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I N D U S T R Y I N S I G H T / R O Y A . D I A Z
Accurate business records are the foundation of
servicing and enforcement of promissory notes and
mortgages. Most of the mortgage loan servicing
process involves loans originated by others. Moreover,
a large portion of loans are involved in service
transfers, and therefore the records have been impacted by prior
mortgage loan servicers—in many cases, more than one. As a result,
it is critically important that the business records maintain reliability
from origination to prior servicing, and ultimately to transferring
into a new servicer.
Evaluating the reliability of mortgage loan
records involves two aspects of focus. First are
the legal requirements associated with enforcing
promissory notes and mortgages, such as
proper endorsements, physical possession of the
collateral, and proper assignment of mortgages.
e second aspect involves proper loan business
records, such as loan histories, escrow histories,
system notes, and correspondence such as
demand letters. It is this latter portion that is
impacted most by loans and servicing data that
transfer from one servicing entity to another.
e process created to assure proper transfer is
known as the "boarding process," or onboarding
procedures.
Several Florida circuit courts have recently
addressed the onboarding procedures of
mortgage loan servicers. Courts are more closely
scrutinizing a servicer's boarding procedures
to determine whether documentary evidence
created by a prior servicer, but proffered into
evidence at the trial by a subsequent servicer,
will be deemed admissible. Generally, if
a document is not created by a party to a
