DS News

62 servicers to have a strong IT department in place. "Most customers expect instant access to the information they need whenever and wherever. If a company is experiencing infrastructure downtime due to a disaster, customers lack access to that information, which becomes another area out of their control. With a strong IT and disaster preparedness plan in place, lenders can assure their borrowers that information is secure and available, and they are prepared to work with their borrowers to ensure 'business as usual,'" Comer said. "at plan might start with a disaster recovery solution that allows financial services organizations to keep their essential systems running by backing up systems, allowing for complete recovery of data, processes, and programs." It is also important for servicers to utilize the technology at hand at the right time according to O'Connell who gave an example of how drones helped Planet Home Lending in assessing the damages in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. "A servicer has to quickly access and approve the work to protect the property, if possible, before a disaster. During the aftermath of a storm, it can be difficult to assess the damage," he said. "Due to the amount of flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey, our teams could not get to the affected areas to assess the damage, so we worked with our preservation companies to deploy drones in selected areas." "Effective disaster recovery plans should involve the technology that will eliminate vulnerabilities by keeping information secure and accessible during and after a disaster," Comer said. "is should include content services systems hosted in a purposefully built cloud." e first line of defense in making the right business decisions before, during, and after the storm, however, remains the seamless partnership between mortgage lenders/ servicers and service providers such as property preservation companies. "Property preservation companies need to engage their mortgage servicing partners with customized, ongoing disaster updates," Green- baum said. "Researching projected impacted areas, pulling news articles on the impending storms, and comparing that information to the servicers' portfolios is key to providing them with as much information as possible so they can ef- fectively make better business decisions." PARTNERING TO PREPARE According to Hughes, open communication between servicers, agencies, and the administra- tion is the best way to ensure the specifics of the disasters properly shape potential policies. Price agreed, giving an example of how Wells Fargo was collaborating with state authorities to maintain communication around where resources were being deployed and where they needed to be. "We want the state and our other partners on the ground to know what we are doing for our customers in these communities so they can direct those in need to the resources that can help them recover and rebuild," Price said. "We've heard from the state and other partners that this approach is effec- tive, especially as the impacted communities transition from immediate relief efforts to the longer recovery process. However, a smooth rebuilding process can- not be achieved without insurance companies, according to O'Connell who said that currently, the amount of time it took to determine "what is insured damage versus what damage can be covered by government or community programs can be excessive." Partnerships and policies gain even more importance in the aftermath of certain disasters that are difficult to predict in advance. "In disasters that occur more suddenly, such as tornadoes and straight-line winds, the communication around the next steps typically happens after the disaster has occurred," Bill- ings said. "In these post-disaster conversations, the content covered is the same but the next step is the focus of the conversation. Prepared policies and procedures allow for the Home Loan Specialists to reach out to a borrower as soon as they're aware that a natural disaster has occurred, knowledgeable about what needs to happen to ensure their loan closes with as little interruption as possible." e confusion in the aftermath of a disaster also sees a lot of duplicated efforts by servicers. According to Williamson, there's an easy way around this if the industry works together. To help mitigate this overtaxing of resources and the potential creation of coordination issues, he suggested that the industry could do a more effective job by "working together to create a common and consistent set of response activi- ties for impacted borrowers and properties, balancing the requirements of the investor, servicer, and vendor." Additionally, he said that sharing impact data such as aerial imagery results or damage assessments from vendor inspections were some more ways in which "the industry could work together to accomplish a common goal of as- sessing impacts quickly and cost-effectively." Giving Wells Fargo's example of how public-private partnerships could work together to help streamline the recovery process, Price said that the bank leveraged the relationships it had built over the years to "deploy coordinated messages to local nonprofits, state and local government and national relationships." "ese include resource material and contact

• Cover