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Aspen Grove Industry Standards

The New Industry Standard Background Check by Aspen Grove Solutions

After hundreds of lawsuits and thousands of complaints, banks are finally pushing for reform. The measures are meant to screen out people convicted of felony criminal offenses, such as theft or fraud.

The Mortgage Field Services Industry is facing ever-increasing requirements to ensure there is appropriate oversight of their third-party service providers. One by-product is the requirement to have a valid criminal background check. Background checks are a long-term standard practice in many organizations as a way to mitigate risk. Background checks are now a mandatory reality for the mortgage field service industry, but to date, no standard has been applied that is valid for multiple clients.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) which was created out of the Dodd-Frank Reform Act has rolled out new regulations requiring financial institutions to manage their risk appropriately. These reforms are across the entire mortgage industry, but the major issue of compliance for our business of inspections is by requiring third-party vendors to pass a criminal background check.

As a result, the National Association of Mortgage Field Services (NAMFS), in conjunction with Aspen Grove Solutions and ClearStar established a solution called Aspen iRecordTM, a Standardized Background Compliance Solution for the Financial Services Industry. Now the mortgage field services industry has a centrally managed criminal background check process set in place and it verifies that an inspector has the credentials to conduct mortgage field services at every property they visit. It is thought that this new credentialing system gives a collaborative approach, builds professionalism and trust in our services, and shows we are passionate about maintaining a safe, sound, and secure vendor network.

If you have not heard about this new criminal background requirement provided by Aspen Grove from the major Nationals, you soon will. Within the months to come, more and more banks and national as well as regional mortgage field service companies will be requiring this new background check from their vendors. You won’t be able to conduct inspections without it!

THE SYSTEM

Aspen iRecord assigns a unique “ABC” number to those who pass a criminal background check through AGS. 

The process for obtaining your unique ABC# takes about a week. To help ensure your future success in the mortgage field services industry, you should sign up as soon as possible. National mortgage field service companies who have not already joined Aspen Grove Solutions will also need to get on board with this new standardized process as well. Soon, banks and mortgage companies are going to demand that all of their vendors, from Nationals down to the inspector in the field, be required to provide an ABC number in order to be paid for their inspections.

The opportunities this new background procedure will ensure are priceless to those interested in staying in the industry. Those who have an ABC number from Aspen Grove Solutions will be in high demand.

When the Aspen Grove Solutions system is fully implemented, inspectors will no longer have to pay for background checks for every company they desire to work for. With this new background process, one fee is paid and the background check is good for two years. Then, you provide your ABC number to any new company you work for. The fee for background checks is part of your business and is tax-deductible. For other questions about Aspen Grove and this entire process, visit the FAQ on their website.

The process is super easy. After you pay for you keys, you will receive a link from ClearStar. Open it up on your cell phone. You take a selfie, the front and rear of your driver’s license, and then process your payment. Easy.