MaxClass is moving beyond the CE classroom with an ambitious plan to help originators survive audits, prepare for AI oversight, and unlock one of the mortgage industry’s most overlooked referral channels: financial advisors.
At Originator Connect, Kelly Hendricks, CEO of MaxClass, a mortgage education subsidiary of American Business Media, sat down with NMP to share practical insights and new programs being offered to support originators at every stage of their careers.
“We're able to really bring real life scenarios into our classes,” Hendricks said. “All of our instructors are, you know, originators by trade. So they see the same things that our students go through every single day.”
To make classes dynamic, all MaxClass instructors are originators by trade and have experience facing the same daily operational issues as their students.
Director of Education and Compliance Jeana Lanktree brings more than 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry, where she has built, scaled, and led high-performing operational teams, establishing one of the largest physician lending groups in the country. She worked her way up from a loan originator to a brokerage owner before successfully selling her own company.
Lanktree said the lessons she provides to students come from the hard-won wisdom of her career. She teaches brokers and LOs about partnerships, overhead management, and the crucial mistakes she made.
“When I'm in those courses, I'm talking to them about things that I wish people had told me when I was in their shoes or if I was about to embark on a brokerage,” Lanktree said. “All of those different things that had been great learning experiences for me, but came with some big costs.”
By blending regulatory requirements with her personal blueprint for building, scaling, and selling a brokerage, Lanktree turns standard compliance training into a masterclass on business survival and growth. That practical approach is also shaping MaxClass’s next phase.
Three months into her new role, Hendricks has already outlined a major strategic evolution for the company. MaxClass built its reputation providing continuing education (CE) at industry shows, but Hendricks sees a larger opportunity to expand into compliance consulting.
“We are a CE company and we love being at different shows and providing continuing education for all the originators in the business,” Hendricks said. “But there is also an opportunity for us to really step out of just the CE space and go into more of a compliance role and help smaller brokers and independent mortgage bankers set up their compliance that will pass the test when they get an audit — whether from a regulator [or] an agency.”
Getting Ready For Audits And AI
MaxClass is actively stepping into the compliance and consulting space with programs tailored for smaller brokers and independent mortgage bankers.
This program provides:
Audit-Ready Setup: Direct support to help smaller firms structure their operations to successfully pass audits from regulators or agencies.
Mandatory Training Content: Turnkey compliance training content that broker-owners can deliver to their teams on time. This helps ensure the company “checks all the boxes,” Hendricks said, and maintains clear compliance records if an audit occurs.
Hendricks also revealed that instructors are preparing to give originators technology and artificial intelligence (AI) guidance in 2027 as regulations evolve. The challenge surrounding AI in mortgage lending is not simply whether a company has an AI policy but whether that policy can be translated into practical controls that align with investor expectations.
For seller-servicers delivering loans to Fannie Mae, Hendricks said evolving guidance may require organizations to interpret broad requirements, document their processes, and train employees accordingly.
“If you’re a seller servicer you have to adhere to Fannie Mae guidelines,” Hendricks said. “Something that’s so vague — how do you interpret this? And that’s where our expertise will come in and we’ll help craft those policies and those trainings so that you can stay where you need to be and be compliant with all the changing regulations. Just like everything in mortgage, everything changes all the time.”
Where Education Meets Lead Generation
Rather than focusing solely on licensing requirements, MaxClass is building out a program with HomeQB that focuses on active business growth by providing leads, new referral connections, and insightful market data reports.
Lanktree said she’s especially excited to unveil the HomeQB program “because it has the ability to create an entire lead source for an LO and I just think it's amazing.”
HomeQB connects loan officers with one of the most underutilized referral sources in the business: financial planners.
The 2023 Loan Originators Survey Report, conducted by MGIC and Loan Officer Hub, shows a stark imbalance in where originators get their business. While almost nine out of 10 loan officers rely heavily on traditional referral channels, financial advisors remain largely ignored.
Top Referral Sources:
- Past clients: 86%
- Real estate agents: 85%
- Friends and family: 58%
- Financial advisors and CPAs: 22%
Furthermore, data from STRATMOR Group reveals that many wealth firms lack specialized, trusted LO partnerships, with 70% of wealth management participants allowing non-dedicated loan officers to originate mortgages for their clients.
Through this development program, loan officers can become CE-certified to teach financial planners. The added option allows originators to deliver educational value directly to financial advisors, establishing themselves as local experts and opening up a steady stream of high-value referrals.
“So for the first time LOs are going into them not asking for something but actually offering something so that that can later on be reciprocated which is fantastic,” Lanktree said.
MaxClass provides LOs with an in-depth course of education so they understand how wealth managers think and are fully equipped to advise on complex client scenarios. This includes handling strategic mortgage plays such as asset splitting during divorces, restructuring assets, moving capital out of accounts, and leveraging debt strategically to keep liquid investments in the market.
“It trains the LO to walk the walk and talk the talk of a financial adviser,” Lanktree said. “You don't have to worry about starting a CE company or anything like that. We do all that for them. They just go out, teach the course, and come back. We have the whole value proposition there.”
HomeQB also provides originators with live market reports and real-time equity tracking to keep them actively engaged with both their clients and their financial advisor partners. This includes:
Automated Generation via Client Loading: When originators upload their clients and their information into the HomeQB system, the platform automatically pulls up live, personalized market reports.
Real-Time Equity Tracking: The reports show clients exactly how much equity they currently hold in their homes.
Refinance and Debt Consolidation Opportunities: The software monitors market conditions to flag when rates are favorable. It helps originators proactively reach out to clients to show them when it might be the right time to refinance, pull out equity, or pay off other high-interest debts.
Co-Branded Value: These reports feature co-branding capabilities. This allows originators to send reports directly to clients while keeping their name and the referring financial advisor's name top of mind.
“And those are really fantastic to send to clients and let them know how much equity they have, if the rates are doing decent,” Lanktree said. “It really has some fantastic tools that let you stay in front of your financial adviser but also clients and it's a huge value proposition. I've been really impressed with it.”
Bottom Line For Originators
MaxClass is expanding beyond continuing education to give loan officers practical tools for compliance, business development, and referral growth. Through its planned compliance services and HomeQB partnership, originators can prepare for changing regulations, build relationships with financial advisors, and use real-time client data to identify refinancing, equity, and debt-consolidation opportunities.
