Being sure of income and employment sustainability are some of the most important factors
For David Greenwood, executive vice president for national credit operations at MERIX Financial, the lender’s responsibility extends far beyond the time the deal is sealed.
“We’re making sure as we underwrite, we’re looking at the sustainability of the income and employment and having those conversations with our broker partners to make sure we’re in the right solution,” Greenwood said in a recent Top Lenders Power Panel by CMP TV.
2022 saw MERIX implement a “major overhaul” of its underwriting policies and procedures, with an emphasis on what Greenwood called “common-sense underwriting”.
“We really focus on our credit centre underwriters and our personal account managers being advice-based and offering solutions, and really working with our broker partners to ensure that we have the solution or are offering an alternative that fits,” Greenwood said.
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With innovation and flexibility serving as the core of this renewed focus, Greenwood said that this approach would ultimately benefit both sides of the transaction equation.
“It’s really assessing cash flow in the right solution for the customer and really making sure that they’re stepping into a home that they can comfortably afford,” Greenwood said. “From a broker perspective, I would say it’s really looking at where your income is coming from and making sure that you have you have a good plan for income diversification – as well as a breadth of lenders that you can rely on as your top go-tos that can provide solutions for your customers.”
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