In the finance industry today, a comprehensive mortgage compliance program is essential, but it is often a challenge operationally. Effective mortgage compliance has many layers within an organization. It is managed daily at the senior management level and integrated throughout the company’s day-to-day activities as a strategic function of the company.
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is constantly changing or being amended, requiring resources to keep abreast of how the amendments affect an organization in order to stay compliant. For most companies, these constant changes provide internal challenges to their operational compliance strategies. Mortgage originators need to comply while operating profitably within the regulatory landscape.
Because each individual loan requires that the mortgage lender’s sales, operations, and legal teams work together in order to close it successfully, having a well-established compliance protocol is essential to maintaining current standards throughout the process. These standards are firmly established at the government level — but they also continue to evolve as regulations change.
Many organizations use a compliance management system (CMS) to execute oversight, implementation, and audit workflow internally. However, even if your organization uses a CMS, there are still many additional parts of a thorough internal mortgage compliance program. Having a compliance committee to head up the operational infrastructure is important. And organizations need to define and address:
- Policies and procedures
- Training on regulations
- Interdepartment implementation
- Auditing policies and procedures
- Assessing risk/potential liabilities
- QA processes and resolutions
- Complaint management
- Compliance reporting
Organizations do not always have the internal resources, regulatory knowledge, or bandwidth to handle all aspects of operational compliance. Partnering with Baer Reed can help your organization stay compliant with the Code of Federal Regulations, loan disclosure requirements, and government loan programs — including the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA, “Fannie Mae”), U.S. Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC, “Freddie Mac”). Contact us today to discuss how our mortgage compliance and operational services can assist.
Mr. Reyes graduated with honors from the Ateneo de Manila University, where he received the Procter and Gamble Student Excellence Award. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila School of Law. During law school, Mr. Reyes was part of the Philippine delegation to the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot held in Vienna, Austria. He was also a member of the Ateneo Society of International Law and the St. Thomas More Debate Society. He completed his internship at the Public Attorney’s Office. He wrote a thesis entitled: “To Kill A White Elephant: An Analysis of the Fiduciary Exception to the Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege”. Mr. Reyes is admitted to practice law in the Philippines and the State of New York.
Ms. Lardizabal-Manzano is a graduate of San Sebastian College-Recoletos, where she earned her B.A. in Political Science. In 2003, she received her law degree from Lyceum of the Philippines and was admitted to practice law in 2004.
Matthew Hersh earned a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1990 and graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. He also holds a master’s degree in international relations from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Cap. Avi Levak (Res. IDF) graduated from from Israel’s prestigious Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics. He is also a Leadership and Communication coach trained in TuT coaching by Alon gal in Israel. Avi specializes in high-level, in-depth analysis of business and client needs, within systems and software strategy and architecture.
Ms. Tyler graduated cum laude from Georgetown University and received her law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center. During law school, she interned at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. She also worked on The Tax Lawyer journal and was a member of the award-winning Barristers’ Council Mock Trial Team. Ms. Tyler is admitted to practice law in the State of California and the District of Columbia.
Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo graduated cum laude and top nine in her batch from Miriam College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in InternationalStudies. She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law in Rockwell. During law school, she interned in Rivera, Santos, Maranan & Associates. She was also part of Ateneo’s Labor Law Bar Operations. She wrote her thesis on, “Stealing Privacy: Limitations on Media’s Photographic Invasion.,” Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo is admitted to practice law in the Philippines.
Ms. Aquino-Batallones obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Development Studies (with Minors in Global Politics and Hispanic Studies) from the Ateneo de Manila University. In 2011, she received her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. During law school, she interned at Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles then became an intern of Ateneo Legal Services Center’s Clinical Legal Education Program.
Mr. De Guzman graduated from San Beda College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts Major in Economics and received his law degree from San Beda College of Law. He is multilingual and is fluent in three languages: Chinese, Filipino, and English. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2003.