Written By: Tanisha Daniels
It’s near mid-month. You’re preparing for the second half “push” to month end. It’s “o’dark thirty” o’clock in the morning. You grab your morning coffee – add a shot of espresso. Greet everyone with smiles. Get comfy in your ergonomically enhanced chair. Log into your desktop. Check your office voicemail. Scan through your emails – scan your desk for the batch of files you got back from underwriting – then it begins.
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Here they come.
“Hey T – I saw that the Underwriter approved my file with a lot of PTD conditions. Do you think you can see what we can get pushed to PTF? The file is pretty clean – I mean DU approved it already – I really wanna get these docs ordered asap if possible. Anything you can do would sure be appreciated.”
PTD = Prior-to-Docs
PTF = Prior-to-Funding
ADD = Attention Deficit Disorder
PTD and PTF are two acronyms synonymous with the mortgage industry. When a condition is PTD then before the closing loan documents can be approved to be ordered, the condition must be cleared by the Underwriter. Respectively, when a condition is PTF then before the loan can be funded, the condition must be cleared by the Underwriter. In respect to A.D.D. we’re referring to pipeline management and effective customer service.
So let’s analyze the file and see what we can do to help.
We view the approval and the documents requested seem pretty straight forward. We’re excited to call our borrower with their status update. We’re prepared to ask them for all the PTD conditions …. then go speak with the Underwriter and see which items we can move to PTF …. then update the Originator with what the Underwriter says and wait for the documents to come from the borrower.
Do you see the bottleneck forming with this plan?
We’re expecting the Underwriter to “help us” by moving some conditions to PTF, but why didn’t we just ask the borrower for both their PTD and PTF conditions when we spoke with them on the phone?
Let’s be honest with ourselves, wouldn’t it be better to ask the borrower for what the Underwriter wants and take a little more time with them on the phone making sure they can provide exactly what’s needed to actually close their loan smoothly OR go back to the Underwriter and let our file sit another 24-48 hours for them to make a decision and then us potentially aggravate the borrower because we have to call them back yet again for something we knew they needed to provide, but this time they’re unavailable to send what we need because they’re leaving out of town for a family vacation.
Oh, and their rate lock expires at the end of the month.
When you’re managing a pipeline – each one of your loans includes many personalities attached to it. The best way to service every personality assigned to each loan is to provide excellent customer service – period.
Sure, there will be times when a judgment call needs to be made on moving conditions, but do what you can first – (1) Call the borrower with the request for their PTD & PTF documents (2) Update the system with what you’ve requested and when they’ve committed to return the documents (3) Email the Originator with the status and advise them that once the conditions are received you will update them again with the Underwriters update.
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Excellent.
Listen, we all want to be seen as “Mortgage Rockstars”, but one thing we’ve learned from our mortgage market collapse, is that file integrity is everything. If your Underwriter asks for a document – do what you can to get it. There are rules and overlays to issuing that loan approval that you may not be aware of. Trust me, they don’t ask for what they don’t need to validate their approval decision.
My advice - err on the side of compliance. Focus on the service you provide, keep your notes current, and answer your phone.
That will be appreciated more than you’ll know.
About The Author
Tanisha Daniels - As an NAMP® staff writer, Tanisha Daniels is a lead instructor for Loan Processor University (www.LoanProcessorTraining.org) as well as has over 10+ years mortgage experience. She has used her baseline experience in loan processing to contribute to progressive and successful roles supporting Retail, Wholesale, and Correspondent clients. She has worked as a frontline and post-closing Underwriter, Account Executive, and Loan Modification Processor. She currently works as a contract Loan Processor for 2 small independent licensed Retail MLO’s. If you're interested in becoming a writer for NAMP®, please email us at: contact@mortgageprocessor.org.
