag.com/directory_list

Flagstar Wholesale Lending, a division of Flagstar Bank, is one ofthe nation’s largest wholesale and correspondent mortgagelenders, providing the technology, products, service and supportthat independent mortgage brokers, correspondents, and bankersneed in today’s mortgage arena. In the ever-changing environ-ment of mortgage banking, Flagstar takes pride in accommodat-ing the specific needs of each customer. At Flagstar, we under-stand that you need every available advantage to stay ahead ofthe competition. This is why we provide multiple technologyoptions to meet your needs to register, lock, underwrite, close,fund and deliver your loans. Our wholesale website(wholesale.flagstar.com) and the loan processing tool Loantracprovides our customers with the functionality that make it easierand faster to close loans, saving you time and money! Visit whole-sale.flagstar.com to learn more.

Flagstar Wholesale Lendingwww.wholesale.flagstar.com

(866) [email protected]

For Licensed Mortgage Brokers in NY, NJ, CT, PA and FLNo HUD Approval Required – Live Help DeskWill Provide Training at Our Office or Yours48 Hour Underwriting - Get Paid Within 48 Hours of Funding

NATIONWIDE Equities

Nationwide Equities Corporation201-529-1401

www.nwecorp.com

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DECEMBER 2011Sunday-Tuesday, December 3-5

2011 NAMB/WEST Loan Originator Conference

MGM Grand3799 South Las Vegas Boulevard

Las VegasFor more information,

call (303) 798-3664, ext. 15 or visit NAMBWEST.com.

FEBRUARY 2012Sunday-Wednesday, February 5-8

2012 CREF/Multifamily HousingConvention & Expo

Atlanta Marriott Marquis265 Peachtree Center Avenue

AtlantaFor more information,

call (800) 793-6222 or visit MortgageBankers.org.

Tuesday-Friday, February 21-24The Mortgage Bankers Association’s2012 National Mortgage Servicing

Conference & ExpoOrlando World Center Marriott

Orlando, Fla.For more information,


MARCH 2012Sunday-Thursday, March 11-15

29th Annual Regional Conference ofMortgage Bankers Associations

Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort1000 Boardwalk at Virginia Avenue

Atlantic City, N.J.For more information,

call (732) 596-1619 or visit MBANJ.com.

Wednesday, March 14Florida Association of Mortgage

Professionals Broward Chapter 2012Annual Trade Show

Broward County Convention Center1950 Eisenhower Boulevard

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.For more information,

call (850) 942-6411 or visit FAMB.org.

Thursday, March 29Maryland Association of Mortgage

Professionals 2011 March MortgageMadness ConventionMartin’s Crosswinds

7400 Greenway Center DriveGreenbelt, Md.

For information, call (410) 752-6262,

or visit MDMtgPros.org.

APRIL 2012Wednesday-Thursday, April 18-19

2012 National Policy ConferenceHyatt Regency on Capitol Hill

400 New Jersey Avenue NorthwestWashington, D.C.

For more information, call (800) 793-6222

or visit MortgageBankers.org.

Sunday-Wednesday, April 22-252012 National Technology inMortgage Banking Conference

& ExpoArizona Biltmore

2400 East Missouri AvenuePhoenix



Sunday-Wednesday, April 22-252012 National Fraud

Issues ConferenceArizona Biltmore

2400 East Missouri AvenuePhoenix



MAY 2012Sunday-Wednesday, May 6-9

2012 National Secondary MarketConference & Expo

New York Marriott Marquis1535 BroadwayNew York, N.Y.



To submit your entry for inclusion in the National Mortgage ProfessionalCalendar of Events, please e-mail the details of your event, along with

contact information, to [email protected].

Friday-Wednesday, May 18-232012 Mortgage Bankers Associationof Georgia Education Forum & ExpoSandestin Hilton Golf Resort & Spa4000 South Sandestin Boulevard

Destin, Fla.For more information,

call (478) 743-8612 or visit MBAG.org.

Sunday-Wednesday, May 20-232012 Commercial/Multifamily

Servicing & Technology ConferenceHilton Anatole

2201 North Stemmons FreewayDallas



Sunday-Wednesday, May 20-232012 Legal Issues/Regulatory

Compliance ConferenceLa Quinta Resort & Club49-499 Eisenhower Drive

La Quinta, Calif.For more information,


OCTOBER 2012Sunday-Wednesday, October 21-24Mortgage Bankers Association 99th

Annual Convention & ExpoThe Hyatt Regency

151 East Wacker Drive • ChicagoFor more information,


launched a new consulting servicedesigned to help lenders and otherfinancial service companies build anentirely cloud-based virtual corporateoffice. Named VCO Airlift, the new con-sulting program will identify the specif-ic steps a lender needs to undertake torun a compliant, scalable, paperless,virtualized mortgage office without theexpense and complexity of on-siteservers, software, maintenance andupgrades, while taking into account thecompany’s existing software and busi-ness needs. Airlift will also pinpoint thesavings in dollars that lenders will real-ize by freeing themselves from on-siteservers and legacy systems and migrat-ing to a virtual environment.

Airlift leverages lessons gained sinceAcris Technology has been managingand hosting virtualized platforms sinceits inception in 2005. Earlier this year,Acris Technology launched VCO Desk, avirtual office platform tailored specifi-cally for the mortgage industry.Through a secure Citrix environment,VCO Desk enables racks of servers to bereplaced by an array of hosted, loadbalanced virtual servers, allowing desk-top users remote access to all of a com-pany’s applications and data while pro-viding greater IT power, scalability andsecurity. Developed and refined overthe course of years, VCO Desk had beenin use privately for years by LagunaHills, California-based MillenniaMortgage to process over $10 billion infunded loans.

“Everyone is talking about cloudcomputing, yet it is not clearly under-stood by many small and mid-sizedlenders in a way that makes it action-able,” said Martin Williams, chief execu-tive officer of Acris Technology.“Because we have ‘been there, donethat’ with our own virtual office plat-form, VCO Desk, it occurred to us that

we can guide others who are weighingthis transformation but aren’t sure howto get there. We’re calling it VCO Airliftbecause it is designed to ‘lift’ compa-nies into a cloud-based environment,where so much more is possible.”

While some additional expense andequipment may be required to build atotally cloud-based mortgage office—such as procuring sufficient high-speedInternet service and configuring dualmonitors for staff, for example—virtu-alization allows lenders to save anenormous amount of money that isnormally spent on IT staff and on-site,physical servers, which typically handleemail, database, file storage and otherfunctions. In comparison, a virtual cor-porate office uses secure, remoteservers to handle all of a company’s ITneeds, while allowing staff to useemails, files, electronic documents,loan origination software (LOS) and cus-tomer relationship management (CRM)tools just as they normally would. Inaddition, in most cases, lenders do nothave to give up any of their currentapplications or software to place theirbusiness in the cloud.

Your turnNational Mortgage Professional Magazineinvites you to submit any informationpromoting new “niche” loan programs,new products or any other announce-ment related to the introduction of a newprogram, to the attention of:

New to Market columnPhone #: (516) 409-5555

E-mail:[email protected]

Note: Submissions sent via e-mail arepreferred. The deadline for submissionsis the 1st of the month prior to the tar-get issue.


Looking for: TOP PRODUCERSCal l for Detai ls!

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Nationwide FHA Lender

This information is provided to assist business professionals and is not an advertisement extended to the consumer,as defined by Section 226.2 of Regulation Z. Freedom Mortgage corporate office is located at: 907 Pleasant Valley Ave. Suite 3, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054. Lender NMLS ID: 2767. Licensed by the NJ Department of Banking and Insurance, License #9100861. All Rights Reserved. EOE

www.Fmbranch.com800.220.9498

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Some restrictions may apply. All borrowers are subject to credit

approval. Programs subject to change. The information provided

herein is for dissemination to and for the use of real estate and

financial business entities only and is not an advertisement for

the extension of credit to consumers.

© 2011 Flagstar Bank

http://www.paperless.flagstar.com

http://paperless.flagstar.com

MSMP_november11

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