Vetting Title or Escrow

What does the vendor approval desk do?

• Review your submissions for Vetting, Add Agent and Add Appraiser Requests.

• Add agents to the Encompass Business Contacts for the Title, Escrow, and Appraisers category.

• Answer any questions related to the vetting process.

• Grant one-time exceptions for vetting requests. (Exceptions are taken into consideration one time per company every 6 months.)

What is the vetting process?

The vetting process is the extensive review every company that we work with must go through to ensure that they are properly licensed (if applicable), have proper procedures in place, and do not pose a significant/high risk to our customers or our company. The vetting process is for the (Escrow, Title, Settlement) company that will be used during your loan closing transaction. Not for pre-qualification loans.

The entire process takes approximately 5–10 business days depending on how quickly the company complies with our due diligence requirements.

The vetting process goes through the following:

1. Requestor submits a Vetting Request via the Café.

2. Vendor Desk receives submission and sends the Vendor our vetting requirements.

3. Company submits due diligence or registers with Secure Insight.

4. Vendor Desk reviews the Vendor’s submission or S.I. registration.

5. Vendor Desk adds the Vendor’s name to the Approved Vendor List and adds the vetted location to the Encompass Business Contacts.

6. Requestor is notified by the Vendor Approval Desk that the Vendor’s location has been approved.

To submit a vetting request:

1. Sign into the Café.

2. Click on Title/Escrow/Settlement Vetting Request Form.

3. Complete the vetting request form.

   1. Provide your information, so that the Vendor Approval Desk may keep you updated.

   2. Provide the information for the company that you need vetted and indicate what service they will be providing.

   3. Provide the information of the Title/Escrow/Closing Agent that you would like added to Encompass.

   4. Provide the loan number, loan officer, borrower name, estimated closing date and property address.

   5. Provide any additional information that you would like the Vendor Approval Desk to know.

   6. Provide the wire instructions for the loan if the submitted company will be the one receiving funds.

There are several emails following a vetting request:

1. 1st email to the Vendor.

   1. Secure Insight Registration Email –sent to primary contact if the closing date is at least 2 weeks away.

   2. Internal Vetting Requirements Email –sent to the primary contact if the closing date is less than 2 weeks away or if they do not wish to register with Secure Insight.

2. If no response is provided by the company within 24 hours, we will follow up via email.

   1. The Requestor will be Cc’d on all emails and kept updated on the vetting status.

   2. We ask that the Requestor reach out to the company if the point of contact remains non-responsive.

3. Approval email.

   1. The Company has completed their registration with S.I. and the Vendor Desk has verified they have Low Risk rating.

   2. The Company has submitted all due diligence for our internal vetting requirements and the Vendor Desk has verified their submission is complete.

If a vendor does not provide all required due diligence within 24–48 hours, the Vendor Approval Desk will send a follow-up email to the primary contact. If the vendor remains unresponsive, the Vendor Approval Desk will notify the Requestor and ask that they reach out to the vendor to help move the process along. As a last resort, the Vendor Approval Desk may have to grant a one-time exception.

Possible reasons for a one-time exception are:

• The Vetting Request has been submitted and the closing date is in less than 5 business days.

• The Vendor has not completed their registration with S.I. or their registration is not ready for review, and the closing date is less than 5 business days away.

• The Vendor has not provided all of the required due diligence in accordance with our internal vetting process, and the closing date is less than 5 business days away.