Training offered recently by mortgage insurer Radian has focused on topics ranging from the Uniform Appraisal Dataset and reading tax returns for self-employed borrowers to detecting fraud in loan documents, according to Kelli Brookman, director of national training.
The first two topics have been among those attracting the most interest recently, she said.
The UAD has been timely, and with the tight industry guidelines and manual underwriting for self-employed borrowers, many origination market participants have been working to make sure they understand how that income is calculated and why the income is calculated that way. Radian's training also covers ways to use efficiencies to make the process smoother, Brookman said.
Initial recipients of Radian's training as it rolls out are generally the company's sales reps, but it also provides free professional education for staff at other companies the MI partners with, such as loan officers, processors and underwriters, she said.
Radian's training has focused not only on things like reading tax returns for a self-employed borrower and detecting fraud in loan documents, but also on developing skills in customer service and sales. Brookman said topics in the latter categories include how to talk to customers in their own language and work with different types of personalities.
“One of the things that we emphasize is all of these classes is helping the LO navigate the path for the borrower,” she said.
Training can be offered through “open enrollment” instruction on certain topics the company puts the word out on in advance, letting potential students know when instructors will be in certain areas.
The company's training division disseminates a monthly calendar that also lists webinar times for industry technical and “soft” skill information as well as information about MI products. It avoids scheduling instruction during month-end crunch times and strives to make information conveniently accessible through its website.
Radian will work with lenders to combine the information with those lenders' practices, said Brookman. Trainers are experienced industry professionals who may have been, for example, former underwriters or processors. “We've been in the industry long enough to see the guidelines shift. We've seen the different types of fraud schemes.”
