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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 54 December 2024 F E A T U R E S T O R Y automated service ordering based on specific milestones has become much more prevalent. This allows lenders to avoid over-ordering, or mis-ordering, products and ensures that they only pay the right price at the right time. Finding the Right Credit and Verification Provider A s touched upon above, a significant consideration when changing the industry mindset around verifications involves selecting the right provider. Rather than juggling multiple vendors, many lenders are turning to a single provider for all their verification needs. Bundling these services can offer sever- al advantages, including: • Cost Control: By consolidating credit and verification services under one vendor, lenders can better predict possible variables and simplify expenses. In many cases, bundling services can offer better pricing and terms than working with multiple vendors. For instance, purchasing multiple verification products (credit, income, employ- ment) from one provider often leads to lower overall costs due to the vendor's economies of scale. • Simplified Vendor Management: It almost goes without saying that managing fewer vendors can significantly reduce the complexity of the verification process. Instead of juggling multiple relationships, utilizing a single, reliable vendor can create a partner that helps lenders navigate regulatory changes and provides consultative advice on improving operational efficiency. Furthermore, this strategy reduc- es the administrative burden on internal vendor management teams, allowing them to spend more time focusing on other priorities. • Scalability and Security: Another critical consideration when choos- ing a verification provider is scal- ability. The right vendor must be able to scale up or down depending on market conditions and lender goals. For example, during times of increased loan volume, a provider must be able to handle the influx without compromising quality. Ad- ditionally, data security should be a top concern. Lenders need to ensure that their verification provider has robust cybersecurity measures in place to prevent disruptions to day- to-day operations . Reevaluating Workflows: A Focus on Automation and Consumer-Per- missioned Data A utomation plays a pivotal role in today's mortgage verification process. Lenders are increasingly utilizing milestone-based, automatic ordering systems to eliminate ineffi- ciencies. They can utilize these analyses to trigger certain courses of action. For example, employment verifications can be automated so that if one online da- tabase does not have the employment record, the system automatically moves on to the next provider, creating a waterfall effect. This reduces delays and ensures that critical data is available when needed. Another trend is the move toward consumer-permissioned data, partic- ularly for income and employment verification (VOE/I) and bank state- ments. In this case, borrowers provide their consent for verification providers to access payroll or bank account information directly. This can lead to significant time and cost savings, as the process eliminates the need for manual data entry and/or expensive third-party services. However, lenders must carefully decide when and where to use con- sumer-permissioned data, depending on their specific needs and the type of loans they are processing. While this approach can be beneficial for reducing costs, some lenders may still prefer tra- ditional verification methods in certain situations. Lenders must carefully decide when and where to use consumer- permissioned data, depending on their specific needs and the type of loans they are processing. While this approach can be beneficial for reducing costs, some lenders may still prefer traditional verification methods in certain situations."