My Trip to Corporate (and a giveaway)

May 1, 2012

O’right folks, time to fill you all in on some behind the scenes happenings at Envoy Mortgage. I made my trip to the corporate office today and learned a slew of information to pass along to you all. Yes, some of it  all of it is boring. But it’s important stuff to know, so please hang with me. It’ll be worth it in the end when you are all savvy getting your loan. (And when you see that I have a giveaway at the bottom of the page!)

My ole Bosses sent me to interview a guy by the name of Matt Kovach. When I arrived at the reception area of the corporate office, I noticed that the entire wall in front of me was glass, and behind that glass was a giant conference room in which sat the owners of the company and these men who looked like world leaders. While waiting on Matt, I had to sit on the couch in the reception area willing myself not to look in on the meeting. I kept readjusting myself, not wanting to slouch, but then not wanting to appear stiff. I ended up defaulting to my ole standby: picking at my cuticles. Buy some shades, Mr. Envoy!

Okay, so Matt Kovach is apparently one of the most important people in the company. He didn’t say that, but based on everything he does for Envoy, I’ve appointed him that title myself.

Before jumping into my interview with Matt, let me summarize some of what he does. From what I’ve gathered, Matt is in charge of knowing a lot. Here’s what I mean.

As I’ve mentioned before, Envoy Mortgage provides home loans, and often then sells those loans to servicing banks (like Chase or Wells Fargo). Those servicing banks are all the time sending out long, boring documents about the types of loans they will buy from us. Now, my ole Bosses, James Beaver and Chad Helmcamp do not have time to read every single boring document that these banks send out. But you know who does have time to do that? Mr. Matt Kovach.

Matt makes it his job to know every single product that our investors (those servicing banks) are willing to purchase. He doesn’t just know the products – and when I say product, I mean loans – he knows all the guidelines that are associated with each loan. Like, with this certain cash-out refinance, you must have a credit score of over 690. I’m just making that one up, but it’s an example of a guideline.

So Matt reads all these documents, and then he and a group of other smart people decide if Envoy Mortgage needs to add any of their own guidelines to these loan programs. Then  Matt sums up all those boring documents and such and sends the information to the mortgage bankers. Not only that, but he plugs all of the information into Envoy’s super secret intranet systems. He’s like the Wizard of Oz, I tell you!

Matt and his cohort Cindy make it their job to know all answers to different scenarios that could take place within a loan, and what to do about them. For example, if Chad has a client who owns two houses and wants to rent out one to an uncle and at the same time remodel  and refinance it, Chad could call Matt and ask what loan program would be a best fit for that situation. Again, I’m just making this crap up, so bear with me.

To find out why this matters to you, read a snippet from my interview with Matt:

Who the Heck are You?

An Interview with Matt Kovach, the Most Important Person at Envoy Mortgage

Just the Assistant: First things first. How the heck do you know all the millions of different scenarios that could take place in a loan? Who knows that stuff?

Matt Kovach: I was a mortgage banker for 11 years, so over that time I saw all the different scenarios you could have on a loan. When I came to Envoy, I worked as a mortgage banker for a while, but then decided I wanted to do something different. That’s when I joined what your bosses would call “the dark side” (corporate).

JTA: Why don’t you have your own office? You seem pretty important?

MK: If I had my own office, it would be the one we’re sitting in now. Look at these walls; they’re brick. It’s like half a prison. Anyway, I work really closely with my team and it’s nice to all share a big workspace so we can ask each other questions.

[Note: the brick walls weren’t like the trendy exposed brick of a loft or anything. But it was this awful brown brick. I don’t blame the guy.]

JTA: Why do you matter to my readers?

MK: The information that James and Chad pass along to their clients comes from me and my team. James and Chad don’t have time to learn every single thing about all the loans, because they’re busy actually providing loans. It’s like James and Chad are my puppets. Actually, don’t put that puppet part on the blog.

JTA: Got it. Oh yeah, and that puppet part is totally off the record. Now, who are your favorite mortgage bankers in the whole company?

MK: You want me to list people?

JTA: No, I just want you to say James and Chad.

MK: I will tell you why James and Chad are so good at what they do. Mortgage bankers fall into one of two categories. One category is the people who love what they do and hone their craft. They read announcements, they learn how loan programs work, and they make sure they get better at what they do. Like in your blog last week you mentioned how James made you all watch some stupid webinar. It’s because he’s honing his craft. James and Chad have past clients and realtors that send them business because they do  the right thing, and they close loans.

Other mortgage bankers just say yes to every loan without reading the guidelines, and then the loan falls apart. Those type of mortgage bankers give the industry a bad name.

JTA: Is there anything else you’d like my readers to know?

MK: Yes. Your readers know how great your branch is, but they don’t know how well run of a company Envoy Mortgage is. From the senior management to the support staff, this company is well-run and will be around for a long time. Envoy uses technology well, too. We’re virtually paperless here. In fact, one of the main reasons I came to Envoy was because they offered Docusign (a system in which clients can electronically sign documents). And since then, they’ve even improved upon that technology.

I want the readers to know that Envoy is a well-built, honest company that is backing Chad and James.

JTA: Dude, they should totally give you an office with a view.

Now readers, bless you if you’re still reading. Matt was a delight, but mortgages will always be boring. As a token of thanks, I’d like to announce a giveaway. Share my wee mortgage blog on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace (kidding), or heck – even Pinterest, and let me know that you did (comment below, or e-mail me). I’ll then enter your name in my hat to win a $50 gift card to Shade in the Heights. Let me remind you, FOUR people entered my last drawing, so your chances are, ahem, decent. I just bought the gift card seven minutes ago via their website, so the drawing ends when I get the gift card in the mail. Good luck!

 

Now, I’m off to shop the bargain closet at Anthro to get those higher-ups at corporate some curtains. Share away!