Blog Entry #10

Date: September 3, 2010

Reflection: Working at Prime Mortgage Lending Inc. was a great experience and I think it was a great place to introduce me to the work atmosphere. Coming in I didn’t know what to expect and the office showed me that it can be casual and fun at times which takes a lot of pressure off. Everyone in the office was really nice and welcoming and I never felt like an outsider as it was easy to carry a conversation with them. I would definitely do it over again as the experience of a real office was invaluable. Thank you everyone from Prime Mortgage Lending Inc. for making my experience a great time.

Blog Entry #9

Date: September 3, 2010

Activities: Reduce file sizes, miscellaneous tasks

Technical Information: Adobe Reader Pro

Reflection: In the last week of my internship there was not a whole lot for me to do so I spent the majority of the time doing whatever tasks anyone around the office needed. This was not a lot as it was a fairly quiet week and not much came in. This lead me to reduce file sizes for John to make room on the server.

I wouldn’t say exactly proud because it’s not as if I did anything spectacular, but I was happy with myself for not making anything terrible happen.

Blog Entry #8

Date: August 27, 2010

Activities: Scanned documents and looked for pages containing stamped seal

Technical Information: Scanner, Microsoft Excel

Reflection: A new stack of loans were processed and it was time for me to return to scanning this week. I got through about three stacks this week and I think my efficiency in scanning has greatly improved. While I was scanning this week, I had to look for certain documents that had to be kept separate because they had a special liability signature on them. When I found these documents I recorded it in a spreadsheet with all of those files’ names.

My duties have not really changed at all that much, just different tasks but they bestowed confidence in me from the beginning so I was always given a good deal of responsibility.

Blog Entry #7

Date: August 20, 2010

Activities: Hanging calendar board, setup temporary workstation, make a template sheet, be the receptionist

Technical Information: Power drill, Desktop computer and accessories, Microsoft Word

Reflection: Surprisingly, there were not any documents for me to scan this week. I did however get to make a template sheet in word to serve as the cover for all of the loans coming into office. I had to use my vivid knowledge of word to adjust line spacing and font size to make it easy to read and write on. I also got to use a power drill in order to fasten wall mounts to hold up a white board calendar. Lastly I set up another temporary workstation for the IT guy.

The only problems that usually occur in the office are if there is a printer jam or the computer is not working. Luckily I haven’t had the pleasure of changing the toner because they told me stories about the toner container blowing up on someone. Some of the computers were a little dated so sometimes they did not like to boot up normally and those were the main problems.

Blog Entry #6

Date: August 17, 2010

Activities: Connect a laptop to a server, be the receptionist

Technical Information: Laptop, Internet, Server

Reflection: This week, one of my coworkers got a net book and wanted to upload the software, POINT, onto her net book and be able to access the company’s information at her home. This was a little more difficult than setting up the workstation because the net book was not being directly connected to the network via cable. I had to go on the server’s website and uploaded the server information onto her computer so she could do some of her work from home. I also got to answer the door for all the people that came in for appointments.

Generally, you have to have a Bachelors Degree but not in a specific course to work as a processor. You have to be certified and generally you move through the company with experience.

Blog Entry #5

Date: August 12, 2010

Activities: Setup a computer, scan documents

Technical Information: Computer, Network Drive, Scanner

Reflection: Yesterday I set up a workstation for a new coworker coming to the office. I got to apply all the stuff I learned about servers to this task because this computer was not loaded with the new server information. After doing this it was back to scanning as there were a couple more stacks of folders. By now I have become a master at removing paper clips and staples in order to scan all the pages and not damage the scanner.

My main contribution to the office is doing any work that the loan officers or processors don’t have time to take care of. This mostly includes scanning and reducing files sizes to keep the office organized but it also includes organizing spreadsheets and helping with IT projects. Doing these tasks helps my coworkers do the tasks that they are actually hired to do and not the busy work that comes as a byproduct of their jobs.

Blog Entry #4

Date: August 5, 2010

Activities: Scanning files, helping the IT guy

Technical Information: Scanner, Computer, Adobe Reader, Network Server

Reflection: The Company is currently in the process of upgrading to a better server so Chris is using my assistance with the transition. Chris did pretty much all the work over the weekend but I helped reset all of the computers in the office and reopened the network drives on all of them. Also, I continued my pursuit of scanning every folder in the office and reducing the file size. Usually every time I finish scanning a stack, a new stack a couple feet high comes to greet me.

Classroom experiences that have helped me with this internship so far have mainly been learning how to use Excel and all the functions on it along with learning how to use hardware such as a scanner. I wish I could have learned something more about servers and how to connect different computers to certain servers.

Blog Entry #3

Date: August 2, 2010

Activities: Mostly the same as the previous 20 hours

Technical Information: Scanner, Computer, Adobe Reader

Reflection: Over that past few days I’ve mainly been scanning more folders and reducing the file sizes. I think they really needed me for this because I don’t think any of the employees had anytime to do this before. I’ve never seen so many folders in my life. Luckily the scanner is very fast and does not take too much time to scan one folder. I also met one of the IT guys, Chris, today and he said he would probably have some things for me to do later in the week.

Decisions of large magnitude are almost always run through either Ralph or John as they are the most experienced and highest ranked. The dress code is pretty casual, just a polo shirt and khaki pants for most guys. Also, Fridays are very casual and you can wear shorts. The work Ethic of the company is good seeing as they get many loans through there office and they process almost all of them successfully.

Blog Entry #2

Date: July 28, 2010

Activities: Miscellaneous tasks to help the office

Technical Information: Scanner, Computer, Adobe Reader

Reflection: As said in the description I do any task that anyone in the office needs help with. My main task for the past 20 hours was scanning loan files into the computer. This was an important task because there are sometimes over 400 pages in these documents and the office cannot hold that many documents. Each page in a document is very important so it was imperative that I make sure every sheet in the file was scanned. Once I scanned a certain number of files into the computer I would go into each file and reduce the file size on each document to free up room on the server.

For now I am mainly working by myself with Ralph giving me most of my projects. Sometimes Maddy and Jennifer also have projects for me in the processing department though.

Blog Entry #1

Date: July 22, 2010

Activities: Completed office tasks and helped the company organize client information.

Technical Information: Computer with dual-monitor setup, Microsoft Excel, and Adobe Reader Pro.

Reflection: Prime Mortgage Lending, Inc. provides home loans to people looking for the best option in financing a home. The main loan programs are purchase, refinance, debt consolidation, home equity loans, second mortgages, and home improvement loans. The three main types of loans Prime Mortgage Lending, Inc. does are fixed loans (rates stay the same over the time period), FHA loans (Government Programs), and VA loans (military personnel).

The first thing I did when I arrived to work was to setup my workstation. It was pretty cool because this was the first time I setup or used a dual monitor configuration. Once I got my station set up I began organizing a spreadsheet of all the loans in the system. I also got to edit the company’s loan chart using Excel and Adobe Reader Pro. The main structure of the company is divided into loan officers and processors. The processors receive all the incoming loan applications and put the loan together while the loan officers serve as the intermediary between a client and bank.