10-25-2023 Correspondent Community Lending Program With Taeko Bashaw And Cerita Battles Of Chase
More than earning a profit, a good lending program goes above and beyond to completely change a homeowner’s life for the better. This is what JPMorgan Chase is doing through their $30 billion Racial Equity Commitment through Correspondent Community Lending Program. David Lykken and Marc Helm explore this even deeper with Taeko Bashaw, the program’s Executive Director, and Cerita Battles, Chase’s Managing Director and Head of Community & Affordable Lending. Together, they share how the Correspondent Community Lending Program not only provides easier access to homeownership but also bridges the gaps of wealth and racial differences. Taeko and Cerita explain how their program can stabilize underserved communities, and secure long-term sustainable outcomes.
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Correspondent Community Lending Program With Taeko Bashaw And Cerita Battles Of Chase
I'm excited to have this episode because we're all looking for loan programs and programs we could help our communities. I was delighted when Karen Russell at JPMorgan Chase reached out to me to talk about the community lending program that they have going there. Karen says, “David, would you be willing to have Taeko and Cerita come on and talk about this program?” I was delighted. With a great deal of honor, I'm excited to bring you onto the show, Cerita and Taeko. It’s so good to have you both here. I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Cerita, you are the Managing Director of Community and Affordable Lending at JPMorgan Trust. I understand you have many years of experience in the financial industry. Twenty-six years especially dedicated to mortgage. That's wonderful. That's almost half of what I've got at 50. Keep going, Cerita. I have 50 years. Keep it up. I'm glad to have someone out there who’s so committed to this industry, especially when we talk about community affordable lending. It is exciting to have you joining us. It is good to have you here, especially as a Managing Director.
Thank you so much. I'm glad to be here.
Taeko, when we were on the pre-call, there was something about your personality. She has a smile that warms the world. Taeko is the Correspondent Community Lending Director responsible for the development and implementation of the Correspondent Community Lending Program, CLP. We're so excited to have you joining us, Taeko, as well. I enjoyed our conversation prepping us for this. It's so important that we start off with both of you. Taeko, I didn’t give you a chance. I guess I’m so excited to get to the content and didn’t give you a chance to say hello to the audience.
I’m very glad to be here and hopefully, we can cover some information that'll be very interesting to you.
We're excited to have both of you here on the show. I’m very excited to be talking about this very important topic. For audiences that do not know who you are, I would like to have both of you just give a brief introduction to yourself so our audience can get to know you. Cerita, since you're the manager director, we'll start at the top. Let's go with you.
First of all, you've already indicated how long I've been in the industry. One of the things that people need to know about me specifically is that I do consider the work that I do as ministry. I always feel like I call it ministry because I don't look at it as a job. I don't even really look at it as a career. I look at it as being purposeful about serving the customers that are seeking and looking to be served by way of homeownership. That's a little bit about me from a business perspective.
Other than that, I am a wife. I am a mother. She keeps me up at night, but at the same time, my husband and I still try to go to sleep. We are empty nesters right now. I would say, another little tidbit about me is there's a little sidebar, two things. I'm a Zumba instructor and a preacher. I happen to be an executive. With those three things going together, you can imagine that I'm a force to be reckoned with.
What I love about what you just said, especially about the ministry part of it, is that the most transformative thing you can have happened to someone's life is if you get a strong faith. That's the number. One second thing is to find the spouse that you can be your life partner. It's the second most transformative thing. The third most important thing is to have a family and to raise them up. The fourth most transformative thing, I believe, is getting people into a home. It will do more to transform. Those who have been less fortunate may grow up in dysfunctional families and be able to give people. That's why I'm so passionate. I've been doing this for years, Cerita, and I delight that you boldly say what you said in your introduction. I'm applauding that. Way to go. Taeko, again, wonderful smile. Tell us a little bit about your background and how you got to where you're at.
I have been at JPMorgan Chase or Chase Bank for years. My mortgage background spans longer. I started in this business as an underwriter/originator. We took the application, underwrote the file, closed it, funded it, and did everything all in one. That's where I started to get my passion for helping clients, customers, or borrowers get into homes.
When they approached me about starting this program, I was an account executive or client relationship manager, where I visited correspondent clients to do business with them. They said, “Would you be willing to start this program for community lending?” I was all in because I thought, “This is great. This is in my wheelhouse. This is what I really want to do.” We started the planning of the program back in 2020. It has grown to where it is now. I know we'll get into that a little later. I am very proud of the program and the accomplishments that we've made with it.
It is such a significant program because it talks about community and lending. It's helping people get into that first-time home. That's what locked me in the industry. I came out of college, didn't know what I wanted to do, and got into a bank. I was a DE underwriter. HUD was launching its DE program. I was one of the first to go through the training and I was an originator. I shared that with you in common as well. I'll never forget the first loan I did. What has kept me in this is the couple that I was helping had been turned down three times by other companies. I could see their desire. I saw the need for a home. I could get a sense. I took them on as a ministry, almost, Cerita, going back to your point. We're still friends to this day. That first loan I did, I made a difference in their lives because I stuck with them. I believed in them. I fought for them. They kept that home, handled it well, sold it, and went on. I love those stories, but I can't wait to get more into what programs Chase is offering. Cerita, back to you and both of you can comment on this, but I'm interested in the programs that Chase is offering and then roll into the community lending program.
From my perspective, I always like to say that Chase offers an array of products and programs. The reason I say that is because those products and programs seek to meet the home financing needs of each person individually. With that said, I always like to tell people that Chase is open for business. We offer products and programs from our government programs like FHA and VA. We offer conforming, conventional programs, 30-year fixed, 20-year, 15-year. We also offer jumbo programs as well for the more affluent, and so on and so forth.
With that said, we offer an array of products and programs. More specifically, some of the products and programs that we've come up with feed into our need to focus more on advancing homeownership among minorities and low to moderate-income borrowers across the board. There are a lot of different dynamics that are playing out within our organization. We have a five-year commitment, $30 billion focused on racial equity commitment, particularly among Blacks and Hispanics.
As a result of that, I would say in 2021, we came out with our special purpose credit program that a lot of people have heard about. It's our $5,000 grant program that a customer doesn't have to qualify for, and the property qualifies for it. If you're located in one of the 15,000 neighborhoods that we offer this program in across the country, then if the property is located there and you're purchasing that property, you get this $5,000 grant.
Lending Program: If you are located in one of the 15,000 neighborhoods where Chase offers their Correspondent Community Lending Program, you get a 5,000 grant that speaks to a lot of barriers within minorities.
This really speaks to a lot of the barriers that we see with minorities and low to moderate-income customers, which are really in the down payment assistance space and in the source of funds to close. That's one of the nuances of being a part of an organization that's always seeking to look for ways to expand access to credit in order to advance homeownership across this country. We have lots of products and programs and lots of down payment assistance programs that we participate in these days. There are those that we're coming up with that are proprietary just to Chase.
Lots of things to offer. I'm sure that if we wanted to get specific in any other thing, we should be able to talk about that. Lots of work is being done in this space, which is one of the reasons why I love this organization and our leaders because we are always raising the bar, not just in the industry, but also in ourselves, so that we're doing more business for these customers.
One of the things I want to go on to, Cerita, if you wouldn't mind a follow-up question. First of all, I love the fact that you boldly say in an organization like JPMorgan Chase, that you're a minister, that lights my candle. That fires me up. I think that's awesome. Being a person of faith myself, sometimes we get too siloed in our corporate worlds. The fact that we stand up and say it. It is what it is. I love it. Way to go. You had me at that right there. I want to let you know.
This is not promoting Chase here, but when we start to talk about diversity and inclusion, it's important for us to be inclusive. Also, be authentic leaders, which we talk about all the time. Oftentimes, I always say that you bring your best self to work and people need to know who you are. When they know better, some people will do better. In this particular space, this is why I love doing the work that I do and doing it for the company that I'm doing it with because they allow me to be authentic and to bring my best self to work. That's why I say when it comes to ministry, this work is ministry.
It truly is, especially when you look at what we're doing for families and for people's lives. It's transformative in the broadest and the biggest sense of the word. When you look at Chase, I love the fact that JPMorgan Chase is committed to this program. Many companies struggle. It's a good point. Here's the question. Many people look at an organization, Cerita, such as Chase, and they're all in now, but what if the markets turn? We watch too many fair-weathered companies come and go when it's advantageous to be in the program and then they exit when it's not. Talk about Chase's commitment. I believe I heard you say something that's significant about this program. This is a program where $30 billion has been set aside for this. That sounds like a pretty long-term commitment to me.
This $30 billion commitment that we have is over a five-year period. We started in 2021, it is to go into 2025. We believe we will go beyond 2025, but even with the $30 billion commitment, it is a lending commitment. When we think about that $30 billion, $26 billion of that commitment is really focused on housing. With that said, we have about, of that $30 billion, $26 billion focused on housing. I would say that $12 billion of those dollars are dedicated to home ownership. That's focused on both purchase and refi.
I would say the other $14 billion is really focused on affordable rental because people need a place they call home. The other portions of it are focused on small businesses. There are key components that are focused on wealth management. There are some other components that we’re making sure that we're focused on checking accounts and savings accounts. Also, supporting minority-owned banks as well that are in this particular space. When we start to look at that $30 billion, it's a lending commitment and it really holds us accountable as an organization. I like to say we put our money where our mouth is. We're doing the work that we're just not talking the talk but also walking the walk.
The last thing that I would say is that we would not be able to do something like this and stay consistent and sustainable without a strategy. $30 billion commitment is the what. How we go about doing it aligns with our six-pillar strategy. First, we are focused on making sure that we have the people, we are in the markets that we're serving, we are diversifying our teams across the board and we're meeting the needs of the community in mirroring the communities that we're seeking to serve.
The second part of the six-pillar strategy is also focused on being present. Not only do we have to have the people, but we have to be present in the communities that we're seeking to serve. That presence, sometimes it's a physical presence. We’re making sure that we have loan officers or home lending advisors out there in that marketplace. We're leveraging our online capabilities. We're leveraging Taeko’s book of business, which is really correspondent lenders that are out there in those markets doing this business. I always like to say that we're leveraging all of our sales distribution models to make sure that we're meeting the people where they want to be met.
The third component of this is around partnerships. Chase is a huge organization and we cast a wide net and we catch fish. In order for us to be intentional about what we're doing, we have to have some strategic partnerships with folks that have trust and consideration in these communities. Realtors, builders, correspondent lenders, advocacy groups are all important because they already have that trust and consideration. How do we partner with them in order to really create a win-win situation, not only for Chase but for our customers as well?
When I talk about those first three components of the pillar, that's infrastructure. You need that infrastructure to be able to offer the next component of the pillar, which is products and programs. You need to also be able to not just offer products and programs but give people access to credit that spans some of our credit parameters and make sure that we're always looking at those types of things.
[bctt tweet="Lending professionals must not only offer products and programs but also give people access to credit that expands credit parameters." username=""]
The fifth pillar is around promotions. We hear about this all the time. This is the marketing and the outreach that we do. What I always like to say is that a lot of companies will start with products and marketing or promotions, and they forget about the need to have the infrastructure in place to get it done.
The last of our pillars is around policy. There are a lot of systemic things that are going on in our country that are impacting or impeding the progress when it comes to home ownership. Making sure that we're working with policy-makers, making sure that we are supporting our JPMorgan Chase policy center by telling them about some of those barriers to creating wealth and home ownership.
All of those different things are necessary for us to be a part of. It's the one thing that I would say everybody can participate in. It doesn't take a group to do it, but each of us individually can support policy changes in our particular communities that really meet the needs of homeownership for the communities that we're seeking to serve. This six-pillar strategy, coupled with that $30 billion commitment, is how we get business done. To me, I would say that this is what creates the long-term sustainable outcomes that we're looking for in this space of business.
I love your passion on the topic and I love Chase's commitment. I can listen to you just preach. You have such a good, solid message. She talked about Taeko, being you, and it's the people's pillars. I can see why they selected you when we did our pre-call and talked about it. You're so articulate about it. Let's get into correspondence. Many of our audience are independent mortgage bankers, community banks, and credit unions in the rich donation business. If they don't already have a relationship with Chase's correspondent, they should. This program is one of the reasons they should. Talk about your part of it as it relates to the correspondent side.
I'm not sure if she knows this or not, but Cerita's a true mentor for me. Along the same lines that Cerita had mentioned, we created the Correspondent Community Lending Program for our correspondent lenders. What that means is that we purchase loans from our correspondent lenders. When we created this program, we created it as an incentive-based secondary market transaction for our correspondence to encourage them to do business in the specific census tracks that we allocated as eligible.
I know that Cerita mentioned many of the other programs that we have, but we do the credit decisions for our clients. What that means is we call that non-delegated underwriting. Even if you're a delegated client, you still have to send a file to us for us to make the credit decision. That's for our fair lending credit. When we talk about longevity, we're always going to have our eye on fair lending, and this is another part that is going to help us achieve our fair lending goals overall.
Having said that, we limit it to the agency. It is an agency product. It also incorporates the 30, 15-year, 20-year agency product fixed. We expanded to the 7/6 and the 10/6 ARMs as well. That includes high balance in addition to that. We expanded nationally to all 50 states, including Washington, DC. Our clients have the ability to use this program wherever they lend, as long as the property address is eligible. We supply tools for them to check eligibility either through their pricing vendors, which most of them use to do their best execution or they can come directly to Chase. We have an address lookup tool that they can put an address in and find out if it's eligible at that time to participate in the program.
As I said, we started off in March of 2021. Once we had the pricing vendors engaged, which took place not until 2022 after we had it built and tested and everything, and our customers could see our incentive upfront, the program really took off. By the end of 2022 to 2023, we have grown twofold or threefold and we have restated our goals three times already. 2023’s been successful.
I love stories. If you could tell a story, Taeko, of someone who's benefited from this program, do any stories come to mind?
Yes, they do. I speak to a lot of our clients. Even though we offer the incentive, many of our clients are engaged and have a passion for helping home ownership, closing the racial wealth gap, and promoting home ownership in underserved communities. One story comes to mind. I was speaking to a client who was talking to a borrower slotted for an FHA loan. This borrower does fit more of an agency product and it would be cheaper for him to be in an agency product. The problem was his debt-to-income ratio exceeded that of the agency guidelines.
What they did was they took our incentive, which is a pricing base, and they lowered the interest rate for the borrower, which lowered his debt-to-income ratio. It was able to fit into an agency product, which was much cheaper for the borrower to do. That's one of my favorite stories that come about when one of our customers gets really ingenious and starts to do things to benefit borrowers specifically.
Lending Program: It is a huge win for mortgage experts to see people get ingenious through their lending programs. This inspires them to start doing more things that will further benefit borrowers.
We have some customers that have created grants with our incentive. They have given home improvement store gift cards at closing to help them, especially first-time home buyers who, when they move into a home for the first time, may not be aware that the hot water heater may go right away or something like that. This is something that would help them get themselves on their feet and help them not miss a mortgage payment, which is really important. It does cut down on delinquencies, especially for those who have unexpected expenses.
The thoughtfulness that goes into that program, you're supporting them past the close, which is so important all the way through. Cerita, is there anything you want to add? I love the stories. Any good preacher has a good story behind whatever they're trying to message or trying to give. Do you have any stories that stand out in your mind?
We always have good stories to tell. We just don't share them as often. I'm reminded of a story that we have where we do have one of our customers who came in. I don't think this customer was low to moderate income but definitely lived in one of our minority tracks where we have this $5,000 grant. Not only did we leverage that $5,000 grant to help them get into a home by way of closing costs and down payment assistance. We layered that grant with other down payment assistance offerings that were in that marketplace. We have a lot of housing finance agencies that provide down payment assistance programs.
What happened was we were able to leverage our $5,000 grant coupled with one of those housing finance agency down payment assistance programs, and we were able to give a customer $85,000 in down payment assistance to get into a home. We don't think about Chase when we think about opportunities like that, but this is something that Chase is doing now, and I'm sure other lenders are doing it as well. We have this opportunity to layer finance some of these down payment assistance programs to create an opportunity where customers don't have to pay mortgage insurance.
They can come in with 20% down by leveraging other resources. That's the thing that I would even share with customers, with our clients, other home lending advisors, or loan officers that are out there. When you start looking at these programs and coupling these things up, when you think about being able to be in a space where you are, what I'm going to consider is blessing a customer with the opportunity to be able to come in and not have to put down all of the down payment or think that they have to come in with 20% down. We can build it for them by leveraging all of these different tools and opportunities.
I freak out a little bit. I was telling somebody, “What if I knew about all of this stuff when I was buying a home and I came in and didn't have to put all of that money down and could utilize funds to do other things with so on and so forth?” We have to make sure that we understand the products and programs that we have out there and how to give this information to our customers so that they can make informed decisions that truly mean them.
They're talking about the three tenets of our faith, which is faith, hope, and love. What you're creating is hope for home ownership. So many people are without hope because they hear the 20%, they’re like, “I'll never get there,” and they get into a defeated attitude. When you're looking at this, you're working with someone and it doesn't look like it can work out in the conventional means, get a hold of this program. Get a hold of a Chase representative.
[bctt tweet="Lending programs must come with proper and in-depth education. This way, potential borrowers can make informed decisions that truly mean something to them." username=""]
Taeko, are they going to need to get ahold of you? We're going to talk about that in a minute. Hold up, we'll get there in a minute. We'll tell them how to reach out. That's at the end. I have such a passion. Also, Cerita, one of the pillars you're talking about is your partnerships. Not only are you coming out with grants, but you are aware of other grant programs because of your commitment to the market and seeking out other partners. Is that a fair representation?
Absolutely. We have partners everywhere. When we all come together and create this village, this community of opportunity for our customers, then we're able to really make dreams happen and make a significant impact. We make sure that when we are in a market, we understand the tools and resources available in our market by way of down payment assistance programs and nonprofit organizations that can incubate customers and get them on their path to homeownership, making sure that we're connecting even with our correspondent lenders in this particular space.
That's why I love partnering with Taeko so much because oftentimes, as a big organization, there are times when we're not always present within these communities. We might have a bank there, but we might not have our loan officers in that marketplace or whatever the case may be. Maybe some of these customers see that their trusted advisors are smaller regional banks where they feel like they're part of the community. In that particular case, although I believe that Chase wants to get to that place of being local, oftentimes, we have to leverage our correspondent lenders that give us more of that capability and that outreach.
We have an opportunity to create a dynamic or what I would say an ecosystem for our customers that by far can add value to their homeownership needs, not just home ownership, but across the board, just meeting their financial needs across the board. Being able to develop this type of ecosystem gives us the opportunity to be able to play off of one another so that we can create the best environment and opportunity for our customers.
It is more than just what you're doing for the consumer, the customer that you're talking about. It's the community. It comes back in all roles into lifting up the community. That's why you have the programs. Marc Helm, my co-host, it’s good to have you on the show joining me. Any thoughts that come out? Any questions you have for either Taeko or Cerita?
David, I would describe everything I've read on this show with three letters. Wow. I would tell you that tuning to this show, we are not doing it justice in one show of what information could be given out. That's a biggie. If I had to brand the show, I'd say we have just been part of the Baskin-Robbins of home affordability because there seems to be a flavor, niche or ingredients to be added that can make so many different situations work that have not worked for folks in the past and give them the opportunity for home ownership.
We're truly blessed in this country to have Chase have a program like this that's pulling all these resources together and supporting home ownership. It is amazing, all the pieces of the puzzle that you ladies and others on your staff have put together to make this program. You think about what we're talking about here. You're a lending program, you're a grant program, you're a census track program looking at affordable houses in certain areas, and then affordable housing for other need-based housing. You're all over the place. You can serve so many people.
Many programs are so pointed for one group of folks that it leaves a lot of people by the wayside. It looks like you all built a program that can reach out and touch everyone. Maybe you're really Ma Bell, you're reaching out and touching everyone. You have a great program together. I'm proud to have been on this show and hear about your program and how much it can mean for our country and our communities.
Marc, you dated yourself with Ma Bell. There are a lot of Millennials in the audience going, “What's Ma Bell?” Taeko, one of the things that you talked about is how it's an agency program, but you have your own software and it is not a delegated program. I'm seeing this as an advantage because if we were delegated, we may miss opportunities that you see. Am I getting that right, Taeko?
That’s not necessarily because you're delegated but because this program specifies specific areas. It hones in on those specific census tracks to help people in those specific communities. As Cerita always says, this spans across the whole economic spectrum. Not just affordable, but also those in underserved communities that have been subject to possible redlining in the past, things of that nature. This is poignant to those specific communities.
If I can add one thing. Not only does this program support the customers, but it also stabilizes communities. When we start to think about some of these communities that have been underserved, this particular program, and the fact that we're pouring dollars into these particular neighborhoods or census tracks, gives us an opportunity to stabilize communities.
I often hear that because we have a minority track focus with our grant program, we are adding to gentrification. I've heard those statements. I've also heard statements that we are holding people back and not allowing them to move to areas of their choice. I hear a lot of different things, but people forget that there are some people who want to plant where they were raised. Also, people forget that these markets would not be underserved if we poured more into them. This gives us an opportunity to truly stabilize communities and support those customers.
Lending Program: People forget that some want to plant where they are raised. Therefore, some markets would not be underserved if more opportunities were poured into them.That's such a good point, Cerita, that you bring up. A lot of people want to stay where they're planted and make a difference. The programs like this allow you to do that. We could go on and on about that. As Marc said, this show could go on into 2 or 3 episodes. What we've already done is piqued the interest of our audience. They're going, “I need to learn more about this.” Taeko, how would they do so and what's the process to get approved, get more information, all of that?
We have various levels of authority and approval. I would point the audience to our website, which is full of information, and that is at www.ChaseB2B.com. Once you go to the website, it will point you in the direction of Karen Russell, who is our Development Relationship Manager, and they should contact Karen directly. There's a link on the website that they can reach out to her and then Karen can go through the specifics as to how to be approved as a correspondent lender with Chase.
There are a lot of people out there who are consumers who don't know these programs exist at all. You educated me on a number of things I wasn't aware of. I've been in this business for years. I'm thinking about those people and how they reach out to someone who markets in the area, particularly because they'd be dependent on the marketing of that company in the area.
I didn't know if you all had something where you all do some national advertising to say, “Our approved lenders in the Southeastern United States are these,” or whatever. They offer these different programs that do things so that the consumer can be more made aware of them. Mortgage companies don't all do the same level of job marketing opportunities to people. That's been a problem in our industry since day one. We're doing better than we have before, but we're still not where we need to be.
I would say if we got a contact from a borrower, we would probably point them to one of our Chase branches first. They would be able to get information. It's pretty much the same product and program that we offer.
Taeko, you mentioned Karen Russell. She's one of those people that people we going to enjoy talking to. She's so knowledgeable on the product and she's tuning in on this. I know we're going to make her blush a little bit. We're talking right there, but without her being able to respond. When someone gets into starting that process, how long does it take to get approved, Taeko? What does it take to get to the place where they're active and trained up in the program and how much training do you add to helping onboard a new correspondent lender with this particular program?
It varies by the client and what information is going to be needed for them to be approved. Karen will work with them. She'll give them all the information that they need. She gathers the information. It takes a few weeks because we have to do some background checks, etc. It takes a few weeks to get an initial response. Once they are approved, we have a resource center. We do a full orientation with them and a follow-up training.
Each step of the way, from origination through underwriting, through funding, we also do a separate orientation around that as well. We assign them to a specific client relationship management team based on the geography of the customer. That management team stays in contact with them and does additional training if they'd like. They can also do one-on-one training at that. We definitely support our correspondent lenders as they get approved with us. We just want to make sure that we answer any questions that they have so that they have a great experience working with Chase.
I want to say kudos to JPMorgan Chase. Anyone incorporate and up the ladder tuning in to this, kudos to what you're doing with this program. It is so encouraging. I'm so grateful that Cerita and Taeko took the time to get on the program with us. A special thank you to Karen for reaching out to us so that we could let our audience know about it. This is a program I want you to share. I know you can say, “I'm not going to share it with a competition.” Come on. We need to make a difference in our communities. Get it out. Let's get everyone out there aware of it. I appreciate you both. Any final comments? Let's start with you, Cerita. Are there any final comments you have?
I would say to all of the audience, this is not about what we can do separately. It's about what we can do together, and it's going to take all of us working together, all lenders, everybody participating in this space to make a difference in these communities in advance home ownership. Remember that as you're thinking about it, it does take a village when it comes to home ownership, given all of the different things that we're going through in our industry right now.
There is hope. There is light at the end of the tunnel. There is opportunity still, and people are still buying homes. Let's make sure that we get out there and create a dynamic where we can instill confidence into these communities that need it most and so that they can be reminded that there is opportunity and it's out there for them.
[bctt tweet="People are still buying homes. Do your part in instilling confidence in underserved communities to remind them that there are opportunities for them out there." username=""]
I appreciate that so much. Taeko, final word.
I want to say not only are we very passionate about this program and the work that we're doing in these communities, but it's great to hear our correspondent customers say the same thing that they're also passionate as well. Being involved in this program helps us to promote our purpose here at Chase. That is to make dreams possible for everyone, everywhere, every day. With that, I want to say thank you for inviting us to your show, and hopefully, your audience will get a lot out of it.
I know they have. I told a lot of my customers and clients that we're consulting to you guys about this program, and they're saying, “When can you get this released?” I've got now a lot of pressure to get this out, and we will get it shared. We are getting thousands of downloads every single day. This word will get out. We encourage our audience again to pass this around, make our industry aware of these programs. Let's make sure that that $30 billion gets fully utilized 100%. Cerita, Taeko, thank you so much for being here with us. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation.
Thank you.
Taeko is the Correspondent Community Lending Director – Responsible for the development and implementation of the Correspondent Community Lending Program (CLP), working with Correspondent Client to participate in our program which contributes to the Firm’s Fair Lending Goals and Racial Equity Commitment.
Prior to becoming the Executive Director for Community Lending in January 2022, Taeko was a Correspondent Relationship Manager for CLP in October of 2020, and assisted with the development and implementation for the CLP Program covering our smaller Independent Mortgage Bankers.
Prior to her current role, she served as a Correspondent Account Executive covering B2B client relationships in the East division for 13 years at Chase, and was awarded Home Lending National Achiever in 2009
Taeko began her mortgage career as an Underwriter in 1986 and throughout her tenure, Taeko obtained a diverse knowledge of mortgage banking which includes underwriting, operations management, wholesale lending, mortgage insurance and
correspondent lending.
Taeko was a charter member of the National Association of Professional Mortgage Women and served as local chapter President as well as the National Board Director and was awarded a Kentucky Colonel at the annual convention in 1999. Taeko continues to participate in industry functions, including the Mortgage Bankers
Association.
Taeko is a 1982 graduate of SUNY Oneonta with a BA in Sociology/Psychology and a 1991 graduate of the National School of Banking at Fairfield University in CT. Taeko grew up in Brooklyn New York and now lives in Western NY in the Beautiful Finger Lakes area with her husband and three very independent cats.
About Cerita Battles
Cerita is the Managing Director, Head of Community & Affordable Lending at JPMorgan Chase. She has 34 years of experience in the financial industry with 26 years specifically dedicated to mortgage. As the head of Community & Affordable Lending, Cerita is responsible for building, implementing and ensuring the execution of the company’s strategic plan to enable and increase sustainable homeownership among low-to-moderate income consumers and communities, the full economic spectrum of minority consumers and communities, as well as active duty servicemembers and veterans across the United States.
Cerita has held several leadership positions within Home Lending and other major banking institutions. She is well respected within the mortgage industry and known for her passion and strategic vision as it relates to advancing homeownership within minority communities. In 2012, Cerita was identified by the Florida Diversity Council as one of the ‘Most Influential Women in the State of Florida’. She’s also affiliated with multiple corporate boards in the industry such as Freddie Mac’s Advisory Housing Council, Fannie Mae’s Affordable Housing Advisory Council, Mortgage Bankers Association Affordable and DE&I Councils, National Housing Conference Black Collaborative, OCC’s Project Reach, and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers Corporate Advisory Council. She was the 2022 Chairwoman for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Profession’s Corporate Board of Governors and served on the Asian Real Estate of America’s Housing Advisory Board.
Cerita graduated from the University of Phoenix where she earned her Bachelors in Business Management. She is a native of St. Augustine, Florida where she currently resides with her husband Ronald Battles, and their beautiful 19 year-old daughter, Myka Renae. Cerita is an ordained minister and reverend at St. Paul A.M.E. Church in St. Augustine, Florida and is a licensed Zumba instructor.
I’m very glad to be here and hopefully, we can cover some information that'll be very interesting to you.
We're excited to have both of you here on the show. I’m very excited to be talking about this very important topic. For audiences that do not know who you are, I would like to have both of you just give a brief introduction to yourself so our audience can get to know you. Cerita, since you're the manager director, we'll start at the top. Let's go with you.
First of all, you've already indicated how long I've been in the industry. One of the things that people need to know about me specifically is that I do consider the work that I do as ministry. I always feel like I call it ministry because I don't look at it as a job. I don't even really look at it as a career. I look at it as being purposeful about serving the customers that are seeking and looking to be served by way of homeownership. That's a little bit about me from a business perspective.
Other than that, I am a wife. I am a mother. She keeps me up at night, but at the same time, my husband and I still try to go to sleep. We are empty nesters right now. I would say, another little tidbit about me is there's a little sidebar, two things. I'm a Zumba instructor and a preacher. I happen to be an executive. With those three things going together, you can imagine that I'm a force to be reckoned with.
What I love about what you just said, especially about the ministry part of it, is that the most transformative thing you can have happened to someone's life is if you get a strong faith. That's the number. One second thing is to find the spouse that you can be your life partner. It's the second most transformative thing. The third most important thing is to have a family and to raise them up. The fourth most transformative thing, I believe, is getting people into a home. It will do more to transform.
Those who have been less fortunate may grow up in dysfunctional families and be able to give people. That's why I'm so passionate. I've been doing this for years, Cerita, and I delight that you boldly say what you said in your introduction. I'm applauding that. Way to go. Taeko, again, wonderful smile. Tell us a little bit about your background and how you got to where you're at.
I have been at JPMorgan Chase or Chase Bank for years. My mortgage background spans longer. I started in this business as an underwriter/originator. We took the application, underwrote the file, closed it, funded it, and did everything all in one. That's where I started to get my passion for helping clients, customers, or borrowers get into homes.
When they approached me about starting this program, I was an account executive or client relationship manager, where I visited correspondent clients to do business with them. They said, “Would you be willing to start this program for community lending?” I was all in because I thought, “This is great. This is in my wheelhouse. This is what I really want to do.” We started the planning of the program back in 2020. It has grown to where it is now. I know we'll get into that a little later. I am very proud of the program and the accomplishments that we've made with it.
It is such a significant program because it talks about community and lending. It's helping people get into that first-time home. That's what locked me in the industry. I came out of college, didn't know what I wanted to do, and got into a bank. I was a DE underwriter. HUD was launching its DE program. I was one of the first to go through the training and I was an originator. I shared that with you in common as well.
I'll never forget the first loan I did. What has kept me in this is the couple that I was helping had been turned down three times by other companies. I could see their desire. I saw the need for a home. I could get a sense. I took them on as a ministry, almost, Cerita, going back to your point. We're still friends to this day. That first loan I did, I made a difference in their lives because I stuck with them.
I believed in them. I fought for them. They kept that home, handled it well, sold it, and went on. I love those stories, but I can't wait to get more into what programs Chase is offering. Cerita, back to you and both of you can comment on this, but I'm interested in the programs that Chase is offering and then roll into the community lending program.
From my perspective, I always like to say that Chase offers an array of products and programs. The reason I say that is because those products and programs seek to meet the home financing needs of each person individually. With that said, I always like to tell people that Chase is open for business. We offer products and programs from our government programs like FHA and VA. We offer conforming, conventional programs, 30-year fixed, 20-year, 15-year. We also offer jumbo programs as well for the more affluent, and so on and so forth.
With that said, we offer an array of products and programs. More specifically, some of the products and programs that we've come up with feed into our need to focus more on advancing homeownership among minorities and low to moderate-income borrowers across the board. There are a lot of different dynamics that are playing out within our organization. We have a five-year commitment, $30 billion focused on racial equity commitment, particularly among Blacks and Hispanics.
As a result of that, I would say in 2021, we came out with our special purpose credit program that a lot of people have heard about. It's our $5,000 grant program that a customer doesn't have to qualify for, and the property qualifies for it. If you're located in one of the 15,000 neighborhoods that we offer this program in across the country, then if the property is located there and you're purchasing that property, you get this $5,000 grant.
Taeko is the Correspondent Community Lending Director – Responsible for the development and implementation of the Correspondent Community Lending Program (CLP), working with Correspondent Client to participate in our program which contributes to the Firm’s Fair Lending Goals and Racial Equity Commitment.
Prior to becoming the Executive Director for Community Lending in January 2022, Taeko was a Correspondent Relationship Manager for CLP in October of 2020, and assisted with the development and implementation for the CLP Program covering our smaller Independent Mortgage Bankers.
Prior to her current role, she served as a Correspondent Account Executive covering B2B client relationships in the East division for 13 years at Chase, and was awarded Home Lending National Achiever in 2009
Taeko began her mortgage career as an Underwriter in 1986 and throughout her tenure, Taeko obtained a diverse knowledge of mortgage banking which includes underwriting, operations management, wholesale lending, mortgage insurance and
correspondent lending.
Taeko was a charter member of the National Association of Professional Mortgage Women and served as local chapter President as well as the National Board Director and was awarded a Kentucky Colonel at the annual convention in 1999. Taeko continues to participate in industry functions, including the Mortgage Bankers
Association.
Taeko is a 1982 graduate of SUNY Oneonta with a BA in Sociology/Psychology and a 1991 graduate of the National School of Banking at Fairfield University in CT. Taeko grew up in Brooklyn New York and now lives in Western NY in the Beautiful Finger Lakes area with her husband and three very independent cats.
Cerita is the Managing Director, Head of Community & Affordable Lending at JPMorgan Chase. She has 34 years of experience in the financial industry with 26 years specifically dedicated to mortgage. As the head of Community & Affordable Lending, Cerita is responsible for building, implementing and ensuring the execution of the company’s strategic plan to enable and increase sustainable homeownership among low-to-moderate income consumers and communities, the full economic spectrum of minority consumers and communities, as well as active duty servicemembers and veterans across the United States.
Cerita has held several leadership positions within Home Lending and other major banking institutions. She is well respected within the mortgage industry and known for her passion and strategic vision as it relates to advancing homeownership within minority communities. In 2012, Cerita was identified by the Florida Diversity Council as one of the ‘Most Influential Women in the State of Florida’. She’s also affiliated with multiple corporate boards in the industry such as Freddie Mac’s Advisory Housing Council, Fannie Mae’s Affordable Housing Advisory Council, Mortgage Bankers Association Affordable and DE&I Councils, National Housing Conference Black Collaborative, OCC’s Project Reach, and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers Corporate Advisory Council. She was the 2022 Chairwoman for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Profession’s Corporate Board of Governors and served on the Asian Real Estate of America’s Housing Advisory Board.
Cerita graduated from the University of Phoenix where she earned her Bachelors in Business Management. She is a native of St. Augustine, Florida where she currently resides with her husband Ronald Battles, and their beautiful 19 year-old daughter, Myka Renae. Cerita is an ordained minister and reverend at St. Paul A.M.E. Church in St. Augustine, Florida and is a licensed Zumba instructor.