Do You Have the Right Loss Mitigation Partner for COVID-19?

It is hard to imagine that we are approaching the three-month mark for working under COVID-19. Keeping up with industry change as we continue to grapple with pandemic disaster has kept us all on our toes, from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to CFPB guidance to regular investor updates. Now more than ever, vendor partnership is an essential component to success. It's important to partner with an experienced, nimble innovator that can understand your unique needs, in addition to managing the ongoing maze of regulatory guidance.

As an experienced provider of next-generation automated loss mitigation underwriting and disaster relief workflow, Clarifire maintains applicable agency updates and investor guidance, regularly publishing thought leadership insight. However, at Clarifire, we differentiate ourselves as a vendor by taking pride in growing through both industry and client experience. By listening and automating the operational obstacles that our clients face and genuinely understanding where the gaps and deficiencies occur, we have had the opportunity to grow CLARIFIRE® both organically and technically. This positioning, process automation expertise, and best in breed product, create a future-oriented delivery methodology of fluid, iterative industry changes and solutions consistently captured in the application.

Rapid & Versatile Implementation

Smaller vendor partners with big enterprise applications afford servicers the ability to promptly address changing agency requirements and program offerings, as well as automate visibility into events, timelines, borrower communications, disbursements, and more. CLARIFIRE® is a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) application that delivers a rapid, more cost-effective, and enhanced user experience for your customers and your users, which is readily accessible across your organization with or without replacing existing systems. There is no notice in the pandemic environment, and both the borrower and servicer feel a huge impact. There is not the luxury of time to wait for significant system updates to catch up, wait for release issue corrections, or worse, resort to the industry habit of relying on spreadsheets and other one-off workarounds to keep processes on track and hoping to assist borrowers.

Client-Centric Specialization

Clarifire has dedicated its focus to client satisfaction since day one. With a strong commitment to make a meaningful operational difference and achieve real results for servicers while simultaneously allowing the flexibility necessary for individual companies to compete, Clarifire provides a versatile approach supported by 24/7 self-serve options. Additionally, the CLARIFIRE® application design enables business personnel to make necessary updates, avoiding the reliance on IT availability and implementation schedules. This client-centric approach optimizes the servicer and borrower experience and delivers proven results.

May & June Agency Updates

In making sure servicing clients can stay abreast of ongoing loss mitigation guidance under COVID-19, Clarifire identifies and implements applicable agency updates. The months of May and June have included a number of new forbearance and loss mitigation updates, many of which Clarifire has automated in bulk capacity. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, under the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) guidance, introduced:

• Payment deferral repayment option is available July 1, whereby past due
  mortgage payments can be deferred, so they become due when the mortgage is paid in full, with no change to the existing mortgage payment amount.
• Foreclosure and eviction moratorium has been extended twice, from May 17 to June 30 to August 31.
• Refinance, and home purchase eligibility will be available to borrowers that have come out of forbearance after three months of consecutive payments under repayment, payment deferral, or modification. Also, loans in forbearance may continue to be delivered to the GSEs through August 31.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued Federal Housing Administration (FHA) COVID-19 updates in both May and the first half of June including:

• Mortgagee Letter 2020-13 and 2020-19 have extended the foreclosure
  and eviction moratorium for mortgages on occupied homes with the most recent ML extending through August 31.
• Mortgagee Letter 2020-16 permits the mortgagee to pursue endorsement of loans placed in forbearance under COVID-19, subject to a two-year partial indemnification. Additionally, the mortgage must have been current at the time of forbearance.

The Veterans Administration has also followed suit with several new circulars
that apply to forbearance under the CARES Act:

• Circular 26-20-18 and 26-20-23 extend the COVID-19 foreclosure moratorium on properties secured by VA loans up through August 31.
• Circular 26-20-19 provided a reminder on forbearance guidance under COVID-19.
• Circular 26-20-21 temporarily suspended property inspection requirements for loans in CARES Act forbearance.

Clarifire is a Trusted Partner

With ongoing rapid change that affects the servicing industry, mortgage servicers must not trade a dedicated and experienced partner for big-box solutions. These alternatives are incapable of offering a truly flexible and innovative approach that is quick to respond and implements your longstanding branded approach to doing business. To find out more about your options for partnership under COVID-19, visit eClarifire.com or contact us directly at 866.222.3370.

Let us show you how to future-proof your organization with CLARIFIRE^®.

Jane Mason | @janemasonceo

Jane has applied her vast experience (over 25 years) operating process-driven businesses to successfully redefine client-focused service. Jane has worked with expert programmers to apply cutting-edge web-based technology to automate complex processes in industries such as Financial Services, Healthcare and enterprise workflow. Her vision confirms Clarifire's trajectory as a successful, scaling, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider. A University of South Florida graduate, Jane has received many awards related to her entrepreneurial skills.

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