“But technology has created a crazy breakdown in that process, and so what I’m going to be talking to them about is how do you prepare your borrower for the next steps?” she said. “How do you prepare the person that you’re working with? If you want to be a loan officer who just sells, there’s nothing wrong with that, but you still need to know what you’re looking at. You still need to understand the document.”
Documentation is a huge part of the pass-off process. When Bass was underwriting for Wells Fargo, she said a simple sign on every wall was a daily reminder about how vital documentation was to the mortgage process.
“On every wall, it said, ‘If you didn’t write it, it didn’t happen,’” Bass said. “So what did that mean? You can make a mistake, but if you explained what you did and why you did it, and someone can go behind and say, ‘Okay, so she missed it right there. Okay, got it.’ But if you had no notes, that’s when you got in trouble.
“The communication to me has just broken down so badly because we text, because we use social media and everything else. My dream is that when they walk away, they are going to be empowered in how they deal with their borrowers. They’re going to learn how to empower people, to help them.”
Filling in the gaps
Bass is excited to get to Nashville for AIME Fuse. She has been conducting webinars and coaching people through the organization, and this will be her opportunity to speak to a group in person during a breakout session.