When the National Association of Mortgage Field Services (NAMFS) teamed up with Aspen Grove Solutions (AGS) to create the largest money grab in the history of the Mortgage Field Services Industry, no one realized precisely how much money was going to be fleeced from Labor. I say Labor as not a single member of Management had to spend a single penny. At the time, NAMFS had amassed a slaughterhouse of well over 100,000 men and women whom were targeted for a taxation while immunizing themselves and their members from the financial fallout. And to be clear, Foreclosurepedia interviewed people on the original NAMFS Background Check Committee including the Chairman himself. All stated the same thing: Jim Taylor, then with Wells Fargo, shut down all lines of questioning with the approval of Eric Miller, NAMFS Executive Director, and basically said either approve the appointment of Aspen Grove and their Assigned Background Compliance (ABC) number or risk losing Wells Fargo work orders. Here was the reply from Chandra Dickson to Foreclosurepedia confirming as much,
Hello Paul, Yes, Aspen Grove is working with NAMFS to create an industry solution to the growing challenge of background checks. The formal announcement will be made at NAMFS’ September Conference in Chicago. Pricing details are planned to be announced then. Wells Fargo will be one of the first lenders benefiting from this solution. As you may already know, Jim Taylor from Wells Fargo, representatives from First Advantage, and Aspen Grove Inc. all participated in a NAMFS Leadership Conference in Dallas on July 31st. You may wish to consider attending the NAMFS Chicago Conference to learn more. — Chandra Dickson
It was a double standard that no one could seem to explain. Sue Bunnell, Senior General Counsel in charge of Contracts and Technology for Wells Fargo, whom had recently recently spoke at the THIRD PARTY RELATIONSHIPS ROUNDTABLE: Best Practices for Sourcing, Contracting, Maintenance and Enforcement held at the Wyndham New Yorker Hotel in New York City, directly contradicted Jim Taylor and Eric Miller when she stated,
“Wells Fargo requires no background check unless a Contractor is entering the foreclosed property.” Bunnell stated that the requirements delineated upon the Wells Fargo’s External Background Checks For Third Party Service Providers (TPSP) website area do not apply to those in the Mortgage Field Services Industry. Counselor Bunnell went even further in her discussion to state that Contractors in the field are not TPSPs to Wells Fargo.
No one seemed to care. Eric Miller and NAMFS outright lied when they stated that the background checks were required by financial institutions and the US government. And since then, virtually all links to previously published material have been eradicated such as from Purvan, now purchased by publicly traded Verisk, as well as Aspen Grove itself. The Internet Wayback Machine, though, solved the issue of NAMFS attempting to hide their lies.
Here is the link, from the 19 September 2013 Press Release, that Aspen Grove attempted to make disappear. It is most interesting in the fact that the position taken is that NAMFS and Aspen Grove attempt to state that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) mandated that Labor and not Management must have a background check — as only Labor was required to obtain an Aspen Grove ABC number.
Current regulations mandate due diligence and oversight of vendors, including reviews of vendor policies, procedures and controls to manage risk to the consumer. As a result, industry professionals coordinated their efforts and have developed a solution that will prove valuable to all stakeholders while supporting compliance with the various regulatory guidelines, including those established by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
To put into perspective how much money was up for grabs, a typical ABC number costs $65 and times 100,000 that equals Six Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars per year. That is over SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS over the past decade, pre COVID. To be clear, the very same background check performed for Arizona General Contractors was only SEVEN DOLLARS! Remember, Aspen Grove outsources their background check to First Advantage and other than creating a number, out of thin air, Aspen Grove does nothing. Even Wells Fargo knew they had a problem when they rolled out Tom Goyda, Vice President of Consumer Lending Communications to deal with Foreclosurepedia. Here is a screenshot of Goyda’s highlighting of our email to Bunnell, on 10 June 2015,
And with the propaganda machine in full swing, Jim Taylor and Eric Miller began pushing an agenda to collect tens of millions of dollars from their slaughterhouse of Labor. If it was simply Jim and Eric teaming up to fleece Labor for some cash, no big deal as it happens every day with NAMFS members. The problem here was that it had some big backers whom had just entered the scene under a new name, but the same old, same old even while under scrutiny for the sale of AMS to MCS.
Stay tuned for Part II as we introduce you to Ernie Stefkovic, the former owner of AMS and brought you some of the most destructive forces in the Industry such as Assero and Lee Mertins and nearly single handedly kept Aspen Grove afloat by using their work order software.
