How is your payroll handled? Do we deposit title company checks? What bank will we be required to have an account with?
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As a Branch Partner, 100% of net commissions are paid to your branch account within five days...usually within 48 hours on banked loans. Payroll, is paid to the originator within the same 5 day time period. Your branch expenses are paid from your branch account.
You must not deposit title company checks. Any checks made to Benchmark Mortgage, or Ark-La-Tex, must be turned into the corporate office.
- If the loan is brokered to an investor other than Benchmark Mortgage you should submit the check with the copy package that you turn into Benchmark Mortgage.
- If you collect application fees they should be made payable to Benchmark Mortgage and submitted to the corporate office with all RESPA disclosures so that the file can be registered. You must register all loans within 3 days...even if no fees were collected within 3 days of application date.
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How is the branch bank account handled? Are we responsible for paying branch expenses from that account, i.e. utilities, rent, phone, supplies, courier, credit reports, etc.?
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You can open a bank account with whichever bank you choose but not in the name of Benchmark or Ark-La-Tex Financial Services LLC, Benchmark's parent company. Your branch account is maintained by us, and all operating expenses for your branch will be paid by us in the corporate office against the invoices you send us. As a Reserve Requirement, you must maintain an aggregate of $1,000 plus $500 per loan Originator and 1/2 of the average of the Branch's monthly expenses including payroll on hand in your Branch Account at all times. This reserve requirement is simply a deposit...it's never dipped into or spent. It simply protects Benchmark corporately in the event that a Branch Partner leaves our employ and trailing invoices for appraisals, credit draws, or other expenses are received by Benchmark within 90 days after termination. After 90 days, these deposited monies are returned right to the penny...less any trailing expenses unaccounted for. Incidentally, Benchmark's reserve requirement is reportedly far less than the mandatory 2 or 3 month's expenses required by our major competitors.
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FHA loans - can we broker out FHA loans? What are the maximum yield spread/total points we can earn on FHA loans? Must we have Benchmark process our FHA loans as we have an experienced FHA processor who has processed for five years?
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You cannot broker FHA loans, unless Benchmark does not offer a specific FHA product. In this case you must still submit the loan to our underwriting so that we can QC it before you submit it to another investor. This is a requirement by HUD.
5% is the maximum YSP on FHA loans. You can use you own processor or a contract processor as long as they are approved by corporate. If he/she is in-house we must pay her/his salary from your branch account. Your processor will need to be interviewed before we allow he/she to process FHA loans.
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What are your cutoff times for submitting requests for payments on closed loans?
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We have a 5 business day turn time. This time is calculated from the date that we have received all necessary documents needed to process the file. Brokered copy packages must contain all documentation that was used in closing the loan. Loans that were funded by us will only need to send a funding form and all invoices that are being paid from the proceeds.
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May we have a list of your total fees? What are your fees in addition to your transaction fees? What are your underwriting fees, flood cert fee, funding and/or closing fee, tax service fee, etc.
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Lender Fees ~ these are the minimum fees that must be collected at closing on all Benchmark Mortgage banked loans...i.e., loans Benchmark funds directly, not brokered loans. If you do not collect these they will be deducted against your proceeds.
- Admin ~ $180
- Underwriting ~ $250
- Tax Service ~ $125
- Flood Certification ~ $20
- $200 - Paid to doc prep attorney
Transaction Fees - Benchmark Mortgage pays all Loan Officers 100% commission. In lieu of taking a percentage of what you make we charge transaction fees.
- Banked Loans, Conventional Loans (prime, subprime and jumbo) ~ $375
- Brokered Loans plus Government Loans ~ $500
Administrative Service Fee ~ This is a fee that we collect only on the gross wages that you W-2 for payroll. It is collected to defer the administrative cost of issuing payroll for our branches. It is 13%. It does cover all employer withholding, and we file the 941's from here on your behalf. Note: The 13% Payroll Administrative Fee is ONLY charged on the W-2'd portion of branch account monies taken as income...not against gross commissions which are also utilized to pay legitimate and approved branch expenses.
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Do you underwrite commercial loans?
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You are allowed to broker commercial loans through several approved commercial brokers as listed in our broker portfolio.
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Please provide us with a chain of command or corporate contact list.
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You will find an internal contact list on www.BenchmarkBranchPartners.com.
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Will we be able to call directly to the appropriate contact(s) once we're signed up with Benchmark or will we have to go through the voice mail system?
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Certainly you'll be able to contact any of our Department Heads or Employees at any time! We delight in supporting our valued Branch Partners.
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Describe your background check.
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The background check is a criminal background check and is performed on every employee. We also check your credit report and contact references.
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How are LP, DU, credit report fees handled?
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We assist you in setting up your own LP/DU accounts. You can find these instructions on our website. However, you run DO on www.quikqual.com free of charge.
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Do you provide training to new branches?
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We do provide operations training to our new branches. It is designed to help new branches adapt to our way of doing business in order to operate more efficiently. We even incent our new Branch Partners by paying for their travel expenses to attend our initial training. Benchmark does not train people to be loan officers.
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Do you operate on a central networking system?
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Yes! We have a Discussion Board on our central Website. Our Branch Managers and their Loan Officers access it through www.BenchmarkLogin.com.
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Are loan officer checks physically cut or directly deposited?
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We can direct deposit or issue physical checks for payroll.
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How much experience do you require for loan officers?
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We expect those whom we employ to have an absolute minimum of three years in the industry...and we prefer 5 years experience.
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Does the 13% withheld consist of employer taxes?
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This "Payroll Administrative Fee" common to all Branch Providers, is a fee that we collect only on the gross wages that you W-2 for payroll. It is collected to defray the administrative cost of issuing payroll as well as quarterly and annual tax returns for our branches. It does cover all employer withholding, and we file the 941's from here on your behalf. Note: The 13% is only charged on what is taken from the branch as W-2'd income.
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Can benefits be waived?
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Benchmark refers its Branch Partners to an independent third party health insurance broker for a needs assessment consultation. It is a contract solely between the carrier and the individual subject to the terms of the specific carrier(s) which will include underwriting and all other criteria that the carrier uses. This can include not being available in certain states depending on the carrier’s decision. Also, the 401k offers quarterly enrollment so you will have the ability to sign up every quarter.
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What is your procedure to approve new lenders?
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If there is an investor you'd like to broker to that isn't on our list of 200+, we'll gladly assist you. Our normal procedure is to review broker packages on the 10th of every month and open new relationships accordingly.
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Are there any setup, startup fees; required reserves; net worth requirements?
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Our start up costs are nominal. There is no "application fee" per se. We assess a $100 charge for background checks/credit reports for each and every Branch Manager and Loan Officer (all employees). There is also a nominal $100 annual fee per branch for the utilization of our LOS, "Mortgage Dashboard." Naturally, certain states have Branch and/or Loan Officer licensing requirements which can be an additional cost of operation. We also require each branch to invest $300 for their HUD Title II branch license which allows them to start originating in 7 states immediately without licensure. Lastly, we, like all other branch providers, have a nominal "reserve requirement" which must be deposited at the formation of the branch. The reserve requirement is detailed in the section "How is the Branch Account Handled" on this page.
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Do you have a minimum loan amount? Is there a monthly quota of closed loans?
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First, there are no set minimums at Benchmark although certain programs specify $20,000 - $30,000 - $40,000 depending on the program. Secondly, we require our Branches to originate at least five (5) loans a month. We conduct quarterly "look backs." If a particular Branch doesn't meet this 5-loan commitment month-after-month, we may have to assess a minimum fee...or in the worst case, dismiss the branch. We assess each case individually.
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Does Benchmark underwrite? What is the underwriting turn-time?
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Benchmark Mortgage underwrites it own loans. We attempt to maintain turn times of 24 hours on conventional and governmental purchases...even on refinances although they can occasionally take longer. Our turn times are generally fast but dependant on volume. Our corporate Website notifies our Branch Partners daily with respect to turn times by category. |
