Your president,

This new half-day seminar from the Iowa Mortgage Association will provide you with the updates you need for FHA. New FHA regulations in the bill, "Expanding American Homeownership Act of 2007" are expected to pass soon. This bill will modernize the FHA mortgage insurance program. This update will review the new regulations including :
-- increase the FHA loan limits nationwide and in high cost areas
-- elimination of the three percent down payment requirement on FHA loans for first time homebuyers
-- extension of the loan term to 40 years
-- allowing risk-based pricing
-- elimination the cap on the number of reverse mortgages
-- streamlining usage of the FHA condominium loan program
Learn how these regulations will affect you as lenders.

In addition, this seminar will also cover many advanced FHA questions you have including marketing the program, FHA requirements, FHA secure, risk-based pricing and more. This is your opportunity to have your FHA questions answered!

Seminar Topics:
-Where is the business now and where is it going in 2008
-What is holding many lenders back
-Making a commitment to CHANGE
-Targeting the right sources of business in today's market
-Selecting sales and marketing activities that work
-Building a contact plan for approaching new business
-Learning the dos and don'ts for what works and what doesn't
-Mastering your questioning skills to uncover more opportunities
-Executing 10 daily disciplines for success
-Tracking your progress and success day by day

About the Speaker:
One of the most popular speakers and sales trainers in the country, Doug Smith is the founder of Douglas Smith & Associates, a training and performance consulting firm specializing in the mortgage and financial services industry. As a 24-year industry veteran, he has built a successful career in loan origination, sales training, management development, marketing, personal coaching and corporate sales. Doug has worked in four major banks and mortgage companies over the past 24 years and has consulted with dozens more.

Delivering more than 120 events a year, Doug is a featured speaker at various events on a local, state and national level including the MBA and the NAMB national conventions. As a well-respected writer, Doug's columns have been seen published in Mortgage Originator, The Mortgage Record and Mortgage Broker magazines as well as publishing his own monthly newsletter Power Selling.

Registration:
IMA Members $165.00
Nonmembers $240.00

Section 114 of the FACT Act requires each covered financial institution or creditor to develop and implement a written Identity Theft Prevention Program to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft for certain new and existing accounts. It is important to note that Agencies did not restrict these rules to just consumer accounts. The Agencies acknowledge that identity theft is primarily directed toward consumers, but small businesses also have been targets. Therefore, the rules cover consumer accounts and those business accounts that the financial institution or creditor has determined to be at risk.

Before discussing the requirements of the rules, two key terms need to be defined:
-- ACCOUNT is defined as a continuing relationship established by a person with a financial institution or creditor to obtain a product or service for personal, family, or household purposes or business purposes. Accounts include extensions of credit and deposit accounts.
-- COVERED ACCOUNT is defined as: (1) an account that a financial institution or creditor offers or maintains primarily for personal, family, or household purposes that involves or is designed to permit multiple payments or transactions such as a credit card account, mortgage loan, automobile loan, margin account, cell phone account, utility account, checking account, or savings account; and (2) any other account that the financial institution or creditor offers or maintains for which there is a reasonably foreseeable risk to customers or to the safety and soundness of the financial institution or creditor from identity theft, including financial, operational, compliance, reputation, or litigation risks.

To determine if you are a covered financial institution or creditor, a review of the various accounts offered and maintained must be conducted “periodically” to determine whether they are considered covered accounts. (Note that “periodically” is not defined.) For banks, this determination appears easy. However, the difficulty lies in the remainder of the requirement which ties back to part two of the covered account definition; a financial institution or creditor must conduct a risk assessment of its non-consumer accounts.

Once it has been determined that one or more covered accounts are offered or maintained, a written Identity Theft Prevention Program must be developed and implemented. The risk-based Program must be designed to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft in covered accounts (new and existing) and must be appropriate to the size and complexity of the financial institution and the nature and scope of its activities.

The Program must include reasonable policies and procedures to address each of the following elements: (1) Identify relevant Red Flags for identity theft for covered accounts and incorporate those Red Flags into the Program; (2) Detect Red Flags that have been incorporated into the Program; (3) Respond appropriately to any Red Flags that are detected to prevent and mitigate identity theft; and (4) Ensure the Program is updated periodically to reflect changes in risks to customers or to the safety and soundness of the financial institution or creditor from identity theft.

The rules also set specific requirements for the continued administration of the Program, which include (1) obtaining approval of the initial written Program by the board of directors or an appropriate committee of the board; (2) providing oversight, development, implementation, and administration of the Program; (3) providing staff training; and (4) overseeing service provider arrangements.

Detailed guidance and examples that must be considered when developing a Program are included in Appendix J and its Supplement. The preamble to the Supplement clarifies that a covered financial institution or creditor will not have to justify why a specific Red Flag was not included in its Program; rather, it will be accountable for the overall effectiveness of its risk-based Program.

The final rules also include provisions for address changes received by a credit or debit card issuer and address discrepancies for users of consumer credit reports. Let’s take a brief look at these requirements.

The FACT Act requires issuers of credit, debit, or certain other cards to assess the validity of a change of address notification for a consumer account when a request for an additional or replacement card is received within a short period of time (at least 30 days) after the address change request. The Agencies acknowledge in the cardholder definition in the preamble that FCRA defines a consumer as an individual. The discussion continues by explaining that identity theft can affect an individual who uses the card for business purposes, which in turn may affect that individual’s consumer credit standing. Therefore, the Agencies extended the provisions of this section to consumers who hold a card for personal, household, family, or business purposes.

The rules also cover cards associated with payroll card accounts and home equity lines of credit. Gift cards and other prepaid card products are excluded, as long as these cards remain excluded from Regulation E.

A card issuer has two options to assess the validity of the address change request before issuing an additional or replacement card. The first option is to notify the cardholder of the address change request at his or her former address or by another means of communication previously agreed to by the issuer and the cardholder and to provide the cardholder with a reasonable means to promptly report an incorrect address change. The notice (written or electronic) must be clear and conspicuous and provided in a separate mailing.

If the card issuer does not wish to notify the cardholder, a second option is provided. This option requires the card issuer to assess the validity of the request in accordance with its Identity Theft Prevention Program. So any financial institution that uses this option must determine another way to verify the validity of the request and incorporate appropriate procedures into its Identity Theft Prevention Program.

The rules also provide the card issuer with the option to validate all address change requests, rather than waiting for a request for an additional or replacement card.

Additional provisions for users of consumer reports are also included in the final rule. Users are required to develop and implement reasonable policies and procedures to handle address discrepancy notices received from a national consumer reporting agency (CRA). An address discrepancy “notice” is provided by a CRA to the user when the address in the user’s consumer report request “substantially” differs from the address in the report. This “notice” will most likely not be a formal notice; rather, it may appear as a code on the consumer report. Thus, the financial institution must be prepared to recognize such a code or some other format as an address discrepancy.

Reasonable policies and procedures must enable the user to:
-- Form a reasonable belief that the consumer report received is for the consumer for whom the report was requested, and
-- Furnish the correct address to the CRA if the financial institution (1) establishes a continuing relationship with the consumer and (2) regularly furnishes information to the CRA.

The second requirement above only applies to new relationships that are established since users are already required to correct and update information for existing customers when furnishing information to a CRA. For the new relationships, the confirmed address must be part of the information that the user regularly furnishes to the CRA for the reporting period in which the new relationship was established.

Beware that there is some excellent information in the preamble that was not included in the final rules. One such bit of information is the Agencies’ expectation regarding the use of consumer reports and reasonable belief. Specifically, the preamble states that the Agencies expect that a financial institution will not use a consumer report if it doesn’t have a reasonable belief that the report relate

Prime Times: What is your current position?
Response: Mortgage Development Manager

Prime Times: How did you get started in the mortgage business?
Response: My mother had been in the business for over 20 years so you could say I grew up in the industry. My official career began as a Teller for Wells Fargo Bank. I knew shortly into that position that I either needed to be in investments or mortgage in order to make the kind of money that I was looking for. I soon left Wells Fargo for another bank where I was told that I would need a 4 year finance degree in order to be in any mortgage company. Six months later I left there for my first mortgage originator job and never have finished that degree.

Prime Times: Were you an immediate success?
Response: I wouldn't say immediate. I had some of the best mentors in my market coaching me along. There were a few missed closings in the beginning, but I soon realized the importance of learning from my mistakes.

Prime Times: When did you begin to realize that you were successful?
Response: Every closed loan is a success for me, so I would have to say the first loan closing.

Prime Times: What mistakes do you think new loan originators typically make?
Response: Often times we get so caught up in the business of today that we loose focus on getting business for tomorrow. Follow though on Marketing and Customer Service is the one thing I encourage new originators to be strong in.

Prime Times: How about the veteran loan originators? What mistakes do they make?
Response: Overwhelming the borrowers with information is the worst thing you can do. The home buying experience is stressful enough, there's no need to overwhelm them with all the doom and gloom that could happen. Focus on what's important for their transaction and prepare them for the worst only when it's necessary.

Prime Times: What differentiates you and your company from other originators and companies?
Response: We try really hard at focusing on "Member Service" and making it an easy stress free transaction for them. I pride myself in hearing from my customers "this is too easy."

Prime Times: What is your most successful sales tool?
Response: Following up on unique sales opportunities. Whenever I can, I remind people that I do home loans for a living.

Prime Times: Who or what was the biggest contributor to your success?
Response: Hands Down- Diane and Larry Potter. These two individuals have coached and mentored me the whole way through. I cannot thank them enough for their calm, rational responses to my never ending questions and situations.

Prime Times: What is your current mix of business and business sources?
Response: Most of my business comes from referrals from both current/ past customers and outside business partners.

Prime Times: If you could change one thing about the mortgage business, what would that be?
Response: That we could better manage the media coverage according to the realities of our local markets.

Prime Times: What other goals in your career would you like to accomplish?
Response: Becoming the top producing mortgage loan officer in my market means nothing to me if I do not have the respect of my peers. While I want to be known as the best, I also want to be known for my kindness in helping others compete.

Prime Times: What words of wisdom would you offer other mortgage originators?
Response: Treat every transaction as if it was your last on earth. Make this client feel as if they are the only one you have.

Prime Times: Any final thoughts?
Response: My motto everyday: Keep Smiling!