DS News

58 Neil Sherman, Managing Partner of Schneiderman & Sherman, P.C., told DS News that "Two areas where we may have fallen off as an industry are continuing education and face-to-face communication." Sherman noted that, as foreclosure volumes have continued to dwindle, so too has the amount of interaction between servicers and law firms. "For a while, there were a number of servicer-based summits, and there was a lot more peer-to-peer interaction between the law firm community and the servicers." Sherman said he worries that the industry has moved away from that in recent years, and suggests that "it's important for us to get back to that as we start to see volumes increase again." Another concern cited by several experts DS News spoke to involved REO asset management and liquidation. "ere's so much capacity in the marketplace for that," said Dave Worrall, President of LoanCare. He added that the models and systems being developed within the auction space have the potential to have a strong impact on the next default cycle. "Certainly some of the programs related to the Claims Without Conveyance of Title (CWCOT) program have proven how efficient that process can be for liquidating hard-to- liquidate properties," Worrall said. "In many cases, you're getting execution that's on par with what you would get if you just went the old-fashioned way and marketed the property." Michael Harris, President and CEO of Exceleras, also pointed to the changing landscape of property inspections as another developing aspect that servicers need to be aware of and communicating about with their vendor partners. Harris told DS News that, a decade ago, inspectors "weren't doing inspections to make sure that the real properties still attached and the value is validated. ey were potentially taking possession of the property based on the trustee rights, under notice of abandonment." Harris notes that the nature of handling properties post-foreclosure has changed as well. "e same applies to post-foreclosure REO or even working with investors for buying or selling notes and managing real property," Harris said. "Back in the day, most all the interaction went through the real estate agent who was assigned to the subject property." Today, Harris explained, that is mostly not the case. "All the interaction, all the communication, all the workload is going directly to the service provider, as opposed to funneling through the agent." Jeff Smith, Head of Servicing at Wells Fargo, emphasized that customer service must remain a high priority in any environment. "Regardless of low delinquency rates or foreclosure volume, the fundamentals of helping customers sustain homeownership remains the highest priority," Smith said. "Providing exceptional service to a customer is key, whether it is a simple question from a customer who is current or assisting a customer who has a hardship explore options." INNOVATION VS. LEGACY With many industries working to leverage emergent technology to help improve efficiencies and return on investment, the default servicing industry is no different. As that technology advances, however, it inevitably brings with it new challenges on the compliance front, in implementation, and in old-fashioned trial and error. According to Gagan Sharma, President and CEO of BSI Financial Services, the industry continues to see an increased focus on automation and management of internal data. "How do we use technology to be cheaper, to be faster, to be more compliant?" Sharma asked. All of those questions can be further complicated by the nature of many legacy systems still in place within the servicing industry, many of which present challenges "Providing exceptional service to a customer is key, whether it is a simple question from a customer who is current or assisting a customer who has a hardship explore options." —Jeff Smith, Head of Servicing, Wells Fargo

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