While the initial ramp-up for the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act is over or nearing its end for many, its continuing education requirements ensure that the need to train to keep up with it never stops.
“It’s really going to be ever-constant,” James Brodsky, senior vice president, human resources at Foundation Financial Group, Atlanta, told this publication. “It never stops and, of course, as we hire that whole process starts from scratch.”
FFG has used a combination of outside and internal training resources, including TrainingPro, to not only keep up with compliance and loan product changes, but to reinforce its corporate culture as it competes in a competitive hiring market for originators.
“With our compliance program any time there’s a change, we implement it way before deadline” though conference calls and other means of employee communication, he said. “Some of these changes come pretty quickly…so we may have to redesign and recommunicate [quickly].”
Helpful to that end is that FFG has made training a strong part of its company culture and generally is in close communication with its employees on a regular basis, Brodsky said.
The program and the company are structured in such a way that they offer a lot of different levels of opportunity designed to match employees’ skills and aspirations, as well as their fiscal realities.
Employees may pursue a “managed self” program if they do not want to take on managerial responsibilities. Alternatively, if they are interested in management, there are two tracks: one is designed for those who want to manage a team of employees while the other is designed for those who want to manage a team of executives.
Brodsky also noted that, while criminal issues that bar industry licenses are non-negotiable as always, the company does have some positions those in the industry with credit issues that can block their ability to get licensed may on a case-by-case basis be eligible for. Those in support positions “don’t sell or negotiate loans” but may be able to assist in other ways that the company has assured will be compliant.
“There [are] a lot of people who just had a rough time out there,” he said. “They can’t sell loans and they can’t ask for certain pieces of information from customers.”
While this may limit their career options, something Brodsky said he is straightforward about, they still may be able to take a position that provides them with some income to help them rectify their credit program as well as some support from financial literacy information the company shares with both its clients and employees through its website.
The company said its emphasis on training coupled with compliance allows it to hire employees with a wide range of experience, something the direct retail lender needs as it seeks to expand beyond its current regional operations base in the Southeast. The company, which uses telemarketing to originate and is currently licensed in 30 states, plans to hire in its operational centers in Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Atlanta and Savannah, Ga. By the first quarter of next year the company plans to open a regional sales center in the Northeast and by the second or third quarter of 2011 it also plans to open one in the Midwest.
Brodsky said the company is looking to hire employees ranging from industry veterans to recent graduates, the latter of which can go through a paid program at “FFG University” to get licensed. It considers its benefits, promotion opportunities and compensation to be attractive.
When asked whether it would be among those companies that will need to restructure their compensation to meet new regulations taking effect next year, Brodsky said he believes that while many companies may have to, the “conservative” nature of his company’s means it may not have to make any adjustments.
But he stresses that as any rule changes arise, the company’s training and employee-focused culture coupled with its compliance expertise will be sure to address them immediately. Brodsky believes these emphases could prove to be a key factor in terms of the success of those originating mortgages going forward.
“Companies with an interest in employees…will be ones that thrive,” he said.
