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88 Founded in 2007, RoundPoint is a lead- ing, national coissue servicer, loan subservicer, and residential mortgage lender. As one of the nation's largest nonbank mortgage servicers, it currently services more than $75 billion worth of mortgage assets and is authorized to service loans in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. e company is headquar- tered in Charlotte with an office in Dallas. Thinking Differently About Natural Disasters In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Texas Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush released a report listing recommendations on how to better handle disasters in the future. "Hurricane Harvey: Texas At Risk" includes 18 recommendations aimed at all levels of govern- ment. "Preparedness and mitigation are the best remedies to address the threats posed by natural disasters," Commissioner Bush said. "As the first state agency in Texas history to partner with FEMA on the short-term housing mission, as well as the designated lead for long-term CDBG-DR administration, the GLO has been uniquely positioned to identify and assess issues that hinder housing-recovery efforts. I appreciate the local, state, and federal officials who contrib- uted their candor and expertise to the drafting of these recommendations which provides a comprehensive roadmap for innovating flood mitigation and making recovery more expedi- tious and cost effective in the future." Included in Bush's report are suggestions focused on federal housing buyback programs. e proposal suggests accelerating these programs for homes which repeatedly flood, taking the homes out of use and turning the property into green space. Additionally, Bush calls for the merging of the disaster-housing programs of FEMA, HUD, and the SBA into one agency to eliminate competi- tion which slows down response time. Many investors purchased storm-damaged homes at signifcantly reduced prices following Hurricane Harvey. Bush proposes additional funds for state and county buyback programs to purchase these homes as well, as they currently cannot compete with private investors. e pur- pose of these purchases is, as mentioned above, to remove repeatedly flood-damaged homes from the market, as Texas law currently does not require landlords to disclose whether a home has flooded or sits in a floodplain. In addition, Bush calls for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to rating indicates positive relative servicing quality within a particular category. Moody's SQ assessments represent its view of a servicer's ability to prevent or mitigate asset pool losses across changing markets. e assess- ment scale ranges from SQ1 (strong) to SQ 5 (weak). Where appropriate, a "+" or "-" modifier will be appended to the relevant assessment to indicate a servicer's relative servicing quality within a particular category. a360inc and National Creditors Bar Association Announce National Partnership a360inc, a Dallas, Texas-based technol- ogy and outsourcing solutions company, and National Creditors Bar Association (NCBA) announced a national partnership designed to provide access to compliance training programs for the bar association's more than 500 law firms and their staffs, as well as NCBA's in-house counsel members. The customized online portal, hosted by a360inc and available to NCBA members, currently offers 10 compliance training courses specific to the practice of creditors' rights law. The initial course "rewrite the formula for the allocation of funding to municipal and county governments directing aid to low- and moderate-income people so that all people in these categories are assisted." In the past, disaster relief focused heavily on pre- dominantly low-income areas. is leaves other low-income families in mostly high-income areas without assistance. Instead, the Texas Land Office suggests amending HUD regulations to include all low- and moderate-income families impacted by a disaster. Rushmore's Rating Surges on Servicing Practices Recently, Texas-based Rushmore Loan Management Services achieved an SQ assess- ment of SQ 3+ from Moody's Investor Service. Moody's rating is a result of the servicer's above-average collection abilities, loss-mitigation results, and foreclosure timelines. Moody's noted that Rushmore enhanced its collection abilities by improving its overall customer experience. Rushmore separated its customer service and collections call center groups to better focus on the customer and implemented workforce management software to improve call center efficiency, Moody's analy- sis of the servicer noted. Rushmore's prime loss-mitigation abilities were considered above average as well. is was due in part to the enhancements made to the company's loss mitigation system during the review period. Rushmore's special servicing foreclosure and REO timeline were also given a good rating by Moody's, due to its improved preforeclosure process, which features auto docu- ment retrieval functions, which Moody's noted may shorten foreclosure timelines. Additionally, the ratings agency upgraded Rushmore's servicing stability component assess- ment from below average to average. Invest- ment in technology, as well as an experienced management team and a strong method of monitoring performance all contributed to an overall stronger servicing segment, according to Moody's analysis. Rushmore is an originator, servicer, and special servicer of mortgage loans with offices in Irvine, California; Dallas, Texas; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Rushmore's residential mortgage service portfolio contained 166,925 loans with an unpaid principal balance of around $29.5 billion as of December 2017. Rushmore's previous SQ assessment, on August 15, 2016 resulted in an SQ 3 rating as a special servicer. e "+" in Rushmore's current