Pre-Closing Risk Auditor

Position Overview:

The Pre-Closing Risk Auditor serves as the Company's final quality control checkpoint, conducting comprehensive pre-funding reviews of residential mortgage loan files to identify risks and ensure compliance with underwriting, regulatory, investor, and internal quality standards. This role helps reduce repurchase risk, minimize defects, and support a high-quality loan origination process.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities include:

Loan Quality Review

• Perform comprehensive Pre-Closing quality reviews of residential mortgage loan files selected for audit.
• Validate completeness, accuracy, consistency, and quality of all loan documentation.
• Confirm all underwriting conditions have been satisfied prior to funding.
• Review loan documentation for internal consistency across the application, underwriting, disclosures, closing package, and supporting documentation.
• Verify loan data entered into the loan origination system accurately reflects supporting documentation.

Compliance Review

Review files for compliance with:

• Federal mortgage regulations
• State lending laws
• Investor guidelines
• Company policies and procedures
• Agency and Non-QM requirements
• Fair lending requirements
• Disclosure accuracy
• Licensing requirements
• Anti-fraud controls

Identify and escalate compliance concerns that could delay funding or create regulatory risk.

Credit and Documentation Review

Evaluate the accuracy and completeness of:

• Income documentation
• Asset documentation
• Credit documentation
• Employment verification
• Occupancy documentation
• Property documentation
• Insurance
• Flood certifications
• Entity documentation
• Title documentation
• Closing documents
• Collateral documentation

Investor Salability Review

Identify defects that could affect investor purchase eligibility, including:

• Documentation deficiencies
• Missing conditions
• Closing inaccuracies
• Product eligibility concerns
• Investor overlay violations
• Data inconsistencies
• Legal documentation issues

Ensure loans meet internal and investor purchase standards prior to funding.

Risk Identification

Identify and document risks including:

• Compliance deficiencies
• Documentation defects
• Fraud indicators
• Data integrity concerns
• Operational errors
• Closing discrepancies
• Collateral concerns
• Credit inconsistencies
• Investor eligibility issues

Escalate material findings to management as appropriate.

Issue Resolution

• Clearly communicate findings to Underwriting, Closing, Operations, Compliance, and other business partners.
• Verify identified deficiencies have been corrected before funding when required.
• Collaborate with internal departments to resolve issues efficiently while maintaining audit independence.

Reporting and Continuous Improvement

• Maintain complete audit documentation.
• Track defects and recurring findings.
• Perform root cause analysis on quality trends.
• Assist leadership in identifying training opportunities.
• Recommend process improvements that reduce defects and improve loan quality.
• Participate in departmental quality initiatives.

Minimum Qualifications (Skills, Knowledge & Abilities):

• Strong understanding of residential mortgage lending.
• Comprehensive knowledge of underwriting and closing documentation.
• Knowledge of Agency, Government, Jumbo, Non-QM, DSCR, and Business Purpose loan products.
• Understanding of TRID, ECOA, RESPA, TILA, HMDA, Fair Lending, and other applicable mortgage regulations.
• Ability to interpret investor guidelines.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Exceptional attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Ability to make objective, risk-based decisions.
• Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Ability to prioritize multiple deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across departments.

Experience and Education:

Required:

• Minimum five years of recent residential mortgage experience.
• Experience in one or more of the following: 
  • Underwriting
  • Quality Control
  • Pre-Closing Quality Assurance
  • Compliance
  • Closing
  • Investor Due Diligence
  • Post-Closing Quality Control

Preferred:

• Experience reviewing Non-QM and DSCR loan products.
• Experience with delegated and non-delegated lending.
• Experience reviewing business purpose loans.
• Experience working with investor overlays.
• Experience using Encompass or similar loan origination systems.

Performance Expectations

Performance may be evaluated based on:

• Audit quality and accuracy
• Timely completion of assigned audits
• Identification of material defects prior to funding
• Reduction of post-closing findings
• Investor salability performance
• Quality of audit documentation
• Trend reporting and root cause analysis
• Collaboration with business partners
• Contribution to process improvements

Independence

The Pre-Closing Risk Auditor functions independently from loan production and is expected to exercise objective, unbiased judgment. The auditor is responsible for identifying material risks regardless of funding timelines or production goals and must maintain the integrity of the Company's quality control process.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk or hear; taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment

This position operates in a professional office or remote environment requiring regular interaction with internal departments and the use of standard office technology and mortgage software systems.

Remote or hybrid work arrangements may be available based on business needs.

Job Classification:

• Non-Exempt
• Hourly

Benefits:

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• Matching 401(k)
• Paid Time Off
• Paid Holidays

Why American Heritage Lending:

• We are a high-growth Company that doubled our staff in 2023
• Competitive Salary
• Wide Product Options - Bridge, Fix and Flip, FHA, VA, Conventional, Non-QM, DCSR, Hard Money Loans and more
• We are not impacted by the volatility of the interest rate

This Company describes its culture as:
Family-Accountability-Integrity-Teamwork-Have fun along the way
Start your career today with American Heritage Lending!