For the past twenty years, three standard mortgage practices have occurred behind the scenes during the mortgage process:

• Verification of Employment (VOE)
• Changing of the "mortgage clause" on your homeowner's insurance (HOI) declaration page
• Credit supplements, such as a Verification of Mortgage (VOM) or supplements to verify credit card or student loan monthly payments

In the past these three procedures have usually occurred without the applicant's knowledge. The lender was just required to send in a copy of the applicant's signed Borrower's Authorization that gave written permission to release information. But privacy policies have tightened on the employer, HOI, and consumer-credit levels, and these standard practices now need the mortgage applicant's verbal approval before they are completed.

If you are alerted by your Human Resources or Payroll Department that Meridian Home Mortgage is requesting a Verification of Employment, please give them permission to provide this information.

Likewise, if your HOI company lets you know they have received a request from Meridian Home Mortgage to change the mortgagee clause (basically just changing the lender name) on your insurance declaration page, please give your permission to make the change.

You may also receive a phone call from our credit vendor, CBC Innovis. This is the credit agency that Meridian uses to pull your initial credit report. Please work with CBC Innovis as quickly as you can to provide any needed information or perform any requested conference calls with your current creditors. This will help to expedite the underwriting process. If you ever feel uncomfortable returning a call to CBC Innovis or providing them with any requested information, please feel free to call your Meridian Home Mortgage contact first to verify their authenticity.

Following these three basic suggestions will help your team at Meridian prepare your loan file for underwriting in a timely manner. Please be sure to call at anytime to discuss further. We look forward to speaking with you soon.