The Challenge
Mortgage lenders operate under some of the most complex regulatory structures in the financial sector. Each state has unique compliance standards for branch operations, licensing, and employee work environments. At the federal level, agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), HUD, and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac impose additional guidelines covering consumer protection, data privacy, and operational transparency.
For lenders like Revolution Mortgage, maintaining ongoing compliance required a combination of internal audits, documentation reviews, and evidence-based inspections. As the company expanded, it faced four primary challenges:
- Geographic dispersion – Dozens of branches and remote workers across multiple states made it impossible to conduct frequent in-person inspections.
- High cost and inefficiency – The company spent thousands of dollars per trip on travel and lodging, averaging $2,500 per audit.
- Inconsistent documentation – Manual inspections often produced variable results depending on the auditor, creating compliance gaps.
- Increased regulatory scrutiny – New oversight standards required stronger documentation and audit traceability, which manual systems couldn’t provide.
The internal compliance team sought a solution that would modernize audits, create standardization across the enterprise, and meet regulator expectations for data integrity and reporting accuracy.
The Solution: VirtualVerify
After evaluating multiple tools, Revolution Mortgage selected ActiveComply’s VirtualVerify®, a secure, cloud-based platform built specifically for mortgage compliance oversight. VirtualVerify® replaces in-person branch inspections with a fully digital process, allowing auditors to remotely verify workspace conditions, licensing displays, data security compliance, and employee adherence to company policy.
Core Capabilities
- Geolocation and IP Verification: Confirms that employees or branches are operating from approved and licensed locations.
- Photo and Video Capture: Enables auditors to collect visual proof of compliance without travel.
- Customizable Audit Templates: Tailors checklists to meet state and investor-specific requirements.
- Network Integrity Testing: Validates that remote users meet baseline network security and stability requirements.
- Centralized Reporting Dashboards: Provide leadership and regulators with immediate access to inspection data.
Through a controlled rollout, ActiveComply’s onboarding and compliance support teams worked with Revolution Mortgage to configure VirtualVerify® to reflect the company’s policies and state-by-state regulatory variations.
“It saved us from having to pay plane, hotel, car, and food expenses with each branch visit. What used to take 2–3 days per inspection now takes hours.”
— Amy Vaughn, HR Manager, Revolution Mortgage
The Results
The impact of VirtualVerify® was immediate and measurable:
- Audit Duration: Decreased from 2–3 days per branch to under 4 hours, representing an 86% reduction in time per audit.
- Travel Cost Savings: Eliminated nearly all travel-related expenses, reducing costs by more than 90%.
- Audit Frequency: Increased from quarterly reviews covering 25% of branches to monthly reviews covering 100%.
- Efficiency Gains: Auditors recovered an estimated 400+ staff hours annually, equivalent to nearly 10 full workweeks of capacity.
- Documentation Accuracy: Improved by more than 50% due to standardized checklists and automatic data storage.
Conclusion
Revolution Mortgage’s partnership with ActiveComply demonstrates how technology can fundamentally improve compliance in a highly regulated industry. VirtualVerify® eliminated travel costs, increased audit coverage, and provided the company with a scalable solution that meets evolving regulatory expectations.
Through its implementation, Revolution Mortgage achieved both financial and operational efficiency while enhancing regulator confidence and internal accountability. VirtualVerify®’s success serves as a model for other mortgage lenders seeking to modernize compliance without sacrificing accuracy, security, or consistency.
