David Wiegand places 1st in tournament
By PAULA PARISOT
9/21/2005

Underwriting mortgage loans and understanding complex program guidelines might not seem anything like a word game -- but there are a few similarities, according to one mortgage underwriter who recently won the National Scrabble Championship.

"Underwriting solves puzzles, working with credit and numbers," David Wiegand told MortgageDaily.com. "It's very similar to some (Scrabble) game situations."

The 31-year-old married father of two said he graduated from Reed College in Portland, having earned his degree in mathematics.

Wiegand, an underwriter for Lake Oswego, Ore.-based Hyperion Capital Group, said he has been with the wholesale lender for seven months and underwrites about 150, mostly A paper, Alt-A, and reduced docs loans, a month.

Prior to working for Hyperion, Wiegand said he spent nine years as a contract underwriter for PMI.

Attention to detail in underwriting for almost a decade, and thirteen years of competitive Scrabble playing culminated last month in Reno, Nev., when Wiegand walked away the winner of the $25,000 grand prize after playing in a 5-day tournament.

The best word Wiegand used during the tournament, he said was, "E U L A C H O N." It scored 90 points to help him catch first place -- hook, line, and sinker.

"It's a kind of a fish," Wiegand explained of the uncommon word and what it takes to win a word game championship.

There are 120,000 words that can be used in the game, he said, and he studies them all. "I study word lists, mainly on the computer," Wiegand said, "to keep learning words, to keep practicing."

He said he doesn't have a photographic memory but thinks the word study does help with memory retention when learning new loan program guidelines and memorizing data for his job.

Wiegand said his wife Chris and both of his daughters attended the event that was broadcast on closed circuit TV. The tournament is slated to air on ESPN next month.

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