The Bits and Bytes of Doc Prep
After more than 20 years as a processor, originator and mortgage compliance trainer, I thought I knew mortgage compliance broadly and deeply. But when I joined the industry’s leading provider of closing documents and had to make sure the documents matched existing and forthcoming regulations, I was humbled. I quickly came to realize how much more I had to learn.
As a compliance specialist for Mortgage Banking Systems’ ProClose.com I am now deeply involved – on a so-called “granular” level – with all of the industry’s many laws and regulations, both federal and state. ProClose warrants that the forms it provides its clients comply with laws and regulations. We can’t be close – we have to hit the bulls-eye every time. The pressure is definitely on.
For instance, in our discussions with MISMO on implementing the new GFE and HUD-1, examining the various data elements and how they functioned, we found that there is no place on the proposed GFE for services not required by the lender, such as a home inspection, nor could we find a place to disclose HUD line 904 charges – the payment of property taxes. As an originator and trainer I had reviewed the form for months and hadn’t found those problems. Our longtime compliance expert Betsy Payne identified them in minutes.
As a compliance specialist I now get into the bits, bytes and crosshairs of the forms and regulations and take a line-by-line look at how they interact both in the background and the foreground, testing the results of the forms we create and determining if the results are expected or unexpected. These things have to be programmed from the ground up in order to keep our clients safe from a compliance breach.
Other companies do compliance well. Others are great programmers. And others create great loan origination systems. We work with them all. Our unique niche is closing documents. Our clients and their employees rely on us to get it right, down to the smallest detail, the shortest line, the most obscure reference.
Christopher Cruise
After more than 20 years as a processor, originator and mortgage compliance trainer, I thought I knew mortgage compliance broadly and deeply. But when I joined the industry’s leading provider of closing documents and had to make sure the documents matched existing and forthcoming regulations, I was humbled. I quickly came to realize how much more I had to learn.
As a compliance specialist for Mortgage Banking Systems’ ProClose.com I am now deeply involved – on a so-called “granular” level – with all of the industry’s many laws and regulations, both federal and state. ProClose warrants that the forms it provides its clients comply with laws and regulations. We can’t be close – we have to hit the bulls-eye every time. The pressure is definitely on.
For instance, in our discussions with MISMO on implementing the new GFE and HUD-1, examining the various data elements and how they functioned, we found that there is no place on the proposed GFE for services not required by the lender, such as a home inspection, nor could we find a place to disclose HUD line 904 charges – the payment of property taxes. As an originator and trainer I had reviewed the form for months and hadn’t found those problems. Our longtime compliance expert Betsy Payne identified them in minutes.
As a compliance specialist I now get into the bits, bytes and crosshairs of the forms and regulations and take a line-by-line look at how they interact both in the background and the foreground, testing the results of the forms we create and determining if the results are expected or unexpected. These things have to be programmed from the ground up in order to keep our clients safe from a compliance breach.
Other companies do compliance well. Others are great programmers. And others create great loan origination systems. We work with them all. Our unique niche is closing documents. Our clients and their employees rely on us to get it right, down to the smallest detail, the shortest line, the most obscure reference.
