Why TRID is good for mortgage brokers

When we surveyed our readership originators said they hated it by a factor of two to one. But one industry heavyweight tells us why it’s actually good for business

Nine months later and TRID continues to have the mortgage industry on its toes. Diverse interpretations and unclear guidelines have had many companies going through trial-and-errors to figure out the best processes that work for them following the CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule implemented last year. In fact, according to a recent MPA poll, 53% of respondents think TRID is a bad thing long-term, with only 23% of those surveyed believing that it’s a good thing long-term. Despite the mixed views and uncertainty of whether TRID will benefit the mortgage market as a whole, one company has stood out by embracing the change and working with the system to provide better service to clients.   
 
Mat Ishbia, CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), not only believes that TRID is a great thing for consumers, but he has also positioned his company to succeed in a convoluted market where many have struggled: “I think their intentions were right and I think [the CFPB] put out a really good program and rule,” said Ishbia. “I heard things like, ‘TRID is going to slow people down,’ so when I met with our compliance and technology teams at UWM, I said that our goal was not to limit how much TRID slowed us down but instead, it was to make our processes faster post-TRID than they were pre-TRID.”
 
Facing the challenge head-on, UWM’s in-house teams built technology and compliance processes that have resulted in a continuous boom in business since TRID was implemented. “We have our own LOS that we built, our own broker site and our own technology that we built. I am not waiting on vendors’ interpretation on how they should build things. A lot of our competitors are dependent on vendors and therefore, a vendor does it only one way because they are trying to accommodate all lenders,” said Ishbia. “And we are all in one building. So when change in regulation happens, there is a lot of training, coaching and work that goes into explaining it to our team members to execute it. Being in one building allows us to stay nimble and quickly adapt to changes; a differentiator that is hard for other lenders with multiple locations to replicate.”
 
Having the ability to collaborate and design a custom LOS system to fit its business model has been a proven advantage for UWM. Since Q3 2015 when TRID was first announced, UWM’s business has grown 23%, while business throughout the industry decreased. Fast forward to the present and UWM recently completed its best quarter of all-time in Q2 2016, with a production volume of $5.4 billion.
 
Considering UWM’s success, it is no surprise that Ishbia believes that the real “winners” with TRID are truly the mortgage brokers. “A broker has the benefit of having a hundred options and picking where they close the loans,” he said.
 
“People may think that brokers don’t benefit because they have to learn different ways of closing, when in reality they get to pick and choose which wholesale lenders they work with. It makes a big difference. If you work for a big bank or retail lender, whichever way they handle TRID, you are stuck processing your loans that way. Working in a broker shop gives loan originators the ultimate flexibility, not just with TRID but also with products and other things. Everyone thought it would be bad for brokers and wholesale when it turned out to be a real win for brokers and wholesale and we are enjoying that benefit right now.”