Interesting, I'd like to learn more about the Cana...

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4558409694297595460.post-11569466271429178792008-05-05T07:19:00.000-04:002008-05-05T07:19:00.000-04:00Interesting, I'd like to learn more about the Cana...Interesting, I'd like to learn more about the Canadian industry ... but back to this topic, I'm pasting my opinion as posted elsewhere, since at this point I only have one opinion =): I love the general ideas presented with the Closing Script, and for the most part am excited about the potential for the consequential improvements specific to the topic of mobile closings. This might prove to be the tool needed that separates those of us who serve as ‘mobile closers’ or independent, ‘courtesy’ closers – and those who serve strictly as notary publics (the ‘point & sign’ camp). I absolutely believe that separation needs to be made, as the differences between the two carries significant impact on the consumer. When The Great Meltdown first started, I was baffled and really refused to believe the loud consumer complaint that they “…didn’t know” [insert some pertinent part of their mortgage loan]. I have since come to realize that for many people, it really was quite believable that they truly did not know the terms they were agreeing to. There is no reliable, clear distinction between the two vastly different services provided (a ‘mobile closer’ and a notary public ‘point & sign’) – a problem for another day’s discussion – but as we know, a considerable amount of mortgage loans are closed using those services. The past several years have seen a massive swelling of the ranks of this industry – no doubt due to the vast marketing efforts of the NNA. It is the NNA that claims to create a ‘signing agent’ out of a notary public in 6-8 hours, arms them with a “No Can Do” book that bolsters the whole paradigm of “I am just a notary, I can only point to the signature line and ask you to sign, please don’t ask me any questions.” It is the NNA that is now stating the Closing Script will present an absolute UPL situation and effectively do away with signing agents. It is my own opinion that the NNA, with their many large industry partners and supporters, has played a significant contributing part to the The Great Meltdown. The vast army of Point & Sign notary publics that marched into the consumer’s homes with mortgage loans did not do so by any choice of the consumer, and it was completely enabling to those in the lending & title industries who were behaving … less than benevolently to the consumers. As the saying goes – a little bit of knowledge can be a very dangerous thing. I believe these Point & Sign people were used by some of the lending industry in ways they are largely not even aware of. They provided some arm’s length, and a convenient fall guy, under the guise of being able to earn a considerable income for very little work – their primary job was to be a notary public, identify people, get ink on paper and keep their mouth shut. That really tilled up the soil and created some fertile ground for easing consumers right over the proverbial barrel, in their own living rooms. I love the Closing Script (needs some data tweaking, perhaps), and I am of the opinion that if a person is NOT fully capable of presenting it – including the GFE/Hud line-by-line comparisons – and if a person is NOT able to provide the consumer with explanations of the terms without practicing law, then they should NOT be providing mortgage courtesy-closing services. I can see the need to have this script read VERBATIM – as that is the only way to eliminate the potential for spin. It standardizes the closing process, and eventually that standardization will become familiar to consumers. That will take years – but the familiarization will further hamper the Spin factor. I know we're both the same ‘type’ of mobile closer, and I can’t disagree that the Script is hokey enough that it makes us feel less polished than we prefer to present ourselves as. But that’s small potatoes compared to the need it fills and the improvements it will bring. Presenting the same information in ‘chart’ form, minus the specific verbiage – well, that’s what the source documents were doing all along, right? The Hud, the GFE, the TIL, the Note … all those documents have always been there, they’ve always provided the data being presented in the Closing Script – the problem was the Spin, and/or the lack of EXPLAINING (oohhh bad word, per the NNA, notary publics are prohibited by law from “explaining”!). I ask this question – who benefits, when the ‘closer’ can’t speak? The way the UPL Monster is talked about, it almost cuts into the Freedom of Speech! I don’t find the line before entering UPL territory to be so difficult to see, but I also do not view it as so all-encompassing of my rights as a trained, experienced and skilled courtesy closer to give consumers the clearly disclosed mortgage closing that is THEIR right, that does not and SHOULD not demand arbitrary legal representation, and I know this – no borrower that I ever closed for is one now saying “…we didn’t know.”Reneenoreply@blogger.com