“Here’s the thing, you’re the professional,” she said. “People trust you. You can’t say, ‘Oh my goodness, I didn’t know,’ but you took the application. You didn’t dig deeper. You didn’t ask the questions. You didn’t look at the W2 to match. You didn’t just say, ‘Oh, there’s 2023 and 2024 W2s.’ You didn’t notice that ‘23 only had $23,000 in income, and ‘24 had $98,000.”
No ‘microwave’ approvals
Once a broker takes a good application, she said, the next area where brokers need to focus is on loan products and guidelines. Blanchard said it is crucial to thoroughly understand the guidelines for the specific loan product you are using.
“What’s missing is people understanding guidelines,” she said. “Whether someone makes $90,000 a year, and part of that $90,000 is a bonus, and you didn’t know that to count that bonus, they have to have been receiving it for two years. Guidelines are very important, and loan products are very important.
“I feel like when people come in, it’s just FHA and conventional. But they don’t give you all the caveats for FHA and conventional. Here’s one: look at your bank statement. People don’t know that if you have more than two NSF, most likely your loan is going to get denied. People don’t realize that.”
Blanchard is concerned that the first place new loan officers go to look for answers is web-based AI search programs. She said that is one of the biggest mistakes new originators can make.