MARCH 2023
Partner Updates
Updates from Servion Mortgage
How to Help Buyers Take Advantage of Spring Home Buying Season
Partner with Servion Quality Control to Strengthen Your Second Level of Defense
The Best Marketing Strategy
Save the Date: 2023 Lending Conference
The Buzz: Recent Feedback
We exist to provide you with the tools to reach your true potential. Each member of the Servion team comes to work with a Be The Solution mindset and views our relationship with you not as a customer or client relationship, but as a partnership.
We are always excited to celebrate new partnerships as well as current partners who are adding different mortgage channels to help them serve their borrowers best. Relationship
Altana Federal Credit Union
* Now using Correspondent USDA (Sponsored Agent)
Hercules First Federal Credit Union
* Now using Contract Processing
Servion has introduced a Marketing Library campaign for new partners to announce their partnership with Servion Mortgage. Check out the campaign and subscribe to our Marketing Library for just $30/year if you haven’t already. Check out this video for a quick overview on how it works!
Servion Mortgage is now offering monthly webinars to help you gain deeper product and program knowledge so that you can be the best resource to your borrowers.
The latest webinar was in February and covered Escrows. Specifically, Rachel Mengelkoch, Servion’s Training and Product Development Manager, shared an explanation of best practices, a review of common errors, and answered questions during the live event. Missed the webinar? Watch the replay video here.
To view all upcoming educational events and videos, simply click here.
With the Spring home buying season right around the corner, consumers may find themselves confused about whether now is the right time to jump into the market to look for the home of their dreams. While home prices are falling, inventory in certain markets may be limited and interest rates continue to fluctuate.
Since the spring housing market and warmer weather typically drive an increase in buyer activity, it’s more important than ever for buyers to take steps to make sure everything is in place so buyers can act quickly when they find the perfect home. The process is all about creating a seamless experience for your borrowers and positioning them to be in the right place at the right time so they can purchase their dream home. Here are ways you can help home buyers have the confidence to make a move when the right home comes along.
Set their expectations that getting pre-qualified for a mortgage typically only takes 15-30 minutes and collecting initial documents up front will streamline the process. You will be setting your buyer up to be prepared to make the strongest offer. Part of that process is discussing the right mortgage product to fit your buyers’ needs for a home that they may elect to make an offer on.
Buying or selling a house is a significant decision, and your buyers will want the advice and guidance of an experienced, local Realtor. No matter what location, the Go2Source network of agents can offer buyers the assistance they need while helping your loan officers retain more borrowers and get higher conversion rates. Finding a Go2Source agent in your community is easy.
Purchasing a home is an exciting milestone in life, particularly for first-time buyers who may have questions or fears about the process. An easy, informative way to educate your borrowers is to partner with Servion, and potentially a local Realtor, to offer a home-buying webinar. A homebuying webinar will not only address buyer FAQ’s but will also open the door to connecting 1:1 with home buyers about their unique situations.
Remind your borrowers that you are their mortgage resource by subscribing to and sharing resources from Servion’s Marketing Library. Digital campaigns can be shared easily across your social media platforms. As a subscriber, you get access to professional marketing materials that can be customized to your brand. The library includes educational materials on various topics – and in various formats to give your borrowers a deeper understanding of the home buying process and to help you capture more market share.
Buying a home is one of the biggest financial transactions most people ever make. As the home buying season ramps up, making the purchase process as efficient and seamless as possible will help your borrowers make the home of their dreams a reality.
We developed the Go2Source Realtor Referral Network to address this “steering” problem. The network includes hand-picked agents who are committed to keeping borrowers with you, not sending them elsewhere. Your borrowers should remain yours, and Go2Source helps make that happen.
Go2Source agents help your borrowers search, buy, sell and save on their transactions.
Go2Source agents never steer the borrower to any other financial institution.
Go2Source agents are local to your area and carefully vetted for professionalism and service attributes.
Want more information? Contact your Servion Account Executive. Ready to connect a lead with a Go2Source Realtor®?
Visit: myservion.com/Go2Source
For just $30/year, we can help you get the word out about Go2Source with customizable print and digital materials.
The Go2Source Realtor® Referral Network is managed by The Servion Group, which locates, vets and recommends real estate agents in cities across the country who then become part of the Go2Source-branded network.
Financial institutions and credit unions face risks when it comes to meeting investor and regulatory requirements for mortgage originations and servicing. Partnering with Servion Quality Control, an experienced mortgage quality control services provider, can help you manage these unique risks by strengthening the second level of your three lines of defense risk management framework within your organization’s compliance management system.
The three lines of defense (LOD) model and compliance management systems (CMS) are both essential components of risk management in the mortgage industry. Both are designed to ensure that your organization is operating in compliance with applicable guidelines, laws, and regulations. They also aid in identifying and monitoring risks, developing policies and procedures, training employees, and creating and implementing corrective action.
Because noncompliance can result in significant financial and reputational harm., adding a qualified Quality Control (QC) partner to your second level in your three LOD model can provide an efficient and cost-effective way to ensure your second line of defense is intact and actively monitoring your first line mortgage origination and servicing processes.
The three LOD framework consists of the following three lines of defense that work together to manage risk:
The first line of defense is responsible for managing risks in their day-to-day operations. This includes identifying risks, implementing controls, and monitoring the effectiveness of those controls.
The second line of defense is responsible for overseeing the risk management process and ensuring that the organization is complying with applicable guidelines, laws, and regulations. This includes developing policies and procedures, testing and monitoring compliance, as well as providing guidance to the first line.
The third line of defense is responsible for providing independent assurance that the organization’s risk management processes are functioning effectively. This includes conducting audits and providing recommendations to management on areas for improvement.
A qualified mortgage QC partner can play a critical role in ensuring that your first line mortgage origination and servicing activities are functioning effectively. More specifically, this partner can provide independent, objective reviews of your mortgage origination and servicing activities, helping to identify areas of risk and potential root causes.
Here are some additional benefits of working with a qualified mortgage QC partner:
Independent, objective reviews: A qualified mortgage QC partner can provide an independent, objective review of your mortgage origination and servicing activities, identifying areas of potential risk and helping to perform root cause analysis.
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Assist in root cause analysis: A qualified mortgage QC partner can assist your organization in performing a root cause analysis of any identified risks. This analysis will be integral in developing an effective corrective action plan to mitigate any identified risks going forward, helping to ensure that your organization’s risk exposure remains low.
Identify areas of noncompliance: A mortgage QC partner can help identify areas where your organization may be at risk of noncompliance with applicable guidelines, laws, and regulations. This can help you take proactive steps to mitigate those risks.
Provide guidance on best practices: A qualified mortgage QC partner can provide guidance on industry best practices, helping you to develop and implement effective policies and procedures.
In today’s ever-changing regulatory environment, the importance of following the three-part risk management framework and having a structured compliance management system in place for your organization cannot be overstated. Collaborating with a qualified mortgage QC partner can provide an effective and efficient way to strengthen your second line of defense given tight market conditions and slim bottom lines in today’s mortgage market.
Servion can ensure that your mortgage lending and servicing activities are functioning effectively, providing independent, objective reviews, identifying areas of noncompliance, providing guidance on best practices, and assisting in root cause analysis. Working together, we can help to strengthen your three LOD framework and overall CMS, thereby minimizing your risk exposure and ultimately protecting your organization’s overall reputation and bottom line.
Manage your repurchase and compliance risk with confidence. We have worked with financial institutions to deliver mortgages for over 30 years. Now we are sharing our compliance expertise with you.
How do you manage the regulations and guidelines that come with mortgage lending and servicing?
The Answer:
By taking advantage of Servion’s Quality Control Services.
Review Types Offered:
f Servicing
f Post-Closing
f Pre-Funding
f Non-Originated
f Early Payment Default
f Targeted
f Appraisal
We understand your need to focus on quality, not quantity, while still having a quick turnaround time. You can count on that kind of personalized and detailed service with us. Visit myservion.com/qualitycontrol or contact our dedicated QC Manager, Brock Miller, at bmiller@myservion.com.
Servion Title salutes our troops with an exclusive discount as a thank you for their service and dedication! We welcome all Active Duty members, Reserves, Veterans and Retireesincluding their immediate family members.
I so often get questions about the best marketing strategy. Everyone wants to know, “How do I best get the word out about what we offer? How do we NOT be the best-kept secret? What’s the very best channel to use to gain brand recognition and drive business?”
Sorry, folks. There isn’t one perfect answer because there are a lot of variables at play: your market, your strategy, your budget, to name a few. So, let’s look at marketing in a different way. I’m going to highlight three areas to help you see that you already have the answer to those questions. (Spoiler Alert… It’s YOU.)
Start with your WHY.
Why is doing what you do important? Why is it important to you? Why is serving in the way you do important to your community and to your organization?
It’s important to start with the why because we often jump into a project or a loan, deposit,
or member/customer growth goal, and want to get straight to the action steps. So often we jump into a task or decision without giving thought as to why that task or that decision matters. Blasting past the why keeps us in a transactional mindset. However, when we start with the why, it gives us a stronger foundation to build upon. It helps us see past the transaction. It opens a positive state for us to be creative, which is important for goalreaching and relationshipbuilding. It helps us connect.
Your second step is to think about the value.
What value does my product or service bring? The best marketing plan won’t work if you aren’t communicating your product’s or service’s value. (This is where you might be thinking, “No duh, LeAnn.” … Stick with me.)
Rather than listing your product or service differentiators, let’s talk about your strengths.
I’m not talking about the
SWOT method (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). I’m talking about something you do that you’re really good at doing. People are looking for connection and they will choose your product or service based on their connection to you.
So, what is something you do, a strength, that shows your personal why in action?
When we are playing in our strengths, people see our enthusiasm. People want to be connected with someone who cares about what they are doing, and they’re doing it in a way that proves it. And best of all, it allows you to find joy in your work as you conquer each and every day.
Let’s pause before getting to the third area of how to answer the question of how to best drive business. I recently shared this different way of looking at marketing at the Oklahoma MBA and CUREN gathering.
Some of the ways they wanted to activate their why and to put their strengths into action were by:
EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES to write blog posts. You probably answer the same questions repeatedly. Why not turn your answers into an article or an email that can be shared?
COMMUNICATING the actual home loan process. The process is understood by us lending pros, but not necessarily by the borrower. Take their hand and walk them through it.
HAVING A MARKETING SOURCE within the lending department. Marketing and lending don’t have to run separately. Working together and collaborating will bring understanding and deliver wins all the way around.
FINDING SOLUTIONS for niche borrowers, not just the “typical” borrower. Where do you see a need or a gap? Gather resources specific to that niche and communicate in a way so that anyone looking for or wanting a home can understand their potential with your help. (An extra bonus to this bullet point: simply putting mortgages front and center on your website and your lawn tells the world you want to work with them.)
SHARING who you are (authentically, of course). Promote that you are local, share your thankfulness for getting to work with someone and what that means to you, and share your why (on your company website and on your social channels).
FOCUSING ON THE BORROWER. Highlighting local individuals and businesses that work with you is a great way to promote collaboration and show you care about partnership and the community.
The third step is to focus on data.
Yep, using data to understand your members and customers and their propensity to borrow is part of your job, too. (Meaning, it’s not just for the marketing department.) You can use data to help you focus on serving in the way that is uniquely you.
Once steps one and two are dialed in, use your YOU-ness to communicate with the specific groups below (pro tip: make personal phone calls with the objectives of educating and serving as a resource). Note, these criteria were based on previous experience unique to a specific financial institution. Your factors might differ, so check your data for what matches your organization’s average results.
• New members or customers having started with other products (car loan, checking account, or credit card) in the previous month. Ages 25+
• Current mortgage loan approaching 4 years.
• Current home equity line of credit (HELOC) without the 1st.
• Individuals age 24-45, have a checking account with at least 2 other loan products, total balances of $5,000. Remove HELOCs.
• Real estate agents willing to serve as your partner to your mortgage program and as an advocate to your borrower. (Check out Servion’s GoToSource for vetted agents in your area.)
In addition to your organization’s data, you can use data from resources like the National Association of Realtors to best understand your mortgage target market. Knowing how borrowers (and potential borrowers) behave, where and how they shop, and their interests will strongly support your communication efforts.
Here’s the bottom line: Your energy brings energy. The best marketing strategy is in you. Connect to your why and to your strengths. Put those into action using data. Pulling those three areas together will keep you excited, hungry, and creative. The power of your passion will drive business in your door and will manifest into great relationships.
Mortgage Sessions
WE HOPE TO SEE YOU AT OUR LENDING CONFERENCE THIS FALL SO PLEASE SAVE THE DATES ON YOUR CALENDAR.
SEPTEMBER 18 AND 19
Business/Commercial Lending Sessions
SEPTEMBER 20
Whether you’ve attended the conference before or this would be your first time, we are very excited to see all of you next September! Watch your emails for your official invitation, which we’ll be sending your way in late June or early July.
I know you all put in extra effort to make this as smooth as possible for our member, Thank you!
I just want you to know how much I appreciate (Servion employee). She’s a valuable resource that I find myself needing a lot. Even when she doesn’t have an answer off the cuff, she promptly helps me figure something out time and time again.
Hear what our partners are saying about us!
I sure appreciate everything you all do for our members!
I really appreciate all your help to ensure that all parties are walking away with a great impression!
