00:00I'm Allison LaVorja, Managing Editor of HousingWire's Content Studio and live from Las Vegas.
00:12I'm with two very special people from Procter Loan Protector. I'm with Mike Demas, who is the
00:17Senior Vice President, and I'm with Brian Summerlin, the Regional Vice President. And it's been a
00:23minute since we've spoken. And last time we spoke, you hinted that Procter had some big
00:30things on their horizon. Tell us a little bit more about where you were in 2020 and where you are
00:37five years later. Yeah, I guess I'll jump off here. And thank you for having us. So our boss,
00:44Damon LaPrey, did an interview much like this five years ago. And maybe this group will see this,
00:50but he alluded to something big coming. And that big thing was the acquisition of Loan Protector,
00:55which is where I came from. Brian came from the Procter side. And we knew there was things in the
01:01works. We just weren't ready to release it to the public yet. So as part of that hypothesis before
01:08that acquisition, we thought there was a big need in the market for a organization to compete on
01:16larger scale. So both Procter and Loan Protector were great organizations, but combined really
01:20leapfrogged us into this space that we were not even prepared for, but it's been so exciting for
01:26the last five years. Now, tell me a little bit about the technology advancements you guys have
01:31made. Five years is a bit of time. So where are we at now? Yeah, well, it's quite significant. So
01:38when we think about technology and investments into technology, we always think about people,
01:45process, and product, right? So you think about how we want to advance as an organization. Well,
01:51when you bring two organizations together, you get the best of the best. So one advantage we had was
01:56taking pieces and parts from both organizations, integrating them into kind of our overall solution
02:01to really support the market. As we all know today, things are moving very quickly, very fast. AI is the
02:07topic probably throughout many conversations that you're having. So we're spending a lot of time
02:13looking at how do we build things ourselves? How do we find partners and vendors to work with us and
02:19integrate into our technology stack? But I think there's a lot of things that we've implemented
02:25already in these five years that's seen significant value to our clients and our new business clients,
02:31but a lot more to come. It's a really exciting time on the technology front.
02:35Now you just touched on this a little bit and I want to dig in a little bit more. So walk me
02:41through a little bit about how these changes actually impact clients and borrowers. Yeah,
02:48I'll take that one. Yeah, go ahead. Good question. As Mike mentioned, there's been a lot of investment
02:53at Procter Loan Protector in our systems and our people, and we stay very close to the pulse of our
02:59client base. And what we hear out there from our clients and know firsthand is that borrowers being
03:06able to self-serve their own needs on escrow related type functions like insurance is paramount.
03:1470% of them, we'll talk about loss drafts a little bit too in this realm, very high touch part of the
03:20business, very emotional part of the business. But through technology now, we've been able to really
03:25shorten the timeframe from ordering inspection, following up on the items that are needed with
03:31the borrower and really being able to serve the borrower better has been paramount and is woven
03:36through everything we do at Procter. Yeah. One thing to add on top of what Brian mentioned,
03:43if you picture a Venn diagram, when we're making corporate decisions about where we're going to spend
03:47money and time, if you have what's good for Procter, what's good for our clients, what are we
03:53delivering to them that makes them better, stronger, feel more comfortable hiring us as their partner,
03:58and then what's good for the homeowner, the borrower. And if we can put a dot right in the
04:02middle of that Venn diagram, that's where we always want to be with any decisions. So when we think about
04:07the technology, and Brian's talking about loss drafts, it's an awful time for a homeowner.
04:11Something bad has just happened to them.
04:12So if we can invest in technology and make the decisions based off how we're and how we're
04:17making those decisions, that's where we find the real value. That's been really awesome for us.
04:22So you just talked about the benefits to clients and borrowers and where you see that ideal dot on
04:27that Venn diagram. Talk to me a little bit more about what this means for new business growth.
04:34Well, we're both excited to answer that question. Our sales have, in the last five years,
04:40has been the last year been exponentially higher. We are seeing tremendous growth organically amongst
04:45new client business. And a lot of that's attributed to the things that we're talking
04:49about here today, the investment we're making in technology, the ability for borrowers to better
04:53serve their needs and be a happier borrower for our clients is really ultimately what we're after here.
04:59So because of that, our culture, that whole taking care of the borrower is of paramount importance to
05:06us and of course to our clients. We're seeing some significant growth in new client opportunities
05:11that have onboarded with Proctor in the last several years.
05:14I think one of the big things through the acquisition, some things we both heard prior to the acquisition,
05:19I should say. We each only had one servicing location. So with the acquisition, with our growth,
05:27we now have four servicing centers. So Daytona Beach, Florida, Cleveland, Ohio, Troy, Michigan,
05:33and a office in Dallas. We're approaching 1,600 teammates here in the United States.
05:42We are just having the most fun we could possibly have when it comes to new business.
05:47But with that, we also have to focus on retention of existing business.
05:52And I think I'm happy to report 99% year over year, we've been able to retain our clients.
05:57So we're very proud of that step more than anything. Growth is wonderful,
06:00but client retention means we're doing right. We're continuing to deliver for our current clients.
06:04So you just talked to me about new client experience and what you've accomplished with technology,
06:12but you just mentioned retention. So walk me through a little bit
06:15about your impact on the borrower experience. So we can really dig into that retention piece.
06:20Yeah. You want to jump?
06:22Yeah. Well, I think one of the things that alluded to or talked about earlier was just in the area of
06:27loss drafts, you know, the ability for a borrower to be able to self-serve is of paramount importance.
06:32And so the investment that we've made in technology is allowing us to better serve
06:37the client's borrowers needs. And borrowers do want to self-serve everything when it comes to
06:41aspect related items. So the ability to deliver that is also creating a scenario where our clients
06:47are getting better grades, let's say, and viewpoint from the borrower to their organization. So we're
06:54trying to, we always have to realize we're an extension of our clients and that's of paramount
06:58importance to us. And taking care of the borrower, as we mentioned before, is huge. And that is really
07:03delivering on that is what's helping, I think, our clients be viewed better by their borrowers at large.
07:08So it sounds like you guys are delivering in both capacities for your clients and for the borrower.
07:13So you really have two different sets of focus in mind, which is outstanding. So I have to ask,
07:19it's been a minute since we've spoken, what's next for Proctor Loan Protector? Where are we going to be
07:25in five years? Well, I think Damon, again, said it best, you know, if you don't know who we are yet,
07:29you're going to. I think most now know who we are. And our belief is if we keep doing what we're doing,
07:37and making the investments, we just had a client summit. We had over 100 guests with us at this,
07:43and we delivered a lot of our corporate initiatives at that summit. And our intent with
07:48that is to remind them that we're supportive of them. And our job is to invest to improve
07:54their borrower experience, deliver their customer requirements from service levels through just
08:00relationships. So everything's paramount. So in five years from now, 2030, I guess we're talking,
08:07you know, we expect to have a much, much larger client base, a much larger footprint,
08:14larger market share. That's our ultimate goal. And I just hope to be here.
08:18Yeah, right. Well, Mike, Brian, congratulations on five years of absolutely impressive growth.
08:27I cannot wait to see what Proctor Loan Protector does with the next five.
08:31We appreciate you having us. This is great. Appreciate it.
08:33Thank you all for being here today.
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