DSNews delivers stories, ideas, links, companies, people, events, and videos impacting the mortgage default servicing industry.
Issue link: http://digital.dsnews.com/i/1196094
16 The Best of Counsels Corner—2019 As we celebrate the new year, DS News brings you a look back at the knowledgeable attorneys who have shared their thoughts on the state of the financial services industry in 2019. Read on for insights into cybersecurity, managing compliance, and streamlining communications with servicer and vendor partners. Christopher Carman Litigation & Compliance Counsel, BSI Financial "Everything can be obtained now with the touch of a button, and that is light years from when I first started in the industry. Technology allows the servicer to better respond to its customer's needs, but it can also become something that the customer overuses to question the servicer when not necessary. I do believe these advances are good for the industry, as they allow for more production with fewer resources." Janaya L. Carter Managing Attorney, The Wolf Firm "Washington and Oregon have seen a unique challenge over the past few years in that we've seen a lot of trustee litigation that now has started to come to a resolution, and there were a lot of business expenses associated with defending that. ere were some questions about the interpretation of the statute dealing with non-judicial foreclosures. at's resolved to some extent, but that has, in the last few years, been a big challenge. On the Oregon front, the state has traditionally been a non-judicial state, and we saw a large-scale conversion to judicial over a four- or five-year period of time. e influx of that into the court system was a huge challenge." Michelle Garcia Gilbert Managing Partner, Gilbert Garcia Group, P.A. Technology is a great, untapped resource for default servicing. With the regular servicing of non-defaulted loans, servicers and lenders are using the technology to make it a seamless transaction for that borrower. ey can do everything electronically, manage their loan, and communicate with their servicer. e default space is different, and it's a case-by-case basis. Eventually, they're going to determine how to use technology best—utilizing technologies such as blockchain to improve efficiency, cut down on costs and the overhead, and generally streamline everything. "Technology is a great, untapped resource for default servicing. With the regular servicing of non- defaulted loans, servicers and lenders are using the technology to make it a seamless transaction for that borrower." —Michelle Garcia Gilbert, Managing Partner, Gilbert Garcia Group, P.A. Keena Newmark Managing Attorney of Bankruptcy Operations, Padgett Law Group "e purpose of bankruptcy is securing a fresh start. ere's no time limit to when that person's seeking it. So whether that's a default before the point of foreclosure or an act of foreclosure, that might be the first opportunity when they understand that bankruptcy might be the way for them to stay within their home and cure their arrearage. From a firm perspective, we make sure that once someone has filed bankruptcy, if there is an act of foreclosure in place, we're being mindful and stopping and proceeding in the state court aspect because of the stay." Richard Nielson Managing Shareholder, Reimer Law Co. "AI is something that law firms are finally starting to explore, and I think the technology is finally catching up with a lot of AI possibilities. Many of us are looking at artificial intelligence projects wrapped around military and bankruptcy searches—how the name searches are structured, and what kind of intelligence we can use to do those searches. We can also use AI to automate processing of new referrals."