TheMReport

MReport May 2020

TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.

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M R EP O RT | 5 MTECH to more effectively cope with the impact of the COVID 19 pandem- ic. Each lender is facing unique and unprecedented challenges navigating the hurdles brought on by COVID-19 and the unintended consequences of the recent federal stimulus package. The Lender Sup- port Program is available now and currently has no expiration date. Keith Kemph, CEO of BlackFin Group, said, "Unfortunately, COVID-19 is impacting every aspect of mortgage lending. And, when considering Mortgage lend- ing is historically recognized by Wall Street as the backbone to the U.S. economy, coupled by the fact that one U.S. mortgage loan requires the single largest data set and compliance requirements to complete a transaction—in the world; leadership at mortgage lenders nationwide are facing unprecedented challenges. Added to those complexities, lenders are now called on to triage, process, and close each mortgage loan ap- plication in a mostly remote work environment with limited approval by states for online notary services and limited county e-recording availability. These seismic chal- lenges coupled with fluid and unpredictable operational and lender issues mean that lenders are truly struggling." Keith added, "I'm proud to say that our team of veteran mortgage industry consultants recognized these chal- lenges and wanted to do some- thing about it. Without hesitation our conclusion was that during unprecedented times like these, we are all called to pull together and meet the moment and that is what our COVID-19 Lender Support Program is intended to do. We want to be here for the industry at a time when they need us most." To expand on the challenges lenders face, Lloyd Booth, COO at BlackFin Group, said, "in the new COVID-19 work-from-home lending environment, chal- lenges now range from customer explanations of forbearance with little long-term understanding of its actual implications, to apprais- als, to remote operations, remote notary services, various technol- ogy gaps, and potential security risks. The continued exodus of mortgage investors is impacting consumer loan availability, loan program requirements, pricing and a lenders overall position in their marketplace. It's fair to say that lenders, by no fault of their own, have been called on to jump full force into crisis management. And, it's not like they've had months leading up to this, it's been a mat- ter of weeks. If our COVID-19 Lender Support Program can help the lenders in our industry then mission accomplished." BlackFin Group indicates they have a team of expert industry consultants ready to help remotely on a wide range of topics includ- ing crisis management, leadership strategies, business planning, sales, marketing, operations (HR/Comp), technology, remote notary (RON), and secondary optimization. MQMR Adds Mortgage-Focused Social Media Monitoring Platform AUTOMATED SOLUTIONS LOOK TO AID LENDERS FOR MONITORING CONTENT. M ortgage Quality Man- agement and Research, LLC, announced that it has added ActiveComply, a so- cial media monitoring platform, to its suite of audit, risk, and compliance-focused solutions for financial institutions and independent mortgage lenders. The platform, which is offered through a partnership agreement with the platform's developer and namesake, provides lend- ers with the ability and agility to proactively manage, moni- tor, and extend their compa- nies' social media reach while maintaining compliance with financial marketing and records retention regulations. "Social media has become a ubiquitous component of today's marketing strategies for loan of- ficers and mortgage companies, so much so that lenders need more comprehensive tools for monitoring social media compliance than sim- ply 'the eyeball test,'" said MQMR President Michael Steer. "Because MQMR's compliance team has conducted thousands of market- ing compliance reviews, which include social media content, we are keenly aware of the challenge lenders face in this regard, and by providing an automated solution for monitoring, we are not only expanding our clients' compliance coverage, but also providing them with valuable peace of mind." The ActiveComply platform can be configured to reflect the user's unique corporate social media policy specifications and offers a simple user interface and one-touch executive reporting capabilities, as well as notifica- tions sent to a company's in-house compliance team with flagged content for review. Available func- tionality includes but is not limited to: discovery and continuous monitoring of company and loan officer social media accounts and websites, detection of unauthorized online activity, identification of missing compliance requirements and archival of online contents to meet regulatory record retention requirements. Optimal Blue Launches Market Analytics Solution in Response to Significant Demand for Market Data PROCESS PROVIDES MARKET VISIBILITY BY USING COMPREHENSIVE MORTGAGE DATA. O ptimal Blue, a provider of secondary marketing solutions and data servic- es in the mortgage industry, re- cently announced the release of their Market Analytics solution. At a time when the mortgage industry is experiencing unprec- edented origination volumes and dramatic rate volatility, Optimal Blue's Market Analytics provides the industry extreme market visibility by leveraging the most comprehensive database of primary mortgage market data available today. "Optimal Blue sits atop a sea of unique mortgage data that may be used, in real-time, to understand changes in key measures such as rate spreads, loan volume, and home prices," explained Scott Happ, CEO of Optimal Blue. "Optimal Blue is focused on help- ing our clients and the industry leverage this information to create greater market visibility and facili- tate better decision making." Market Analytics leverages Optimal Blue's mortgage rate lock data collected from one-third of all mortgages completed each year in the United States. Produced daily, Market Analytics provides a comprehensive array of trans- action-specific data points that support several practical use cases, including: Benchmarking, Valuation, and Performance Tools: With access to the largest source of rate lock data nationwide, users can confi- dently analyze primary mortgage market rate trends that drive the "Social media has become a ubiquitous component of today's marketing strategies for loan officers and mortgage companies, so much so that lenders need more comprehensive tools for monitoring social media compliance than simply 'the eyeball test.'" — Michael Steer, President, MQMR

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