Guest: John Haring, Head of Compliance, Wilqo

In this episode, Brian sits down with longtime “MISMITE” and compliance veteran John Haring, now Head of Compliance at Wilqo, a production optimization platform (“Charlie”) that unifies POS, LOS, AI, and BI in a single environment.

John shares his unconventional path into mortgage, why he believes compliance is how you keep your money, and how MISMO collaboration has shaped everything from HMDA and URLA to the new Mortgage Compliance Dataset (MCD). The conversation digs into AI, exams, and why alignment between lenders, vendors, and regulators is quietly becoming a serious competitive advantage.

• John’s path into mortgage

  • Moving from “true retail” compliance into mortgage

  • Getting licensed as an LO and learning the business from the ground up

  • Growing from small broker shops to VP of Compliance at a large multi-state lender

• From lender to tech: 13 years at the “800-pound gorilla”

  • Why early GFE, LO Comp, and NMLS changes made tech essential for compliance

  • How John became a conduit between lenders, MISMO/NMLS working groups, and Encompass

  • Turning dense regulations into practical software requirements

• The power of MISMO working groups

  • What it’s actually like to sit in MISMO/NMLS working sessions

  • “Safety in numbers” vs going it alone on big regulatory changes

  • The birth of iLAD and harmonizing the new URLA with real-world data needs

  • The career upside: relationships, reputation, and personal brand

• Why vendors need MISMO: table stakes for tech

  • Why supporting MISMO is the “base language” for mortgage technology

  • The risk of building compliance logic in isolation

  • Company benefit vs personal benefit from being at the table

• Inside Wilqo and the Production Optimization Platform (“Charlie”)

  • What a POP is and how Charlie differs from a traditional LOS

  • Bringing POS, LOS, AI, BI, and the consumer into one platform

  • Parallel processing, multiple users in the same file, and consumer-friendly UI

  • The advantage of an emerging platform built by industry veterans

• AI through a compliance lens

  • Why using AI for credit underwriting is high-impact, high-risk

  • Framing AI as “how do we get to yes safely?” instead of “no”

  • Using AI to surface discrepancies, automate stare-and-compare, and empower underwriters

  • The balance between automation and the human relationship with the borrower

• The Mortgage Compliance Dataset (MCD)

  • Lessons learned from the earlier LEF approach

  • How false positives and scattered data (LOS, PPE, doc engine) drove costs up

  • Why a MISMO-driven, multi-vendor standard is different this time

  • How better, trusted electronic exams can reduce onsite visits and lender costs

• Compliance as competitive advantage

  • John’s “hierarchy of pain”: regulators vs investors vs class-action attorneys

  • Why strong exams reduce repurchase and litigation risk

  • How more efficient compliance can keep more margin in the lender’s pocket

  • Ultimately, how this work benefits consumers through better, more stable execution

• John Haring on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-haring-6077641/

• Wilqo – Production Optimization Platform: https://wilqo.com/

• MISMO: (https://www.mismo.org/membership/become-a-mismo-member)