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The CFPB is now posting real people and their stories of unscrupulous lenders. See the link below for the video feature. 

Fortunately, for the lender, they did not announce who did this, but that can always change. Imagine being the lender behind one of these acts and having to face the wrath of the CFPB. 

Internal complaint resolution and proper management of this issue, is one of the most important tasks you can manage well, to keep your company out of the news and off the CFPB radar screen. 

1. Complaint management should be centralized and data reviewed regularly. This helps your company demonstrate complaint management to a regulator, permits you to review problem areas/people and correct through training, what needs to happen to make it better. The examiners are going to ask for this so you might as well prepare. 

2. Have a formal escalation policy that does not allow a complaint to go unanswered. Train your employees well on your company escalation policy. 

3. Watch your front-end. Presently, this is the area where mortgage companies have the least amount of controls due to the fear of losing top producers, if there are too many controls. Your company may have 99% of its sales force doing the right thing, but it only takes that 1% to cause chaos. 

4. Study your complaint results for trends. What are customers having an issue with? This not only helps you identify gaps in training, it also serves as great customer service. Happy customers send referrals and happy regulators who see you monitoring this leave!! 

5. Make it clear to consumers doing business with your company that they can talk to the office of the CEO. This does not mean the CEO has to field their calls, but this does mean the centralized department handling the complaints resides there and reports to that CEO. If the complaint personnel report to anyone lower than the CEO then it is likely that complaints will not be addressed to the degree needed, due to others protecting their job and the job of their friends. 

It’s unfortunate that a small minority of bad players cause intense regulation, yet until those companies get weeded out and don’t believe they can fly “under the radar”, we will continue to see strong scrutiny on all of us. 

To See the Video CLICK HERE!

Tammy Butler, Master CMB

Author Tammy Butler, Master CMB

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