Mortgage Compliance Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Cogent QC: Award-Winning Loan Quality Control & Compliance Software

Fannie Mae releases new list of Loan Defect Categories

September 25, 2013 By Kaan Etem

In case you missed it, Fannie Mae released its new list of Loan Defect Categories on August 27, 2013.

Says Fannie, “The list shows the loan defects, by categories, identified by Fannie Mae in post-purchase review of our acquisitions. These defects (which may be eligibility violations) are referenced in reporting to lenders on the quality of their deliveries.”

So if you are setting up or overhauling your standard post-closing audit checklist, this is a good generic template to begin with. It covers all of the essential categories of loan QC errors (or of loan quality, to put it another way). If you are using Cogent’s loan audit software, in which these are called audit question categories, all that’s missing is a category and question coding scheme. With that, your reporting possibilities are almost limitless, allowing you to report by defect category or sub-category, by individual audit question, and so on.

Thanks to Fannie for taking another step towards standardizing the scope of loan quality reviews.

MBA’s Risk Management & Quality Assurance Forum 2013

September 10, 2013 By Kaan Etem

If you’re attending the MBA’s Risk Management & Quality Assurance Forum in Phoenix, AZ this week, stop by Cogent’s booth and say hello to our own Hakki Etem and James Robinson. And if you’re a client, we look forward to seeing you at dinner on Wednesday evening.

There are several interesting and topical sessions on the agenda this year. One session we’ll be paying particular attention to is “Using Sampling Techniques to Manage Quality in Your Organization,” a topic that is near and dear to our hearts.

The rest of the schedule is here: https://events.mortgagebankers.org/RMQA2013/sessions/#INFO

More information about the event here: https://events.mortgagebankers.org/RMQA2013/default.html

See you there!

Mortgage Servicers Become Mortgage Originators Under HAMP

March 11, 2010 By Cogent QC

The recent MBA Mortgage Servicing Conference in San Diego, at which the talk of loan modifications was front and center, reminded us of an article published in the November 2009 issue of Mortgage Banking magazine titled “Servicers as Originators” [requires subscription]. That article described the most significant recent development in the world of mortgage servicing: the need for mortgage servicers to act like mortgage originators as they re-underwrite loans under various loan modification programs such as HAMP.

While loan modifications are not new, the sheer scale of pending loan modifications has overwhelmed servicers and drastically extended processing times. At the same time, critical scrutiny of the process and pressure to accelerate the pace of completed modifications, has created fertile conditions for a new loan quality disaster.

Juggling Couple

Image by Matthieu

This represents a vastly more complicated “servicing” process than traditional servicers are used to. Indeed, the modification process is arguably more complex than the origination of a new loan, requiring a re-underwriting of the loan, complete with credit reports, appraisals and verifications (income, asset and employment). All this in addition to program-specific documentation requirements, which in the case of HAMP, are onerous.

Recognizing this requirement for a different skill set, servicers have been hiring servicing reps with origination experience. Thus, much of the production staff of now defunct mortgage lenders have new gigs as servicing staff, no doubt helping unemployment numbers in subprime epicenters such as Irvine, CA.

In addition to massive new hiring, servicers are deploying new or modified software systems to automate what they can; outsourcing various sub-processes where they can; and trying to stay in compliance as program guidelines change. Which they do, frequently.

As servicers struggle to meet these challenges, it falls on auditing and quality control professionals to ensure that the latest processes and compliance requirements are adhered to. Unfortunately, this is not an area where software vendors have invested much time or effort. Except Cogent, as it happens.

Cogent’s ServicingQC system was introduced more than a decade ago and has evolved into the most sophisticated quality control system available for servicing operations. Moreover, with the release of the CogentQC.NET platform, virtually all of the functionality of Cogent’s ProductionQC system – designed to monitor origination quality – can now be embedded into a ServicingQC system. Result? A ready-made platform for servicing quality professionals to monitor their new “servicing” process: loan origination.