Are you ready to put 2021 behind you? Mortgage servicers continue to try to keep up as their segment of the business is inundated by pandemic influence, shifting regulation, and industry digitization. Each of these areas can, and has, impeded a servicers’ ability to operate under the pressures of record-breaking volume, forcing the industry to lean toward a defensive or reactionary approach to business. It’s time to call on your best offensive strategies and accelerate into the New Year.

Since the Great Recession, servicing has borne the brunt of industry volatility, chastised for an ongoing lack of innovation, as well as deficient borrower education and engagement efforts. The result – default mortgage servicing has emerged as an essential area of the organization. The capacity to manage volatility and complexity while simultaneously ensuring accuracy, compliance, and the provision of borrower relief is a daily challenge. Take a look at just a few of the highlights from this past year and consider what obstacles your organization surpassed.

2021 Highlights

Forbearance – Having seen a peak in May of 2020, a year ago the entire industry stood poised wondering what, when, and how the “tsunami” of borrowers in forbearance would transition back into normal payment mode or modification programs.

Foreclosure – Leaving servicers responsible for investor advances, moratoriums that extended more times than one could imagine, and still today, foreclosure actions remain restricted.

LIBOR – In the midst of pandemic fervor, regulators remained determined to have servicers re-index the majority of adjustable-rate mortgages in their portfolio. This includes intricate operational adjustments, updated disclosures, and increased borrower communication.

FDCPA – Debt-related communications became more complex with disclosure requirements expanded under Regulation F. Changes were made to voicemail messaging, permitting messages with very specific content guidance, and social media usage is now allowable with explicit direct messaging requirements.

CFPB – Holding servicers accountable, mandates under the CARES Act quickly transitioned to CFPB warnings and onsite audits. Servicers remain under the magnifying glass to prevent foreclosure and provide relief (and proof of handling)

Full Steam Ahead in 2022

The servicing industry has worked diligently to maintain and excel under the ongoing pressures to perform no matter the obstacle. To hit this mark, servicers need to embrace a two-pronged approach that encompasses intelligent workflow automation, as well as meaningful borrower engagement.

Borrower Engagement – Having evolved significantly under COVID-19, immediacy and accessibility are the name of the game. Borrowers want robust and instantaneous access to information. It requires modern mortgage servicing software that accommodates change and is designed for 2022 and beyond. This software perfects the manufacturing line for default servicing is crucial. To meet the expectations of today’s borrowers it must offer a user-friendly, interactive, dynamic interface, as well as present critical data and real-time communications, decisioning, and flexibility. Most importantly, it must support a borrower’s ability to self-serve 24/7 from any device.

Smart Workflow – Process automation and workflow have been around for quite some time; however, intelligent, business rule-driven workflow automation software is not even remotely comparable to its predecessor. Current workflow supports organization-wide digitization, data sharing, and integration with applications and proprietary systems but falls short of providing one smart, seamless servicing process application. This is the difference between modern workflow automation software and outmoded workflow.

How CLARIFIRE^® Can Help

CLARIFIRE delivers a proven, easy-to-implement means to make your organization’s servicing processes intelligent. Taking the current static data from disparate applications and adding business rule-driven process automation, your organization can experience an interconnected, streamlined default mortgage servicing operation. CLARIFIRE offers workflow automation software that is ready to complement your existing systems, adding complex, scalable process automation designed to manage today’s borrower expectations. It’s time to prepare your organization to power through the obstacles that lay ahead with innovation that is both cutting-edge and cost-effective. Embrace an industry-proven mortgage servicing software in 2022 and Accelerate your Servicing Operations with CLARIFIRE. Reach out to us today at 866.222.3370 or visit us at eClarifire.com.

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