Speaking Engagements

In March 2021, Jim Treacy taught TRID and ATR/QM for the Wisconsin Bankers Association’s Real Estate Compliance School.

In March 2021 Heidi Wier presented a Compliance Bootcamp for the Wisconsin Mortgage Bankers Association.

In March 2021, Heidi Wier taught HMDA for the Wisconsin Bankers Association’s (WBA) Real Estate Compliance School. Heidi has been a long-standing teacher for the WBA.

On January 20, 2021 Heidi Wier presented a webinar for the Chicagoland Compliance Association (CCA) – HMDA: Submit with Confidence, Keys to Successful Data Integrity. Heidi discussed strategies for validating HMDA data prior to submission and ways to keep your HMDA data accurate going forward. The agenda included the following topics: verifying your data, performing final reviews, understanding key data fields, regulatory expectations, building a process with sustainable integrity, data integrity testing, and understanding outliers, red flags analyses, and performance analyses.

On January 12, 2021 at the California Mortgage Bankers Association’s Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance Conference, Monika McCarthy moderated a General Counsel Roundtable. The other general counsel panelists included Ann Savage-Davis, Mountain West Financial, Inc., Lauren Ingersoll, Inspire Home Loans, Inc., Marc Ely, Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, Inc. and Philip Schild, Homebridge Financial Services, Inc. This year’s event included remarks from some of the top policy makers, including Manual P. Alvarez, Commissioner, California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation; Brian P. Brooks, Acting Comptroller of the Currency, and Kyle Thomas, VP, State Examination Systems (SES), Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS).

At the MBA’s 2020 Regulatory Compliance Conference, Monika McCarthy co-presented with Laura LaRaia, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation. Their presentation, Reviewing Processes for Compliance Professionals, was part of the CMCP Track and provided guidance on advertising and marketing compliance.

At the Utah Bankers Virtual Compliance Conference, Liza Warner moderated the Compliance Officers Roundtable. The panel discussed hot topics that compliance officers are facing. Overall the conference offered a mixture of general and breakout sessions designed to help compliance professionals stay current with and function confidently in the rapidly changing regulatory environment.

Tracey Levandoski presented at the Utah Bankers Compliance virtual conference at one of the breakout sessions on Tuesday October 27, 2020. Tracey’s topic was Developing a Fintech Compliance Roadmap. Her presentation focused on the factors bank management should consider in selecting a fintech lending partner, and then after making the selection, how the bank can help their fintech strategic partners develop a compliance roadmap and compliance infrastructure that meets the regulators’ requirements as well as the bank’s expectations under its third-party risk management program.

On September 22nd, 2020 Todd Krell participated on a quality control panel for ACUMA’s Annual Conference. The theme, “Celebrating Credit Union Mortgage Heroes”, was dedicated to all the front-line financial workers who play a vital role in making it possible to put people in homes every day, especially during the pandemic. Panelists included Todd Krell, Managing Director at Cross Check Compliance, Duane Gilkison, Director of Credit Risk at Fannie Mae, and Michael Christians, attorney and VP of Risk Management at myCU Mortgage in Dayton OH, a mortgage CUSO serving credit unions across the nation. The panel was moderated by Russell Francom, the Mortgage Compliance and QC Manager at Mountain America Credit Union in Salt Lake City, UT.

A part of the ABA’s Risk and Compliance Virtual Conference, July 28-30, 2020 Karen Cullen participated in an on-demand webinar regarding how servicers can manage the risk of fair lending and UDAAP concerns as they navigate through the COVID-19 national emergency and its aftermath – Fair Servicing During the COVID-19 Emergency and Beyond. Karen was joined by Greg Schwager, Senior Counsel, PNC Bank. The panel was moderated by Kitty Ryan, Vice President, Senior Counsel, Fair and Responsible Banking, Regulatory Compliance and Policy, American Bankers Association.  You can also read about fair servicing in an article Karen co-authored for ABA Bank Compliance.

On July 17, 2020 Tracey Levandoski and Jim Treacy presented a webinar for the Northern California Compliance Association (NICA) about TRID, including TRID challenges, common regulatory findings and recent TRID updates.

On July 15, 2020 Todd Krell was a Special Guest in a subprime auto market webinar offered by the Davis & Gilbert Insolvency, Creditors’ Rights & Financial Products practice group. The focus of this webinar was on how subprime RMBS serves as a roadmap for future subprime auto ABS litigation. Davis & Gilbert speakers included Joseph Cioffi, Chair of the practice, and Seiji Newman, Partner.

On June 3rd, 2020 Debbi Roberts participated on a panel discussing initial considerations for the small dollar lending businesses as consumers re-enter the world. The issues discussed include qualifying consumers who were recently unemployed or underemployed, addressing forthcoming consumer bankruptcies and having policies and procedures in place for the future. The other panelists included Jeremy Pope of Pope/Partners LLC, Blake Sims of Hudson Cook, LLP and Justin Hoise, also of Hudson Cook, LLP. This webinar was presented in conjunction with the Financial Service Centers of America (FISCA).

Check out the latest episode of the California MBA’s Connect podcast program. Monika McCarthy spoke with Dustin Hobbs, about her journey in the mortgage industry, how the new forbearance requirements have impacted lenders and servicers, what to look out for in the legal/regulatory space, and much more!

On June 18th, 2020 Tracey Levandoski, CRCM, and Jim Treacy, CPA and Certified BSA Officer, presented a webinar for the Central Florida Compliance Association (CFCA). Both Tracey and Jim have deep compliance backgrounds in the financial services industry.  

On February 19, 2020 Karen Cullen of CrossCheck Compliance LLC and Richard Horn of Garris Horn PLLC led a  one-hour webinar regarding the CFPB’s fair lending focus on redlining and marketing discrimination claims. The CFPB has noted in recent public reports that its fair lending efforts in the mortgage industry are focused on redlining and marketing discrimination. This webinar covered what a redlining or marketing discrimination claim looks like under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Fair Housing Act, past cases by the CFPB and DOJ, and potential steps you can take to evaluate and mitigate your risk.

On February 13, 2020, MBA Education and CrossCheck Compliance held part two of the Internal Audit webinar series. Building on themes in part one, we discussed how effective internal audit programs evolve over time. What does it mean to have an effective internal audit function? What is the best structure for your internal audit function? Where does the function report in the organization? How should the risk assessment process work and how does it impact the audit plan? These are just some of the common questions facing mortgage bankers. Participants learned about practical, sustainable internal audit programs from experts who possess industry recognized internal audit credentials and a lender faced with these same questions.

On January 30, 2020 MBA Education and CrossCheck Compliance held part one of the Internal Audit webinar series. MBA webinars are complimentary to MBA members. The continuing regulatory focus by the CFPB, the GSEs, and other investors has driven the need for mortgage companies to enhance their corporate governance structures by implementing effective internal audit functions. This function should not be confused with pre-funding and post-closing quality control reviews. It is a separate function and substantially more expansive, including all aspects of your organization. Meeting regulatory expectations is not the only reason to implement an internal audit function; there are other benefits of making this investment including a better understanding of your operational and compliance risks, improvement of the control environment, opportunities for operational enhancements, and the potential for increased efficiencies and/or reduction of risks which could result in cost savings. This webinar explored the best practices for structuring an internal audit function as well as how to develop and implement an internal audit plan.

On December 6th, 2019 the Chicagoland Compliance Association (CCA) held an event at Northern Trust. The event included Legislative and HMDA Updates and a discussion of Complaint Management How-To’s. Karen Cullen presented How to Prepare Your HMDA Submission. Liza Warner, along with Donald Piattoni, Business Analytics Lead, PNC Bank, spoke about classifying complaints and key metrics of a Complaint Management System. Ms. Warner had previously authored an article for ABA Bank Compliance on the same topic.

November 12-13, 2019 WMBA held its Second Annual Mortgage Bootcamp. Designed for those who work in the mortgage industry, this highly recommended one-and-a half day seminar walked attendees through the mortgage loan cycle and everything they needed to know to be a stronger mortgage professional. On Day Two, Heidi Wier, managing director in CrossCheck’s Regulatory Compliance and Internal Audit practices, presented Mortgage Lending Compliance.  Her presentation was an overview of the top mortgage lending regulations the attendees need to know as a mortgage lender.