Meridian Bank has announced that it has enhanced its risk management policies and procedures governing its retail mortgage lending business by requiring independent screening and risk monitoring for all settlement agents having access to a borrower’s loan documents and mortgage proceeds. The process will be managed for Meridian by Secure Settlements Inc. t/a Secure Insight, the first vendor management firm to specialize in closing table risk. The company chose the Closing Guard tool to evaluate the backgrounds, licensing, insurance, and trust accounts of agents as a method to identify potential threats before a closing takes place.
“We are pleased and honored to have been chosen by Meridian for these critical risk management services,” said Secure Insight Chief Operating Officer Wayne Doctor. “In our extensive dealings with their leadership team, we saw first-hand their serious commitment to quality control, consumer protection and overall loan quality assurance. We are proud to be their partner in this important endeavor.”
Closing Guard evaluates, rates, monitors and reports settlement agent risk in real-time through a nationwide database of mortgage closing professionals. The Secure Insight proprietary evaluation process combines automated data analysis with live reviews by trained analysts for the most accurate and informative risk analytics in the industry.
“We recognize our responsibility to protect consumers from harm caused by theft of funds, identity and mortgage fraud, and our company continually seeks to not just meet but to exceed regulatory expectations for quality control and loan quality assurance,” said Thomas Campbell, SVP at Meridian. “We take the management of third-party service providers seriously, both for operational risk but also for investor confidence and consumer protection. We spent quite some time evaluating various providers to help us address settlement agent risk, and were impressed with what Secure Insight has to offer in its Closing Guard product.”
