As the housing industry prepares for the implementation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau servicing guidelines effective in January 2014, a small but important area of focus for mortgage servicers will be borrower outreach.
Field service companies that inspect and maintain vacant and foreclosed properties under the guidance of servicers and investors can assist in facilitating and complying with the following new guideline:
- Early intervention with delinquent borrowers. “Servicers must establish or make good faith efforts to establish live contact with borrowers by the 36th day of their delinquency and promptly inform such borrowers, where appropriate, that loss mitigation options may be available. In addition, a servicer must provide a borrower a written notice with information about loss mitigation options by the 45th day of a borrower’s delinquency. The rule contains model language servicers may use for the written notice.”
National field service companies employ a large network of contractors throughout the U.S. who can support borrower outreach in the process of performing routine inspections on defaulted properties.
Contractors can help disseminate information to defaulted borrowers regarding their loss mitigation options and foreclosure alternatives, and include a servicer point of contact for easy follow up.
Utilizing its network of 10,000 contractors across the country, Safeguard Properties has helped many of its mortgage servicing clients with such outreach. We have distributed materials encouraging troubled borrowers to contact their mortgage servicers for guidance. We also have helped to identify defaulted homes occupied by the families of active-duty service members and inform service members of their rights under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
In the process of providing damage assessments after major weather events, we also help disseminate servicer contact information, insurance information and other relevant communications to homeowners with property damage. National field service companies have the networks and tools in place to help their servicing clients comply with the CFPB’s new guidelines that focus on borrower outreach.
