Ask the Underwriter: Dionne Bass on Pre-Qualifying Loans, Self-Employed Income, and Smarter Mortgage Training

Today on Ain’t My First Mortgage Podcast, Skip talks with Dionne Bass (“Ask the Underwriter”), a former underwriter who now trains mortgage professionals and real estate agents to better understand the mortgage process. Bass specializes in proper loan pre-qualification, spotting issues that can slow approvals, and improving personal SOPs so LOs don’t rely too heavily on AI tools without understanding the inputs. 

She offers targeted trainings including FHA, USDA, and a popular self-employed borrower class that breaks down tax returns, income analysis, and the “why” behind underwriting decisions so originators can ask better questions. She highlights common pre-approval breakdowns tied to incomplete application and credit report review across FHA, VA, USDA, and conventional guidelines, and notes many struggle when switching between government and conventional self-employed reviews. She recommends bite-sized virtual training with case studies.

 #mortgagepodcast #mortgageindustry #loanofficer #mortgagebroker #underwriting #asktheunderwriter #preapproval #prequalification #creditreport #loanprocessing #mortgagetraining #realestateagents #selfemployedborrower #selfemployedmortgage #incomeanalysis #taxreturns #conventionalloans #fhaloans #usdaloans #valoans #manualunderwriting #loanorigination #mortgagelending #referralpartners #mortgageeducation

Episode Highlights:

00:00 Welcome Dionne Bass

00:16 Meet Ask the Underwriter

01:55 Prequalify Beyond AI

05:25 SOPs and Front End Work

07:15 Credit Report Pitfalls

10:15 Deep Dive Self Employed

12:22 Agency Guideline Differences

13:27 Training Format Case Studies

15:03 Connect and Closing Thanks 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Yeah, that's right. We're back, and this ain't my first mortgage podcast. Welcome to the show where we discuss all things mortgage sales, industry news, interviews of the top mortgage professionals, and more. Strap on in, enjoy the ride, and welcome to Ain't My First Mortgage Podcast. Deon Bass, welcome to Ain't My First Mortgage Podcast. How are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

I'm doing great. Honored that you invited me to the Fontaine.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Of course. So for everyone out there who may not be familiar with you and what you do, take a second to introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

So my name is Dion Bass, commonly referred to as Ask the Underwriter, because I used to be an underwriter. And during the time of me underwriting and processing and managing processing teams, I have always trained on the side. So now I am training on a full-time basis. And my absolute love language is helping mortgage professionals and real estate agents better understand the mortgage process.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Yep. Yep, for sure. For sure. And you say you used to be an underwriter. Look, first of all, first of all, you're always gonna be an underwriter. All right. You know, you may have taken the leap into doing this full time now, but it's always gonna be in here. All right. So let's just be honest. But yeah, no, that's awesome. And you know, you and I have we've done a couple of small events together. We've obviously talked and gotten to know one another over the over the last couple of years. You're really out there trying to get after it, trying to build this business because you've got such a great message, and your value prompt, for lack of a better phrase, is so so important. Now, frankly, now more than ever. It's always important, but right now, more than ever. So take a second, just give the listeners a little bit of an idea of what year you specialize in. Because yeah, you've got the underwriting, you've got the processing, but you've got a couple of really cool specialties. So I want you to share those.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Everybody's gonna cringe when I say this, but how to properly pre-qualify loans. Yeah. We have gotten to a point in the industry where we really believe that AI and all these different digits and gadgets and stuff are able to do the work and they're not. You don't want to let a machine or software come between you and your referral partners or your borrowers to even mess up the relationship between you and your underwriters. So, one of the things that I specialize in is teaching people how to look for things that could possibly slow the loan down. I am not trying to train you into an underwriter. It takes a very long time to develop an underwriter. I'm just trying to teach them what to look for. And then I do specialty trainings, like I'll do FHA training, I'll do USDA training. People's favorite is the self-employed borrower training. And people's favorite slash least favorite, right? Exactly, right? And you know why, don't you, Skip? Because I don't care how many times you upload those tax returns inside of a software, you still don't know what you're looking at.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

You still don't know why they're saying it. And so people like the self-employed borrow class because it lets them understand what they're looking at, they understand the why, and they're actually able to ask better questions when they talk to their self-employed borrowers.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Yeah, 100%. So you said two things there I want you to want to get your more in-depth opinion on. So you mentioned AI there. We're not gonna talk about AI because that's God that's been beat to death, but it's a really good point. So let's think about this. Even some of the really strong, good, helpful AI tools out there that, for example, help you calculate the you know, self-employed income. Hey, that's great. But that, like everything else, is you know, is gonna be if you put crap in, you're gonna get crap out, right? It's just like a file going under eye. You turn in a crappy file, you're gonna get a crappy approval. Okay. So, yeah, it's the same thing. And even though an AI tool or it can it may tell you what's missing, you still got to know what it all is. Why you know, how's it fit in? What's it, why is it important? What's it do? And as a law originator, you've got to have that key understanding, right? You cannot afford to be like, oh, yeah, I've got to self-employed. Here's all the stuff. There it is. How are you gonna understand who they are, what they do, and what they go through every single day if you don't know that, right? Yeah, I mean, hundred percent, hundred percent. So I think that that is an often overlooked thing because the Moore's process, no matter how the sausage is made, it's always a very front-end heavy process to be successful, right? And that what you do brings it right to the forefront.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

I like the how the sausage is being.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Yeah, yeah, you know, it no nobody wants to know, but you know what, we got, but it's worth understanding. No, but I mean, but all drugs aside, all right, Dion. I mean, it's it that's why you've had success with this, is because from beginning LOs to even more seasonal ones that may say, hey, look, maybe I've fallen out of practice doing something. Maybe I've gotten too comfortable with this. You know, it's just something like that. It helps to identify those issues. And when I say it's an easy fix, it's not easy to do, but that is something that you can say, oh crap, you know what? I haven't been doing A, B, and C, which is what you teach regarding the pre-approvals, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

That was great because one of my favorite webinars that people request is what is your personal standard operation procedure? Uh-huh. Because you do get comfortable when you go, you don't take that extra step. You know, I'll do that later. Or I'm sure that's fine. You know what I mean? But the truth of the matter is no matter how time consuming it is, no matter how irritating it is, it's so very important to go through whatever your procedure is when you look at loans, and it makes an easier conversation with your referral partners and with your borrowers. Your borrowers and your referral partners do not want to hear, oh, you know what? I skipped like three steps in my review process, but we'll figure this out. They don't want to hear that. No, you're supposed to be doing your job just like they're doing their job. They're like, hey, I found the house, the bar is like I gave you all my documentation. They expect you to do your part.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Yeah. So I mean, and what you do goes so well with what I did, right? But to your point there, say to me go. It's like, hey, we've worked really hard, we've done the prospecting, we've opened up new and new relationships, I got a deal from them, and all of a sudden I have crapped the bed, right? Because I have not had a chance for one reason or another to do what all is necessary to get that loan prepared. And then all of a sudden you blow, right? And so we can't afford to do that. You're doing a disservice to you, the realtor, the underwriter, the borrower, of course, for sure. It's just, you know, we can't take these things for granted, right? Absolutely. I think that I'm sorry, go ahead, Dion.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

No, no, I'm just gonna say I think that I think that they're taking the word AI assistant a little too serious.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

No kidding. No kidding. Yeah, I agree with that. I agree with that for sure. So without giving away everything for free, what would you say to everybody listening out here? And this and frame this in the context of, like I said a minute ago, brand new LOs or LOAs, even, you know, because let's be honest that they do a lot of work to this kind of thing. All up to your veterans. I mean, what's the one thing that you consistently see in that pre-approval process that gets overlooked or they or that they drop the ball on?

SPEAKER_00 8:01

So aside from the application, because that is well, you can take the application, take a part of it if you want to want to, but yeah, who's reasonable? I would so income is hit or miss. And the reason why income is hit or miss because income has changed over the years. Even when we were growing up, I know we're aging ourselves, but uh yeah, we are spring chickens, all right?

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yes, especially by mortgage standards.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

By mortgage standards, yes, but skip there was like one pay stub, it was the ABP pay stub. Do you remember that pay stub back in the everybody had the same pay stub. Now there's 700 6,457 types of pay stubs. Yeah, so I would never expect anybody to be able to just like get it, but that application of that credit report skip, it trips people up and ranked us. It really does, especially because if you're FHA, if you're VA, if you're USDA, if you're conventional, there are still different things that are needed for each loan. And things that are inside that credit report and that are inside that application could turn an approval, an approve eligible into a refer, into a manual, into an ineligible. So they're just not reviewing that credit report and that application like they should. And I don't care what those softwares and stuff say. I know a lot of people who use the junction softwares and stuff, but if you can't, if you don't understand what you're reading, then how do you even make a decision? How do you even know?

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Well, it's just like you said the other day on Facebook, you made a post about this, and I made the comment about, you know, it is it's like you know, using a calculator without understanding how to do the math ahead of time. And we all groan and laugh about that because like you know, teachers used to tell, well, you're not gonna have a calculator everywhere when you know when you grow up. Well, of course we do now, but you know what? It's just like using AI, a calculator, whatever. If you don't have a solid understanding of what goes into it, it's never gonna be as frankly as good as it could be, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:10

No, because multiplication, unless you know what to multiply by, you know, unless you know what lines to look at inside tax returns, unless you understand the difference between a borrower's based income, differential pay, unless you understand all of that, then you could be calculating the wrong numbers.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Yeah, you could be, and we can't afford to do that. So let's shift gears real quick to you mentioned the self-employed class a second ago. All right. Let's shift gears to that. So I love my MI friends, my MI partners. They do a great job with education. They do, they, you know, they have a lot of self-employed stuff. Great information. So don't get me wrong. But you have you are filling a gap and a need there. And so take a second and tell everyone out there kind of what you do, how, or more importantly, how you do it that differs from that and why they may benefit from working with you on that, as opposed to, or frankly, in conjunction with BMI education, because I got a sneaking suspicion that they complement each other pretty well.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

They absolutely do, because if you've ever heard me speak, M G-I-C is my jam. They were the original. I'm talking about like back in the late 90s. You know exactly what I'm talking about. They come with those box of books and those box of binders, right? And they give them to us. They just always had magnificent training material, and that's what actually made me want to train even more. It is definitely a compliment. They only have an hour, you know what I mean? They come in, they break it down before an hour. My self-employed bar class is a lot longer than an hour because I'm breaking down the different parts of the tax returns, what they are, what you need, how they all fit together. It's a little bit more intense, not intense, like hard, but just gives you a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Yeah, that's because you do run the risk of like if you spread out education over a longer period of time, I don't care what the topic is, you're more apt to forget things, right? It's just like going to school, guys, and during the summer break, you kind of have some of the stuff slip out of your head that you so look so what's what's what happens is the teachers have to use a good chunk of that time when school's back in session to get you caught back up again, right? Which of course takes away from the whole learning experience. So to your point, intense as far as time goes, yeah, it has a chance for everyone to kind of put those pieces together, right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I love it. I love it. Oh goodness. So as far as self-employed income analysis goes, obviously that's a massive topic. So let's look at it from not just a big overarching perspective, but what do you see LO struggle with the most when it comes to self-employed income? Is it they don't understand the entity types, they don't really know how to calculate the income because they don't understand what the actual lines on the return actually mean. I mean, what is it?

SPEAKER_00 13:07

They don't understand the differences that are between the different agencies.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Yeah, yeah. And my companies are strictly conventional, right? And then most people do a lot of government loans. So when they do switch over to conventional, they're dealing with the different differences that are with an conventional review than there are with the government review. So those are the main differences that that I would say that most people have because they don't understand. They keep it straight, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%. So let's let's bring it home question. And I want to say so, you do a lot of webinars, you do a lot of in-person training. If you're like me, being in person is more impactful, right? You know, it is, right? But it but the world we live in, it's not always it's not always possible. So we got to do stuff virtually. Now, for folks who have this is kind of a more of a big trainee but overarchy topic. Folks who need to take that self-employed class, just for example, I know we're harping on that, but you know, it's just the last thing we talked about. So for folks that need to do that, and it is a it's a lot of information, sitting there virtually for four, eight hours, then do a full day, that is a lot. So, you how how do you combat that with but still keep it within a functional time frame? Do you just do like, I mean, would you do something where it's like an hour or two hours a day over the course of several days, several weeks? How do you structure your trainings?

SPEAKER_00 14:43

So, my income class is about five hours. And I do some people do want the whole shebang, right? But I always suggest bite-sized pieces. Yeah, I would say an hour a day, and then also to it gives us a little time to go over a lot of case studies. Nothing sticks like a good case study, yeah. And it helps them retain the information and it helps them apply it to real life. So bite-sized pieces and great case studies.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah, that takes that day, but puts theory from theory to practice, right? Yes. So I love that. I love it. All right, so Dion, we are at our time, which is too bad as I think I could probably ask you some more questions, but that's okay. We'll save it for another time, right? Anybody listening that wants to get in touch with you, where should they go? What should they do?

SPEAKER_00 15:32

I am primarily on Facebook and LinkedIn under Dion Bass. Yeah, looking similar to I look right now. Um of course you can message me on Facebook or LinkedIn, and I'm sure he'll put more contact information on there. You can shoot me an email or whatever, have you. But I'm fairly easy to get in touch with. And I just once again I'm gonna say I appreciate you having me on.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Oh, I think you do a great service, Dion. I really do. I mean that. And I think that one of your strongest points is not obviously the knowledge, the expertise, and the ability to convey that. But I think one of your biggest selling points is the fact that you uh make everyone feel comfortable. Right? You don't make them feel dumb or think you should know this. You are easy to connect with, and people are going to be able to learn better if they feel comfortable with you.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

I appreciate that. I do feel like the excited teacher because normally I am. I'm excited about what I'm training about.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

That's right, but people pick up on that energy, they really do. And you know, and that's and energy is contagious, just like my old podcast would say, right? But Dion, thank you so much for coming on. I really enjoyed this. I'm glad we got a chance to learn about what you do and how it benefits. Guys, I strongly recommend it. Reach out to Dion, reach out to me. I can connect y'all, whatever the case is. And yeah, yeah, we'll see you soon, okay? All right, thank you so much.