Today, the mortgage industry finds itself in a brave new world regarding compliance. The regulatory environment is far more complex and potentially confusing than ever before.
It’s more important now than ever to build compliance into the mortgage process from the first stage of marketing through conversion, closing, and beyond.
Education and operations managers are responsible for ensuring compliance has a heavy burden to carry. To lighten that load and help streamline your organization, we’d like to offer six tips for achieving mortgage compliance.
Read on for our take on the six basic rules of the road that would help you stay on the right regulatory track.
- Formalize Your Compliance Program
The first and, arguably, most important tip to compliance even under heavy strain is establishing a formal program. Write down and document all appropriate procedures, responsibilities, and policies. Having this down on paper will maintain accountability and also serve as a critical piece of evidence should you ever be subjected to a compliance audit.
- Provide Staff and Managers with the Necessary Education
Once you have a formal program in place, the next step should be to do what you can to provide employees with the proper education. If they don’t understand your compliance program, it isn’t going to do you much good. Everyone from the loan officers on the ground up to the board of directors should fully understand their role in maintaining compliance.
- Capitalize on Opportunities for Automation
Managing compliance with disparate systems and manual processes only leads to waste, delays, and inefficiency. Reach a higher plane of productivity by reducing the resources and time needed to complete essential techniques.
- Qualify Third-Party Vendors
Partnering with appraisers, title companies, correspondent investors, realtors, and other service providers is an essential part of lending. However, it would be best if you were extra careful these days to qualify, select, and manage those partnerships.
- Manage Customer Issues
When customer problems arise, you should deal with them as quickly and effectively as possible. That’s the best you can do to prevent them from growing into potential compliance issues.
- Prepare for Audits
This tip is almost a recap of all the above tips rolled into one. Documenting a formal plan, providing ongoing quality education to employees, ensuring systems and processes are efficient, and doing your due diligence in qualifying partners will all contribute to preparing you for an audit.
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Lakeside Title is a Maryland title insurance company that offers cutting-edge technology and an all-inclusive suite of services to help lenders and loan officers reduce cost and turnaround time. With a closing hotline and a best-in-breed technology for managing documents, you’ll have the tools and expertise you need on hand at all times. For more information, please visit our homepage.
