Are your loan officers social media compliant?
Today we'd like to share some thoughts on loan officers and social media compliance ... welcome to the future!
"Three consistent threads run throughout the history of U.S.
mortgage finance over the past century; a high degree of risk, heavy
involvement by the government in determining how the system
operates, and - not unrelated to the first two - periodic and spectacular failures." One of which was the 2008 collapse and the reason for much of the regulatory issues that we discuss in this newsletter. That's a quote from "The Mortgage Wars" by Timothy Howard (former CFO of Fannie Mae).
Now, back to business ...
Having a strong online presence is one of the best ways for your Loan Officers to be seen in the industry. After all, one of the first steps people take for tasks as mundane as a new recipe for dinner or as life changing as purchasing a home is an online search (Boy: Is there anywhere around here you'd like to eat? Girl: I don't know, google it!). Encouraging loan officers to be professionally active on social media is a great way to gain exposure, generate referrals, and get leads.
But online activity is not a free zone when it comes to compliance and regulation.
Loan Officers are required to disclose certain information on their professional pages. Of course, there is no clear cut regulation dictating what needs to be listed. However, making sure the following items are listed is a good way to keep the regulators happy and your LO's compliant:
Loan Officer's Name, LO NMLS #
Company Name, Company NMLS #
Company Address
LO's Professional Phone Number and extension (if applicable)
LO's email
I am a licensed MLO in the following state(s): X, Y, Z
Equal Housing Lender
www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org
This information does not need to be included in every post - it only needs to be listed once on the main profile.
For example, on Facebook it could be found in the "about" section. On LinkedIn, it could be placed in the summary.
For profiles that limit the number of characters, such as Twitter,
having the information "one click away" should keep you out of trouble. This "click" should lead to a website page or profile where the Loan Officer's information is clearly visible.
On websites like Facebook and Twitter, it is possible to have a professional profile and a personal profile. Loan Officers do not need to list their information on their personal profiles UNLESS they post or tweet about work. This does not apply to general complaints or observations about their workday. It does apply to posts that suggest an invitation to do business, such as asking for referrals, information about loan types available, the beginning of the 'buying season', etc.
We think a safe rule is if you list your employer on your Facebook (or other profile) you should include the above information - better to over share than get cited for failure to disclose.
If you do not have a written social media policy, it's something your regulator may expect to see next time they visit.
Make sure your policy is clear, so your employees know what is expected of them. If you do have a social media policy, we recommend adding the above items to the policy.
Reviewing your Loan Officers' social media pages twice a year is a good way to make sure everyone is compliant. You should search for them on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and a 3 page deep google search to make sure any other social media profiles are compliant. Be sure to save your findings and follow up communications with the Loan Officers in case they are ever requested by an external auditor.
Other news/thoughts/trivia:
Confirming the obvious (that New England mortgage lenders are fighting for market share in non-agency jumbos - one area where we're actually seeing strong performance), Inside Mortgage Finance reports reports that jumbo origination's as a percentage of overall production is at its highest in years.
Of course, lenders worry that chasing jumbos will lead to fair lending trouble. For example, this New York State mortgage lender in trouble for allegedly "red-lining" (intentionally avoiding geographic areas with higher percentages of members of a protected class) - and hit with a headline that alleges they refused service to African Americans.
If you read the article above about the fair lending violations, you know that the mortgage lender is planning to fight back against these allegations - insisting it is innocent. How do you think that will go?... A man in Washington last week tried to run from police, but unfortunately for him, he ran into something worse: Noticing that the man was going to get away, a grandmother of 3 (and mother of 5) had her husband speed up the car ... close enough for her to jump out and block his path. When the man tried to "stiff arm" her, she wrapped him up and through him on the ground. Then "playfully taunted" him ... asking how it felt to get taken down by a grandmother. Yikes. He was taken into custody, where he later died of embarrassment.
The kids are back at school. Do you feel sad for them, or glad they're back? Of course, across New England, the heat and humidity has jumped up to test school A/C systems and regrettably make the return to school a little less comfortable. If you have kids in school, we hope they're happy about it, and that they have a successful year.
"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self."
- Ernest Hemingway
Thanks so much for reading our weekly newsletters. We're not always going to be perfect, but because we always do our best and try not to overpromise, we hope that we're always going to be trustworthy. Your calls and e-mails are very helpful - please keep contributing.
**These are our opinions. We're not authorized, or willing, to express those of others.**