Wow - I can skip the blush powder today! Thanks =) Brenda - I definitely agree there is a large 'vendorship' out there that does NOT want experience, and for reasons other than financial.
Go back to the days when loans closed inside. As with anything else in life - there is the right way to do things, the legal way, the compliant way ... and then there is the real world. T/C's pander to the mtg brokers and R.E. brokers, that's their bread & butter. Sometimes, they take risks in order to hold onto those relationships. That's the reality, that's the 'unspoken' part - those fine lines and gray areas that exist EVERYWHERE, including in this industry. Of course.
Brokers are extremely fickle. They are sales-oriented (forgive me, yes, I'm generalizing) and follow the money. Their concerns aren't the same as anyone else's - just as anyone else's concerns aren't theirs.
If there is a rule that can be gotten around in order to close a loan - then the T/C will find a way to get around it, or risk losing the broker relationship/account. This reality might not be present in ALL T/C's, and not ALL brokers will play this way - but again, this is generalized.
Now - toss in the potential cog in the wheel, the mobile closer. Huge value potential, and huge potential to lose out in the 'gray or not-so-gray areas'. Hmmm. Who is most likely to be very malleable, accommodating, unaware, naive? The 'Newbie', who's also likely a Point-n-Sign. Not only do you get that, there's the added bonus of those 'types' being much cheaper. Sure, it's a crapshoot - so is getting out of bed or crossing the street.
Let me illustrate - again, drawing from my former life (which was no life!). The numbers, the volume was not insignificant. I used to avg. 90 phone calls a day, and as manager these calls were the 'problem' calls. Remember, guessing 1 in 10 pkgs comes in clean, and 80 closings at the table any given day (back then). I'd guess about 1 or 2 a YEAR were 'un-fixable'. All day LONG, my careful words would go to T/C closer "I need THIS" and it would be produced.
"I have several docs in here dated by B for the day AFTER. I need these docs dated day OF, or I have an invalid loan." Response: "Oh, sorry, he must've made mistake, will get that for you today."
"Spouse didn't sign RTC, I need spouse, need dated day OF, or invalid..." Response: "Oh, sorry, we must've kept the copy she signed, will get that to you today."
This goes back to those Closing Instructions ... the contract to close/insure the process or take a hit. I will never forget once having to call back a wire over 300k from a T/C for an invalid loan that they had disbursed on before rescission expired. It shut them down. It was not fun. They took the risk, and lost =(
Anyway - so yes, Brenda, you're correct - not everyone WANTS someone who knows their way around the playing field. NOW add in Signing Services ... what a plan. So, you're the T/C and you have all these fine lines to deal with, all these fickle accounts to nurture, and the mobile closing has become the service-de-jour. No more "sorry, we can't close that today, we're booked." Nope, you now must/can accommodate...
BUT, as the added value to using a Signing Service, you have a CONTRACT in place that would essentially cover YOUR butt, and you can pass off the "I need THIS" calls to someone else. Essentially, this is what the lender was doing to T/C - now, T/C can pass the buck to SS, who in turn passes to S/A. Well, COOL BEANS, EH?
And we come here and read daily "How do I feel out an all-purpose ackn?" and other such scary stuff.
Even the 'good' T/C's will ask you to do things - maybe it's rare, but they do. They get squeezed; they get threatened by brokers who'll pull the account if they 'lose' this loan. The difference is - the good ones, if they ask, won't MIND when you say "Um, pass on that, sorry." They don't hold it against you, they didn't want to ask in the first place and often you'll find they (meaning T/C's processors, schedulers or closers) don't CARE if that broker takes a leap.
I only worked for two wholesalers, and know people at a couple others - so my exposure was limited and there are hundreds of wholesalers - but those I'm familiar with were clean, straight, and vigilant to the compliance of laws/practices. I have to think MOST are, because brokers are fickle, and they don't sever lender relationships because of these kinds of things, but over rates, programs, and u/w guidelines. Again, they just follow the money.
Well, it's all well and fine. There are enough T/C's who operate straight & clean to keep the experienced & knowledgable S/A in business, and they are willing and happy to pay for it. Choose your dance partners, everyone. One man's meat is another man's poison.
