In the midst of our ongoing Summer Loan campaign at Mabrey, this month’s Know From a Pro highlights the work our Credit Administration department does to ensure efficient and clear communication to customers regarding their loans. While much of the process happens behind the scenes, it doesn’t diminish the importance when it comes to equipping our customers with the appropriate knowledge for the approval and repayment of their loans.
For this piece, we caught up with our own Mary Pittman, the Director of Credit Administration, SVP. Mary is an invaluable asset at Mabrey, starting her career in banking 35 years ago, five of which have been spent at Mabrey.
Let’s jump into what you need to know on Credit Administration.
1) How does the Credit Administration department at Mabrey interact with customers when it comes to processing and servicing loans?
At Mabrey Bank, Credit Administration handles the processing, servicing and documentation of all of the bank’s commercial and consumer loans. Our internal customers consist of the Lenders and Loan Assistants we serve here at the bank, while our external customers are those outside of Mabrey who are approved for and receive loans. We interact directly with both our internal and external customers during the life of a loan, most often through the processing and servicing.
To our internal customers, phone calls and emails are the most likely methods employed by my team as we work alongside with our Lending Line to care for our external customers. My Loan Servicing team is also always available to receive calls from our external customers inquiring about their loan account, to make payments or payoff their loan.
2) What is the relationship between the Credit Admin team and the Lending Line when it comes to executing a loan for an external customer?
My Loan Processing team partners with the Lending Line to create the loan documents for the customer to execute. We take a lot of pride in being timely to meet the closing deadline requested by the customer and to provide complete and accurate documents for the Lending Line.
3) What sort of communication can a customer expect from your team throughout the life of a loan?
Customers receive billing notices according to the terms of the promissory note. I would say that 98% of our loans are on monthly repayment, which means a billing notice is generated 10 days before the payment due date. As a courtesy, if the payment is not made within 10 days of when due, then a late notice is mailed. At 30 days past due, then another late notice is sent that includes the SCRA (Service Members Civil Relief Act) notice to inform our military customers of their rights.
However, Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC) loans require the billing statement be provided 15 days before the payment is due in accordance with Regulation Z, a government-mandated set of rules that helps protects consumers against unlawful lending practices. The late notice requirements remain the same at 10 days and 30 days past due, along with the SCRA notice.
4) Are there any common misconceptions or questions you often get from customers related to loans?
Most often, we receive questions regarding escrow accounts on consumer real estate loans. This is a complicated process that we take great care to educate our customers on the why, when, and how escrow works and the benefits of using an escrow account, which is a monthly contribution to the customer’s account held to pay the annual real estate taxes and hazard insurance.
The customer pays the monthly payment, which includes both the required portion distributed to the escrow account and the interest and principal due on the loan.
5) What differentiates Mabrey’s Credit department when walking alongside a customer through their loan journey?
In today’s modern world, all banks offer the same products. What differentiates one bank from another is the service provided. Our mission at Mabrey includes ‘EXCEEDing’ our customer’s expectations. This is our mission in Credit Administration as well with both our internal and external customers.
We partner with the Lending Line to help them EXCEED customer expectations by providing timely and accurate documents and information along with efficient processes. We ask for feedback and collaborate with our Lending Line partners, along with other departments of the bank, to always improve upon what we do and how we do it.