This week Michigan based Celink announced that it has formalized its Borrower Protection Program™ processes on behalf of its clients, their borrowers, and investors.  The program gives Celink’s Borrower Care Associates extensive training in “soft skills” and fraud detection before they take their first phone call from a borrower. 

Apart from the initial training Celink requires ongoing performance reviews and call monitoring, along with random audits, industry-leading SOPs, and sophisticated technology.  “We think of technology as a tool to serve our clients, their borrowers, and investors,” says LaRose. “But technology alone won’t stop the fraud, abuse, and unscrupulous practices targeting seniors. It takes a team of dedicated, committed and highly-trained staff to protect borrowers and to preserve their assets. And by protecting the borrowers, we’re also protecting our clients and the investors.”  

In 2005, the FBI reported $1 billion lost in mortgage fraud. By the end of 2008, that number is expected to top $2.5 billion. Just as Celink publicly declared its long-held company-wide Code of Ethics in advance of the sub-prime market collapse, LaRose hopes other companies will set forth similar borrower and investor safeguards to ward off a potential identical fate for the reverse mortgage industry.