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For all of its advancements over the past decade, social media is still the Wild West in terms of trying to police behavior. The days of anonymous posters spouting off and trolling others are far from over, but that doesn’t mean that efforts to moderate content are not making serious strides. In fact, Forbes published an article over the weekend suggesting compliance scoring as a way to automate moderation. It’s a very interesting idea and worth a read if you haven’t caught wind of how big data and AI can be used to gamify social media to reward positive interactions and behavior and punish negative or destructive behavior. As a result compliance to sites’ policies and guidelines would be much more transparent than it is today. As technology continues to evolve, doors are opened that can lead to more sophisticated compliance measures. This is also true in the lending industry as loan origination systems incorporate more automation, reporting and other functionality to help financial institutions comply with regulatory standards.

Collections compliance could be in for some big changes in the near future. So that’s why we recently hosted a webinar to discuss how a proposed rule change to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and how it might affect collections technology and processes, if passed. In case you’re unfamiliar with the FDCPA, it is a federal law that governs debt collection practices. The FDCPA prohibits debt collection companies from using abusive, unfair or deceptive practices to collect debts. The presentation was very informative, but we also fielded questions from attendees near the end of the webinar. Here are just a few of the questions that were addressed:

My car isn’t really that old, but it’s old enough to where I held my breath last month when I took it in for an emissions check so I could renew my registration. Luckily, it passed, and I didn’t have to visit my mechanic for needed repairs – unlike a friend of mine. She’s looking at a pretty hefty price tag before her car meets regulatory standards and her registration can be renewed.  Whether it’s your car or something much more serious like your financial institution’s loan software, finding the best solution to help meet regulatory standards as well as a trust-worthy provider can sometimes be harder than expected.

While digital lending, robust decisioning and cross-sell functionality are all atop most financial institutions’ list of priorities when evaluating loan origination systems that could properly fit with their goals, processes and strategies, regulatory compliance still finds its way into the mix – and rightfully so.  As regulatory pressures continue to mount, financial institutions need technology they can count on to help them meet compliance requirements and efficiently handle regulatory audits. Regardless of the system you choose in the end, here are three best practices your solution should satisfy that will ease the burden of regulatory compliance:

The 2008 financial crisis brought more attention to one crucial aspect of the financial system, which was the delay in the recognition of losses by financial institutions. At the peak of the crisis and under stressed conditions, it became clear that the methodologies and procedures in place at that time (and still in place today within some financial institutions) to estimate reserves resulted in inaccurate, underestimated and untimely allowances for losses.