Mortgage Underwriting Support Services
We bank on experience, expertise and high-end tools to deliver cost-effective and time-bound mortgage underwriting services
Expert Mortgage Assistance (EMA) is a leading provider of mortgage underwriting services. We rely on experience and advanced automated tool like MSuite to deliver accurate, cost-effective, and time-bound residential loan underwriting services to lenders and credit unions. Our mortgage underwriting support services assist Lenders and Credit Unions expedite the process of closing loans after.
Our mortgage underwriters assist lenders and credit unions in understanding the financial credibility of the applicant. We also provide mortgage contract underwriting services and ensure each loan meets the secondary marketing guidelines. Additionally, we assist in assessing the payment history, debt-to-income ratio, loan-to-value ratio, and other variables to precisely assess if lending the loan to the applicant is a good investment. Our end-to-end mortgage loan underwriting process has helped our clients make discreet lending decisions.
Simplifying Underwriting with MSuite
MSuite is our proprietary automation tool that can be used to automate a number of mortgage processing needs. It can be used as an indexing engine, data extraction engine, rules engine, and reporting engine to improve turnaround and accuracy, realize cost savings, and scale operations.
As a rule engine, MSuite simplifies complex tasks such as income calculation, asset review, 1003 review, credit/debit review, update calculated income, asset liabilities and finding reports. Besides, the tool can also be used for upfront underwriting of files with salaried borrowers. The tool can manage thousands of rules seamlessly and can even be customized to cover only lender specific rules.
As a technology-agnostic mortgage underwriting company, we utilize MSuite to automate underwriting process flow. In the process:
- The automation tool alerts loan officers on any missing document. This leads to an automation disqualification of applications.
- Generates all the conditional approval parameters based on what AUS requirements.
- Loans are automatically assigned to underwriters to clear loans based on generated approval parameters.
Mortgage Underwriting Process Steps
Our Comprehensive Mortgage Loan Underwriting Services
As one of the leading mortgage underwriting companies, we have worked with lenders of all shapes and sizes and have helped them meet their loan underwriting needs in different ways. As an expert mortgage underwriting company, once you choose to outsource mortgage underwriting services, we provide back-office support to the following requirements:
Running Automated Underwriting Systems
We leverage various automated underwriting systems which include our proprietary automation tool MSuite to deliver real time underwriting decision about the customer to the lender. We specialize in both Fannie Mae’s Automated Underwriting System (Desktop Underwriter) and Freddie Mac’s Automated Underwriting System (Loan Prospector). Choose to outsource mortgage underwriting services and get nothing but the best.
Sometimes there might be a need to resubmit loans in the automated system because of changes in loan terms or other reasons. As multiple resubmissions might be red flagged, we have adopted the best practice rule of placing notes in the LOS to support each resubmission. Thus, with accurate notes we ensure easy processing of DU files. We have experience in using:
- Fannie Mae’s Automated Underwriting System, Desktop Underwriter or DU
- Freddie Mac’s Automated Underwriting System, Loan Prospector or LP
Clearing Loan Conditions
The rise in number of home buyers has resulted in a shift in property investments. Our streamlined mortgage contract underwriting services have helped our clients assess an applicant’s borrowing and payback capacity precisely, and close loans faster. The mortgage underwriting process may sometimes require additional information to decide on the loan. We provide this information by being at the beck and call of the underwriter. Once all the requirements are met, we issue a 'clear to close' or final approval. The outsourced mortgage underwriting services is certain to help with your decision to provide loan to the ideal applicant.
Clearing loan conditions is always a very time-consuming task and leads to most loan delays. We have wide experience in accelerating this process for lenders. Over the years, our streamlined mortgage processing support services have helped our clients procure timely information on conditions like employment verification, explanation of late payments, explanation of gaps in employments, and proof of fund inflow in bank accounts. Through our unmatched mortgage contract underwriting services, we support the requirement with letters, proof, and other appropriate documents. You too can outsource mortgage underwriting services to clear loan conditions faster.
- Obtaining a clear title policy
- Verifying insurance policy (flood, home owners etc)
- Verifying appraisal report
- Verification of employment or deposits (VOE or VOD)
- Project approval (condo units only)
Title Review
The objective of title review is to ensure that lenders’ interest in sanctioning loans is free from any risk whatsoever. Our title review support service is designed to protect lenders’ rights and interests. At the same time, it is optimized to make loan transfer expeditious and secure. This makes the underwriting process for mortgage all the more user friendly and ideal to suit different business standards.
We help lenders to check title defects, check errors in title report, review documents pertaining to transfer of property rights, and even meticulously scrutinize closing documents. Our vast experience in reviewing title reports have helped us uncover many defects or “cloud” in the title for many of our clients. As an expert mortgage contract underwriting service provider, we have a record of flawless title reviews.
- Review title report for title transfer
- Review title report for tax information
- Review title reports for property details
- Review title reports for judgement details
- Review title insurance
Appraisal Review
As per new mortgage rules, the onus of procuring an unbiased estimate of a home, rests squarely with the mortgage lender. This makes it imperative for them to embrace an objective way to assess the home’s value. However, acquiring a good appraisal report is fraught with challenges. Lenders’ assessment is as good as an appraiser’s assessment, and if the appraiser goes wrong so does the lender. Sometimes, the process can get too tardy. It may take weeks to get an appraiser to visit a property, and the appraiser may take weeks to conclude. Availing the mortgage underwriting services by a leading provider is thus crucial for precise appraisal review. Outsourced mortgage underwriting professionals have detailed understanding of the appraisal process. They actively communicate with the appraiser to ensure the appraisal process is correct.
Our mortgage appraisal review process is well-defined, and we use the most current version of the appraisal report form applicable for the specific type of property. We order appraisals on behalf of the lender to certified appraisers. Thereafter, we stay in touch with them till we get the appraised value of the property in the shortest possible time. We also assist the lender in reviewing the report to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. We review appraisal photographs, location maps, property sales history, appropriateness of the comparable, adjustments, as well as the report date, appraiser's signature and license number, before passing on the report to the lender. The mortgage contract underwriting services by aExpert Mortgage Assistance is thus versatile.
With our streamlined services we ensure lenders get their appraisal work done in short turnaround and with greater accuracy.
- Verify license and certification of appraiser
- Review current market and comparable properties
- Review inspections done as per investor guidelines
Fraud Review
Mortgage lenders often fall prey to fraudsters. Frauds can range from stretched borrowers misleading a lender to secure a loan, to organised criminal rings involving corrupt brokers to rob a lender. Though lenders go all out to insulate their business from fraud, the desire to grow their business is so pressing that they unwittingly walk into fraud traps. Investing in an outsourced mortgage underwriting service can thus be beneficial to lenders and credit unions in the long run. Experienced mortgage underwriting companies house fraud experts who have an instinctive understanding of spotting fraudulent applications.
We specialize in identifying possibly fraudulent items such as AVM comps mismatching with the appraisal, conflicting addresses, large deposits or withdrawals, multiple cash transactions in several bank accounts, and more such grey areas that suggest potentially fraudulent activities.
- Verifying borrower residential addresses
- Verifying contractual agreements for relevance
- Verifying 3rd party docs
- Verifying bank statements and credit reports
- Carrying out phone re-verification
Our mortgage underwriting support services are based on basic underwriting controls. For instance, we validate and re-validate data entered into an automated underwriting system (AUS); and have proper checks and sign-offs to ensure greater accuracy. Complex underwriting requirements go through multiple stages of quality checks and are signed off by seniors having 10 years of experience in underwriting. Our experience in mortgage contract underwriting services also helped us develop an instinctive understanding of the risk components of mortgage loan processing. This understanding helps us ask the right questions to your borrowers, identify contentious issues, and spot inconsistencies with ease. We also rely on a detailed and well documented process to gather information to support the value of questionable appraisal. All these together have helped us carve a niche as a mortgage loan underwriting company. Thus, outsourcing mortgage underwriting can add value to your overall lending process.
Quality Is the Byword for Our Mortgage Underwriting Services
Our underwriting process is based on basic underwriting controls. For instance, we validate and re-validate data entered into an automated underwriting system (AUS); and have proper checks and sign-offs to ensure greater accuracy. Complex underwriting requirements go through multiple stages of quality checks and are signed off by seniors having 10 years of experience in underwriting. Our experience in underwriting has also helped us develop an instinctive understanding of the risk components of mortgage loan processing. This understanding helps us ask the write questions to your borrowers, identify contentious issues and spot inconsistencies with ease. We also rely on a detailed and well documented process to gather information to support the value of questionable appraisal. All these together have helped us carve a niche as a mortgage loan underwriting company.
Key Things to Keep in Mind During The Pandemic
- Educate buyers about changes in the mortgage underwriting guidelines implemented by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. For instance, buyers can provide alternative documents instead of a 10-day preclosing employment verification.
- Proactively inform buyers about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae-enforced alterations to property valuation guidelines. For instance, alternatives to physical visits by appraisers to inspect properties.
Why Choose Us for Mortgage Underwriting Services
Our underwriting process for mortgage industry has been shaped by years of exposure to changing industry requirements.
By outsourcing mortgage underwriting process to us, you get the following benefits:
- 1000+ highly trained underwriters and processors working fulltime
- Comprehensive support for underwriting back-office needs (Capacity, Credit, Collateral)
- Standardized and automated back office processes for mortgage underwriting support
- High quality assured through multi-tier quality check
- Expert group to deal with regulatory requirements
- Up to 30% reduction in TAT, leveraging 24/7 work environment
- Up to 40% reduction in per employee operational cost
- Flexibility to scale work up to 50% during peak times
- Seamless communication and highly transparent operations
- 100% data confidentiality and privacy
- Flexible staffing model
Looking for a reliable mortgage loan underwriting services company? Outsource your loan underwriting services to Expert Mortgage Assistance to make your process more accurate and time bound.
FAQs on Mortgage Underwriting Support Services
Mortgage underwriting is the process used by a lender uses to evaluate whether the risk of offering a mortgage loan to you is acceptable or not. It is a part of the mortgage origination process in which underwriters look at your income, credit history, debt, and other factors to determine if you are a good candidate for a mortgage loan or not. In this process your assets, payment history, debt-to-income ratio, loan-to-value ratio, and many other variables will be closely evaluated to assess whether the risk of lending you a mortgage loan would be a good investment.
We can start as early as within 2 weeks to initiate underwriting support requests.
Mortgage underwriting guidelines are the minimum criteria that need to be met in order to qualify for a home loan. These guidelines can increase as you progress on the risk spectrum. The basic underwriting guidelines are established by 2 mortgage financing giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For the most part, they require that all prospective borrowers meet certain income requirements, assets, credit scores, debt-to-income ratios, work histories, and minimum down payments.
Because mortgage underwriting is a detailed process, it can usually take anything between few days to few weeks. The average time it takes to complete the underwriting process is 5 to 8 business days. The timelines vary because every borrower is different and the process too will differ accordingly. On a daily basis each of our employee can complete 2-3 full underwrites with 2 conditions clearing (if needed).
There are many issues that pop up during the underwriting process. These include improper information, omissions of critical details, income discrepancies, and tax document discrepancies. Other problems include employment issues, credit history issues, and funding issues. Home appraisals can also be a point of contention as different organizations may come up with different values. Finally, unexpected issues might arise in the form of complex asset arrangements and other grey areas. In these cases, underwriters may need to rely on their past experience and expertise to assess the risk and protect the lender from undue risk. In such cases, Letters of Explanation come in useful as underwriters can use them to understand your personal situation better and make a more informed application decision.
Mortgage underwriting is the process by which lenders measure the risk associated with a particular home loan and to what extent it complies with the lender’s minimum lending guidelines. Once an application is delivered to an underwriter, they usually evaluate some basic criteria to determine how risky a particular borrower is to lend to. Some such factors include the borrower’s collateral, capacity, character, and credit. Depending on how well these criteria are met, a lending decision can be made. Once the underwriter evaluates a borrower’s propensity to pay back their home loan, they come up with either of the 3 lending decisions: approved, approved with conditions, or denied. Once the lending decision is determined, the mortgage application moves to the next stage of the mortgage origination process.
Fannie Mae, or the Federal National Mortgage Association, guidelines are the minimum requirements you need to meet to take out a mortgage loan in the US housing market. Fannie Mae guidelines are important because they were developed to make the financing process less risky for both consumers and lenders. Fannie Mae buys individual mortgages from lenders, repackages them, and then sells them to investors in the secondary market. The corporation has different requirements for different loans. The minimum requirements may vary depending on whether the property is a multi-unit home, secondary home, or an investment property. Some Fannie Mae guidelines may include down payment requirements, credit score requirements, debt-to-income requirements, etc.
Fannie Mae allows for asset dissipation, or the ability of borrowers to finance a home based on the liquid assets they possess such as stocks, retirement accounts, or money in the bank. Asset dissipation is important for borrowers who do not have conventional income streams such as retirees or workers in the gig economy. Fannie Mae allows asset dissipation because it allows high net worth individuals to convert their portfolios into cash for mortgage payments, without needing to have a steady income stream.
We are an ISMS certified company. This means t our clients can trust us with their sensitive business data . Also, our detailed data security and backup policies ensure that our client’s intellectual property is protected at all times. Further, we use a systematic approach to maintain our client’s sensitive information as our IT systems and business processes conform to standard risk management protocols prescribed by the AIAO-BAR. Finally, we ensure that all data transfers are 128-bit encrypted to eliminate any chances of data breaches for complete data security.
You can reach an Expert Mortgage Assistance sales representative via email at info@expertmortgageassistance.com or by phone at 1855 – 224 – 6855.
