Loan Protector Says Flexibility is Key to Coverage.

Solon, OH -- For companies like Loan Protector here, being in the insurance tracking and verification business isn't as simple as it perhaps once was.

"The real industry trend is that more and more services are required to be in the lender-placed insurance business," said Ron Wiser, president of Loan Protector, in a recent interview with MSN.

For Loan Protector, that means offering operational outsourcing and other value-added services to its lender customer base in addition to just assisting with the placement of insurance on properties that lack coverage.

That has led Loan Protector to essentially re-engineer its business, adding a sister company that is devoted to software development that is used in Loan Protector's insurance operations. Because of the speed of technological changes affecting the mortgage industry, Mr. Wiser said that it has become crucial to constantly be improving products and services.

"Normally, 10 or 20 years ago, you wouldn't have seen that."

Why not just hire in-house computer programmers rather than creating a separate outfit? Mr. Wiser says that to attract and retain the best technology minds, you have to think outside the box and accommodate a work culture that is much more casual than a traditional insurance agency.

"We found that in order to get really top-notch graduates from technical schools, they not only need to be in a different company, they are in a whole different environment," he said.