MLO Jobs; Pre-Qual, Warehouse, CE, Marketing, Sales Tools; CFPB: Worth Keeping an Eye On

Dang it is becoming more and more expensive to follow all the rules and regulations to originate residential loans. These costs, of course, are borne by the consumer. (See some of the CFPB’s news below.) And it costs a lot to retire. You don’t have to specialize in reverse mortgage lending to be curious if people in or nearing retirement know how to create viable retirement income plan. (In fact, this is a good tool to help teach kids.) The results from the American College of Financial Services Retirement Income Literacy Quiz show not so much. The test, consisting of 38 multiple-choice questions, covered virtually every aspect of managing one's finances in retirement. Nearly 75% of the 1,244 adults ages 60 to 75 interviewed online for the test got an F (a score of 60% or less), while fewer than 6% received an A (91% or better) or a B (81% to 90%). If you would like to know more about the survey, you can take the quiz, read the report, or watch the webcast. Today’s podcast from Robbie Chrisman is available here. This week’s podcast is sponsored by Richey May.

Broker and Lender Services and Products

Most lenders make the mistake of embedding mortgage calculators into their website and then forgetting they exist. Truth be told, mortgage calculators can be powerful tools when connected to a larger CRM and marketing automation platform. With Top of Mind’s Surefire CRM, mortgage calculators can gather prospect information and trigger automated marketing workflows, which can be customized to reflect your organization’s branding and embedded into emails, social media and landing pages to maximize audience reach. Click here to try Surefire’s mortgage calculators for yourself.

XINNIX is hosting an exciting virtual event on Wednesday, July 14 at 12 PM ET, “GRIT: Thriving Through Change.” Hosted by XINNIX Founder & CEO, Casey Cunningham, the event will feature international guest speaker, Paul J. Voss, PhD. In May, Dr. Voss met with hundreds of the nation’s top leaders in the mortgage industry on how to lead and thrive through the unimaginable. Now, XINNIX is bringing him back for an event for all mortgage professionals to explore how and why some people succeed no matter what circumstances they may face. In this webinar Dr. Voss will share the formula for success in an adverse time, the reason individuals and teams out-perform their peers, the four possible reactions to disruption in your personal and professional life, and the keys to knowing what you should do next not only to survive but to thrive. Leaders are encouraged to invite their entire company to this free event so seating is limited to first come, first served. Reserve your spot today!

This is the moment you’ve been waiting for! Yes, you CAN automate it all with ONE platform! Richey May’s RM Automate, powered by the world-class Zoral Automation Platform, is an intelligent automation solution designed to enhance every part of your business. Build and customize automation across the whole organization, from POS to underwriting, to loan delivery and trailing docs, allowing you to reimagine the entire loan origination process. Seamless integration of loan processes, decisioning and workflow is hosted and managed by an automation platform in the cloud. This leaves your employees free to deal with more complex, challenging, and revenue-generating tasks. Contact us to schedule a demo today to see how this intelligent automation is changing the game for lenders.

The global pandemic popularized online home buying in 2020, but the approach is here to stay. And today, being the first to contact a consumer is no longer enough. To remain competitive, lenders must provide value and personalization in the very first interaction… And every interaction that follows. Total Expert for Consumer Direct is the first all-in-one sales and marketing platform built on a single data model for direct lending that enables mortgage lenders to drive a better consumer experience from lead to customer for life. Join Total Expert’s upcoming webinar for insights on the future of “smile and dial” and how to redefine success in consumer direct.  

80% of your clients will go to a competitor for their next loan. Unify can help you stop that! Unify Mortgage Inquiry Alerts tell you when one of your clients has had their credit pulled by a competitor. You receive an email and/or text for this alert and Unify automatically sends out an email to the contact to help you reengage. Unify also prompts you to call the contact. These are your satisfied clients; it is easy to get them back on track with you. The ROI on Mortgage Inquiry Alerts is amazing. Unify clients are seeing 850%, 1680%, even 2400% ROI. Mortgage Inquiry Alerts is the fastest and easiest way to boost your loan volume and commissions. Click to set up a time to run your ROI and commission calculations. 

The yearly grind of CE season is here! Here’s is a novel idea - this NMLS provider saves time and hassle for MLOs and Compliance Teams. They track progress and completions, allow instant course assignment, and innovated cross-certification CE to compliance to eliminate redundant training. Partnering with IMBs towards innovative solutions is their modus operandi. Contact Dave Olchek or request a demo. www.MortgageEducation.com. (You might want to ask him about MortgageACE, the best test prep in the industry.) Take it from your colleagues.

“PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending, a subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH), continues to look for opportunities to help reduce customer’s costs for their warehouse funding needs. That is why we offer multiple incentive pricing options to reduce costs for our customers; Tiered Utilization Incentive Pricing allows our customers to set utilization tiers that reduce their costs.  Our customers can also take advantage of Deposit Incentive Pricing. We are committed to building strong relationships with our customers and providing the service you need most.  If you are interested in learning more about PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending please contact Deric Barnett.”

You’re hearing the same message from industry professionals and publication outlets across the country: Low housing inventory levels are requiring buyers to be prequalified and ready to engage as fast as possible. So how are you upping your game to meet this demand? More and more lenders are turning to QuickQual by LenderLogix. QuickQual allows you to spend less time fielding phone calls and emails for letter adjustments and empowers your borrowers and Realtors with the ability to update and issue pre-qualification and pre-approval letters themselves. You set the loan parameters before giving everyone access and then you get full visibility of what updates they’re making. This adjustable, web-accessible letter (because who has time to download another app?) integrates with your LOS and will make you say goodbye to static PDF letters forever. Check out the free text demo to see what the borrowers see and then talk to the LenderLogix team about getting your QuickQuals up and running!

CFPB News

Many believe that “regulation by enforcement” is back at CFPB and compliance pros like attorney Brian Levy (Katten & Temple, LLP) are calling it out. See his latest Mortgage Musing here.

In December 2020, the CFPB issued a final rule amending Regulation Z ability to repay rule/qualified mortgage (QM) requirements to replace the 43% DTI ratio basis for the general QM with an annual percentage rate (APR) limit, while still requiring the consideration of the DTI ratio or residual income.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently unveiled its regulatory agenda for the next 12 months. In case you missed it, this is what made the bureau’s to-do list: an assessment of the rule implementing the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act; rulemakings addressing the expiration of the LIBOR index; consumer access to financial data in electronic form; and interagency rulemaking to develop regulations for quality control standards for automated valuation models. And that’s just a partial list.

Of particular interest to mortgage banking firms, the industry should look for new rulemaking on mortgage servicing to provide relief for mortgagors facing hardship because of COVID-19. Note: The fall 2021 agenda will reflect the permanent director’s priorities, assuming he’s eventually confirmed by the Senate.

The CFPB announced the publication of additional “TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure FAQs” on its website, specifically addressing the partial exemptions extended by the “Building Up Independent Lives and Dreams”

Buckley weighed in on the CFPB releasing five new FAQs regarding housing assistance loans to assist with TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule (TRID Rule) compliance. The TRID Rule covers a loan if it: “ is made by a creditor as defined in § 1026.2(a)(17); [ii] is secured in full or in part by real property or a cooperative unit; [iii] is a closed-end, consumer credit (as defined in § 1026.2(a)(12)) transaction; [iv] is not exempt for any reason listed in § 1026.3; and [v] is not a reverse mortgage subject to § 1026.33.”

“Regulation Z exempts certain mortgage loans from the TRID disclosure requirements (i.e., providing the LE and CD) (the “Partial Exemption”). This exemption covers certain subordinate housing assistance loans. To qualify: ‘a transaction must meet all of the following criteria: the transaction is secured by a subordinate-lien; [ii] the transaction is for the purpose of a down payment, closing costs, or other similar home buyer assistance, such as principal or interest subsidies; property rehabilitation assistance; energy efficiency assistance; or foreclosure avoidance or prevention; [iii] the credit contract provides that it does not require the payment of interest; [iv] the credit contract provides that repayment of the amount of credit extended is: forgiven either incrementally or in whole, deferred for at least 20 years after the transaction, or until the sale of the property, or until the property securing the transaction is no longer the consumer’s principal dwelling; [v] the total of costs payable by the consumer in connection with the transaction only include recording fees, transfer taxes, a bona fide and reasonable application fee, and a bona fide and reasonable fee for housing counseling services[;] the application fee and housing counseling services fee must be less than one percent of the loan amount; [and] [iv] the creditor provides either the Truth-in-Lending (TIL) disclosures or the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure[.] Regardless of which disclosures the creditor chooses to provide, the creditor must comply with all Regulation Z requirements pertaining to those disclosures.’

“The BUILD Act includes a partial statutory exemption from the TRID disclosure requirements for similar transactions. To qualify for the Partial Exemption from the TRID disclosure requirements under the BUILD Act, the loan must be a residential mortgage loan, offered at a 0 percent interest rate, have only bona fide and reasonable fees, and be primarily for charitable purposes and be made by an organization described in Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of that Code.”

Buckley went on. “If a housing assistance loan creditor opts for one of the partial exemptions under either the Regulation Z Partial Exemption or under the BUILD Act, they are excused from the requirement to provide the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure for that transaction. The Partial Exemption under Regulation Z does not excuse the creditor from providing certain other disclosures required by Regulation Z.  If the creditor qualifies for the exemption under the BUILD Act, they have the option to provide the GFE, HUD-1, and Truth In Lending disclosures in lieu of the LE and CD at the creditor’s discretion.”

Capital Markets

The bond market is open again. To refresh your memory after a weekend of hot dogs, group gatherings, and fireworks, last week closed with a mixed payrolls report. The headline figure came in at 850,000, above estimates. While the two-month revision was also modestly positive, the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.9 percent, and the labor force participation rate was flat at 61.6 percent. The bond market benefited from the takeaway that the report will likely leave the Fed in a patient mindset when it comes to changing its monetary policy. Treasuries rallied by the close on Friday and the MBS basis ended wider, lagging per usual.

This week’s holiday-shortened calendar is relatively light, headlined by non-manufacturing PMIs, JOLTS job openings, and wholesale inventories and sales, and scheduled Fed President appearances are also light although the minutes from the June 15/16 FOMC meeting will be released tomorrow. Kicking off today’s calendar is the final June Markit services PMI, due out later this morning ahead of June ISM non-manufacturing PMI, the Employment Trends Index for June. The Desk will conduct two operations which will target up to $5.2 billion 30-year 2 percent and 2.5 percent. The agencies will release June prepayments after the close tomorrow with Class A net out on Friday. We begin Tuesday with Agency MBS prices a smidge up/better and the 10-year yielding 1.42 after closing last week at 1.43 percent.

Employment

Thrive Mortgage is on pace for another record-breaking year. Denise Donoghue pointed out recently Thrive has a perfect mix of technology, pricing, systems, support, and culture. Certainly, a great (and rare) formula for success.  But our people are the heart and soul of everything we do. During a recent 20th Anniversary Celebration, Roy Jones, Founder/CEO, stated, “Our people make the difference in every success we achieve. I am so proud of the amazing talent that we attract and retain around here. Providing life-changing career opportunities has been our vision from day one.” Randell Gillespie, EVP of Production, added, “It’s humbling having so many renown industry leaders as integral components of our Thriving organization. Marla Guillaume leading Multi-Channel, James Duncan over Marketing, Phil Treadwell influencing the industry and leading Talent Attraction, Selene Kellam over our amazing Ops Division... We are so proud of our Leadership’s drive for excellence.” To inquire about available growth opportunities, email Info@ThriveMortgage.com.

“If 2020 was the year of Loan Originations, 2021 is the year for Loan Servicing. Not to worry. Mortgage servicers, Agility 360 knows how to meet the need for qualified Servicing personnel to deal with the tsunami of new loan volume. We’re a specialized mortgage recruiting and project staffing firm based in Dallas, Texas, with a proven record of matching qualified candidates with employers for long-term and short-term contract needs. With the incredible ’20-21 origination volume being onboarded and the looming potential for increased regulatory oversight and enforcement, Agility 360 is rapidly fulfilling the demand for servicing staff. Whether it’s Loss Mit, Escrow Analyst, Customer Service, QA/QC, Audit, Collections, or File Review personnel, our nationwide network of qualified and vetted experienced mortgage professionals is available to help servicers respond and prepare for any situation. If you’d like to learn how we can help, please contact Raj Sharma at 469-208-6337 or Cesar Hernandez.”

Rick Roque, Corporate VP at Shamrock Home Loans, is the closing keynote speaker at the Ultimate Mortgage Expo in New Orleans today. The Title of his session is “The Next Mortgage Boom and the Path to $5 Trillion” focusing on the moderation of rates in the coming months and years to 5 percent and its impact on the mortgage broker and mortgage banking communities. Across an 18-year career, as an Investor, banker, and technologist, in 2009, He founded Menlo Company, a technology consulting and Mergers & Acquisition firm, where he has built a successful track record of consolidating billions in retail production. His journey to Shamrock is briefly captured in this video: What We Believe . To learn more about Shamrock Home Loans, call Rick at 413.297.6895.  

Our pals at the FHA have multiple underwriting job opportunities spanning varying degrees of experience in various locations. Senior Underwriters, announcement 21-HUD-1401, closing July 9th includes one position in Santa Ana, CA. and two positions in Philadelphia, PA. And other jobs: 2-positions in Philadelphia, PA., announcement 21-HUD-1318 closes on July 10th and two -positions in Santa Ana, CA., announcement 21-HUD-1521 closes July 13th.