Safeguarding the integrity of your business has never been so important. Government
and other supervisory agencies are continually taking extensive measures to ensure
companies are complying with fixed regulations and guidelines. TrendSource serves
as the preventative partner, helping you identify and address discrepancies before
they become legal issues.
OnSite Inspections
As part of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
and the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLB),
consumer data may not be freely given to requesting parties who are not the consumer.
Instead, this information must be purchased from a credit bureau – Experian, Equifax,
and/or TransUnion, or a reseller. In addition to the application, three of the four
credit bureaus require a non-biased, third party inspection of the purchaser’s work
area to validate legitimacy, adequate security, and a permissible purpose. TrendSource’s
OnSite Inspection Department provides professional, fast, and accurate inspections
in both the United States and Canada.
We understand the importance of a swift, quality inspection report, realizing the
inspection is typically the last piece of the customer application process, so all
parties are eager for completion. TrendSource adheres to, and frequently beats,
the standard industry turnaround time of 72 hours. We ensure the inspection is accurate
and highly detailed through two verifications that are simultaneously documented
by the inspector – a written inspection and a visual (photographed) inspection.
Part of TrendSource’s Quality Review Process is to compare the inspections, confirming
that they reflect and complement each other. Each inspection is hand reviewed to
guarantee the highest precision.
HUD Compliance
The Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
works to strengthen the housing market and has instituted regulations for mortgage
companies, particularly for their satellite offices. As corporate offices may not
have the means to visit all of their satellite offices, TrendSource conducts inspections
on selected offices, providing an unbiased assessment as to whether the office space
complies with HUD standards.
CMS Marketing Surveillance
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
have set specific regulations on how insurance companies and their agents can market
to potential health plan enrollees. The goal is to protect Medicare beneficiaries
from deceptive or high-pressure marketing tactics by private insurance companies
and their representatives during enrollment activities. CMS conducts regular secret
shopping activities to identify organizations that are not meeting its marketing
and enrollment guidelines. Violations of CMS marketing standards can result in a
range of sanctions, from hefty monetary penalties to voluntary suspension or termination
from the program.
Are you confident that brokers, insurance agents and other marketing partners are
operating within CMS guidelines?
With over 200,000 beneficiaries becoming eligible for Medicare each month, the margin
for error is high—especially since CMS has recently tripled its number of Secret
Shopper interactions.
Proactively monitoring your sales and marketing activities will eliminate the danger
of voluntary or imposed suspension of marketing activity and termination from the
program. A Secret Shopper program will ensure:
- Your organization’s pre-enrollment marketing materials adhere to regulations
- Your sales agents are not practicing prohibited sales tactics
- All promotional activities and events are conducted in compliance with CMS marketing
guidelines
- Accurate information is provided to all beneficiaries
TrendSource designs custom Secret Shopping programs to monitor your organization’s
sales team and their level of compliance with CMS marketing guidelines. Our Secret
Shoppers schedule face-to-face sales appointments and attend sales events, monitoring
sales agents’ presentations for inaccurate information and prohibited sales tactics.
We can also evaluate their overall beneficiary customer service and sales skills,
while ensuring knowledge of policies and procedures.
Confirming compliance with CMS regulations has never been more important. TrendSource
will help you monitor your sales and marketing activities to identify any questionable
compliance issues before CMS learns of them.
