Mortgage Companies: Mortgage Companies in HAMP
Right about the beginning of October, you should have received an email or two from the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) reminding you that you will need to renew your license fairly soon (the starting date for renewals is November 1 of each year). In addition to your company licenses, all of your loan officers (including you) must renew all of their licenses. This can add up to a lot of time – time that you and your loan officers could better spend finding new business. If you hire an outside administrator, that person could be the one spending all the time it takes to get through the renewal process. It could save you a great deal of money that your business would lose if your loan officers are spending hours trying to remember how to use the NMLS.
In most companies, the owner inputs the NMLS information himself and requires each loan officer to also input the information himself. Since this procedure is done once a year, most loan officers and owners have forgotten even their log-in names and passwords. They don’t remember what steps they need to take to renew their licenses. The NMLS is not particularly user-friendly and it may take hours for each loan officer to get through the procedures. In addition, most loan officers have no idea what requirements they need to meet in order to get approval for their renewals. As usual, each state has its own checklist in terms of continuing education, additional documents, and fees.
The Treasury Department has requested reports be submitted twice a day. This past August the Treasury Department started to issue a monthly report showing how each mortgage company participating in the program was doing with loan modifications. The Treasury Department has indicated that in the report for November of 2009 they will show which companies are lagging behind all of the others. The Treasury Department has also announced that there will be consequences for mortgage companies not doing the job expected in this program. These may include sanctions and financial penalties. Michael Barr, an assistant secretary of the Treasury Department has been closely involved with this program. He has commented that in the judgment of the officials at the Treasury Department the mortgage companies have not done their job. There will have to be consequences for companies that don’t fulfill their obligations.
A Brief History- It appears that the mortgage companies viewed the Making Home Affordable Modification Program as just another program where they could do as they pleased. This program definitely was more aggressive than the prior government programs in helping people save their homes from foreclosure. However, it was voluntary. There were no penalties for the mortgage companies if they did not modify loans as called for in the program. The mortgage companies agreed to participate in the program. However, they never committed fully to it. They did not ramp up their loss mitigation departments to the level necessary to handle the requests for loan modifications that they received. They never have processed them quickly. In July, the mortgage companies had a rude awakening. The Treasury Department called their executives to a meeting in Washington.
You should be talking to each outside administrator (or the person at the company who would be doing your work) to get a sense of how comfortable you feel with them. Does each person you talk to actually answer your questions? Do they seem knowledgeable? Was it difficult to reach them, either by telephone or email? If the administrator does not seem knowledgeable or interested in working with you and your loan officers (maybe your company is too small, maybe it’s too big), move on to the next name on your list. Choose the administrator who gives you the answers that make you comfortable and whose personality meshes with your own. Selecting the right NMLS administrator will save you both time and money while decreasing your stress level.
Learn more about Obama Mortgage Relief Plan Qualifications.
