The mortgage finance industry has grappled with serious compliance regulations in the last year, and that isn’t likely to change in 2016. The CFPB has indicated it will be looking more closely at the compliance of third parties, and regulation is also filtering down into the mid-sized and regional lending and servicing institutions. All of this oversight will continue to drive the need for due diligence and compliant vendors.
But what has proven to be a challenging implementation period for many in the industry has been welcomed by Nationwide Title Clearing, the largest lien release provider in the country.
“NTC has actually flourished under the recent mortgage industry regulator scrutiny,” said CEO John Hillman. “NTC is poised to continue to assist lenders and servicers become, remain or increase compliance due to its unique, comprehensive experience with this topic across a diverse client base who are utilizing the wide-ranging list of services NTC provides.”
The company’s broad service offerings range from recording and title clearing services for loan originators to post-closing audits, mortgage assignment, pre-sale audits and payoff services — covering the entire lifecycle of a loan.
NTC was founded in 1991 in California and moved its headquarters to Palm Harbor, Florida in 2002. It has seen a stunning 350% growth in the last four years and has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. for each of those years. NTC now employs more than 450 people and can track and fulfill county document requirements in all 3600+ recording jurisdictions nationwide.
“We are a privately owned company that has organically grown into a fairly large company because the core values of the original founders have remained intact,” Hillman said.
“While most large corporations are blindly driven by profit, we believe that profit is the reward rather than the goal. Our executives are fixated with establishing processes that are as close to perfect as possible.”
NTC accomplishes that near-perfection through a lot of employee training, with an entire 30-person quality unit whose purpose is to help each employee become successful in their position and to nurture their career growth with the company.
“Our objective is to provide the highest standards in research and document production,” Hillman said. “We accomplish this through a lot of employee training, through effective QA processes and a lot of trial and error.”
Through that discovery process, NTC develops new policies and procedures to replicate its quality and success.
“We believe continuing this practice by remaining steadfast and loyal to our founders’ original values will keep us growing well into the future,” Hillman said.
Especially when that future is so entwined with compliance.
“Our expansion is due in large part to an industry shift toward more compliant processes and away from shortcuts. Our clients wholly trust us because we have been pioneers in the face of the housing crisis and have remained their trusted source for keeping them compliant,” Hillman said.
In 2016, NTC will be celebrating 25 years in business, and plans to continue to focus on expanding its software solutions and perfecting its research and document services.
“We are evolving our services with a more sophisticated web experience than what’s out there, one that delivers on quality results — not just automation — because our focus has always been and will always be quality,” Hillman said.
“NTC is dedicated to being at the forefront of a more compliant industry and to protecting U.S. homeowners while preserving the U.S. land records; this is not just a mission statement that is truly what we do here.”