Mortgage Sentinel, a partnership between Lodestar Software Solutions and RDAssociates, is claiming to be a first of its kind “secret shopper” service for the mortgage industry. The service uses proprietary research techniques, in-depth analyses and hands-on training to improve the interactions between mortgage originators and potential borrowers.
According to Richard Douglass, president of
RDAssociates, “In-person client interactions are by their nature a black box and secret shopping is the perfect tool to help originators hone the way they communicate with borrowers.”
Mortgage Sentinel leverages LodeStar’s network as an experienced mortgage technology provider with RDAssociate’s 20 years of experience in compliance work to create a solution that monitors loan officers’ adherence to internal protocol as well as industry regulations. According to Douglass, the approach “ultimately results in higher performance and profits for the mortgage originator.”
Mortgage Sentinel specialists will work with mortgage lenders in advance of quality assurance or “secret shopper” audits to understand all policies and procedures in place to support compliance efforts. Its compliance team will focus on particular areas of concern and company specific requirements in order to customize the quality assurance process.
From there, the Mortgage Sentinel team will collect data by contacting members of the client’s customer-facing staff as potential borrowers. The subsequent conversations will be captured, with the cumulative data analyzed against the criteria established at the beginning of the project.
According to Jim Paolino, CEO and founder of
LodeStar, “There is so much focus on technology to track leads, clients in the pipeline and past customers automating the lending process. However, this automation does not account for the inherently personal nature of the mortgage process. At the end of the day getting a loan or not often comes down to one conversation between the borrower and lender. We strive to provide insight and improve this very human part of the loan.”
