Mortgage Underwriter

Summary

The role of the Mortgage Loan Underwriter is to analyze, assess and decision mortgage loans for ECU Real Estate lending in accordance with ECU lending guidelines, secondary market guidelines, state and federal regulations. The incumbent must stay abreast of internal lending policies, practices, guidelines, lending systems and products, as well as external regulatory and economic environments.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Acts as the subject matter expert in the area of determining credit and collateral risk; provides support and general direction to underwriters within authority prescribed by management
• Supports and assists the Mortgage Manager in ensuring established performance and customer service goals are met by monitoring and facilitating daily workflow of underwriting activities; accountable for meeting established decision time parameters
• Conducts problem resolution for non-routine underwriting issues; reviews exceptions from policy, guidelines and procedures to render appropriate decisions within prescribed limits and communicates the course of action and reasoning behind it, notating file and systems as required
• Approves or denies real estate loans within his/her authority in accordance with FNMA, Private Mortgage Insurance and internal Credit Union guidelines to ensure compliance with ECU and Investor standards and renders decisions on recommended loan approvals that meets his/her underwriting authority levels
• Performs mortgage credit analysis, with or without the assistance of an automated underwriting system, to determine borrower’s willingness and ability to repay the loan to include verifying the member’s ability to repay through analysis of credit, loan ratios, documented income and assets, and collateral; evaluates risk to ensure a prudent decision is made
• Reviews and approves appraisals for property eligibility and ensures the collateral meets program guidelines
• Maintains commanding knowledge of regulatory compliance, trends and methodologies affecting all loan products
• Professionally and clearly communicates the credit decision and underwriting conditions to the Loan Originator, Loan Processor, and Loan Closer, and works with them to resolve issues
• Assists secondary marketing in resolving eligibility issues related to the purchase of loans by a secondary market investor
• Supports Collections and Loss Mitigation efforts with credit and collateral analysis functions
• Supports Real Estate management in development and implementation of underwriting policy and procedures
• Analyzes, assesses, diagnoses and tests for accuracy and efficiency all processes and procedures related to mortgage underwriting activities
• Upholds credit union policies and procedures and champions organizational culture both internally and externally
• Meets all quality metrics as communicated by management
• Sustains proficiency in all investor and company guidelines
• Ensures adherence to policies, guidelines, and procedures as well as compliance regulations (HMDA, TILA, RESPA, HOEPA, FCRA and ECOA) and credit guidelines
• Assists with renegotiation of loans based on credit guidelines
• Analyzes and reviews financial statements, credit reports, and all other applicable documentation in order to render a firm underwriting decision
• Ensures achievement and maintenance of performance standards to keep loans flowing into appropriate loan operations queues
• Provides training and advisement and help aid in performance improvement and development of fellow underwriters
• Assists with the development of the QA/QC program, along with any reviews and rebuttals thereafter.
• Helps in developing, implementing, and monitoring policies and procedures in accordance with credit union goals and strategies. Work with other departments to maintain consistency in credit union policies and procedures.
• Represents and promote the credit union at external functions.
• Resolves uncertainties relating to customer application information through inquires with applicant or creditors.
• Ensures loan agreements are complete and accurate according to ECU policy.
• Assures timely loan closing and funding activities.
• Coordinates with EVP, and/or Senior Vice President of Lending and/or Mortgage Manager on employee/employee family and Board of Director/Board of Director family loan approval.
• Advises Mortgage Manager of external factors that may affect ECU lending policies, such as new or revised legislation and regulations. Recommends appropriate changes and implements approved changes to ECU policies and procedures.

General Duties and Responsibilities

General duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Maintains ongoing communications with Mortgage Manager, informing them of all pertinent problems, irregularities, new developments, changes, and other important information within area of responsibility.
• Cooperates with other department personnel to ensure a "team effort" and prompt member service.
• Reliable attendance is necessary
• Follows safety and security rules and regulations.
• Ensures that all information and transactions regarding credit union operations and members are kept confidential.
• Maintains the security of the work area and keeps it organized and neat in appearance.
• Maintains current knowledge of credit union philosophy, plus all credit union services and policies.
• Develops and maintains a working knowledge of ECU’s electronic data processing system.
• Participates in continuing education as approved by Senior Management and/or the Mortgage Manager.
• Maintains a professional and courteous attitude with all people, including fellow employees, members, management staff, board members, and outside vendors.
• Protects and respects credit union equipment and supplies.
• Attends meetings as required.
• Adheres to Education Credit Union’s Employee Personnel Policy and Handbook Guidelines.
• Performs other duties as assigned by Senior Management and/or the Mortgage Manager.

Knowledge and Experience

• Education/Certification/Experience
  • High school diploma or GED
  • Bachelor’s degree in business or related field preferred
  • NMLS Registration
• Required knowledge
  • Minimum of 5 years of mortgage lending experience and/or training including a minimum of 2 years of mortgage underwriting experience including conventional underwriting; or equivalent combination of education and experience
  • FHA and VA underwriting experience including DE and LAPP designations a plus
• Skills/Abilities
  • Use and understand current business software applications including networking applications, word processing, spreadsheets, anti-virus, and various communications software applications
  • Ability to troubleshoot and repair basic computer problems such as connections, and cables.
  • Read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations
  • Write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals. Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public
  • Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.
  • Compute rate, ratio, and percent and to interpret bar graphs and pie charts
  • apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagram form
  • Deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations