NTC revealed some of its secrets on maintaining an unprecedented 99.98% Compliance Rate.
Housingwire asked CEO John Hillman several questions on NTC's outstanding 99.98 % Compliance Rate and what it takes to stay ahead of ever increasing regulatory standards.
Below is John Hillman's full transcript of his answers to Housingwire Magazine. If you'd like to see the Housingwire article, click here.
How has your company achieved compliancy so well? 1. By instilling a relentless fixation on training and quality, built into our entire company culture, and 2. Implementing standards within policy and procedures that cover the quality necessary to achieve and meet that standard. Compliance is something we’re very passionate about here at NTC. Since our inception in 1991 we’ve always been compliance and quality focused, but now more than ever the industry as a whole demands compliance and we deliver the highest standards in the business maintaining a 99.98% compliance rate across all services we offer.
What were some of your methods? We established standards for all of our processes, even when those standards were lacking or missing within the industry, and incorporated that into all of our training. One the key drivers to managing and achieving compliance is extensive and continual training. We offer our staff some of the most comprehensive training available anywhere. We have developed over 150 different training courses, seminars and apprenticeships to not only ensure our employees understanding of the work they do, but to exceed the rigorous standards of our industry. Our training systems were built to the same stringent requirements that we use to develop any of the offerings we bring to the market. The results of our relentless fixation on training is that we regularly meet and exceed regulatory compliance requirements and standards on behalf of our clients.
As of this week, our methodology of training has been exported into a training program for a major client and the feedback has been incredibly positive.
We are also dedicated to the quality of the products we produce and we strive for perfection. In May, our rejection rate reduced to an all-time low of .77%, a new milestone.
Has this been a work in progress or were you ready from the beginning? Compliance has always been a factor in our industry but you have to be willing to consistently raise the bar. Our Quality Division is tasked with constantly reviewing changes to laws and regulations and developing appropriate training programs and quality metrics that will take us to the next level. We currently have 30 full-time employees dedicated to the advancement, cross-training and ongoing training for all team members. In essence, they are particularly focused on the career success of all team members which in turn means excellence in the final products they produce. In addition, the Quality Division ensures the final products are accurate and exceed client expectations.
What has been the hardest thing to overcome in terms of compliancy? How our many clients interpret compliance standards in different ways and varying degrees.
How did you overcome it? By setting our standards to the strictest of those requested so that NTC could meet the compliance expectations of all clients while still maintaining one standard wherever possible. In this fashion, we don’t then get side tracked on client-enforced standards, but rather take the best or strictest and create them into a standard applied to all other clients.
What advice would you give to other lenders that are still struggling with staying compliant? Never be afraid to strive for perfection. Set a goal and work towards achieving it. Last year we were able to achieve an increase from 99.8% to 99.98% compliance rate, with a 25% increase in volume.
Read the full HousingWire article here.
