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66 Charles Dickens and Mark Twain may have been contemporaries, but they sure didn't see eye to eye when it came to time management. Dickens is known for the line, "Procrastination is the thief of time," while Twain's view was, "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow." While funny, there's more than a kernel of truth in what Twain says. Too often, in our industry and elsewhere, companies wait until the last minute to react to change—until it's almost too late. Or it is too late. Fortunately, it's not too late for mortgage servicers to prepare for the next pandemic- driven event, namely a likely rise in loan modifications and loss mitigation requests when forbearance periods end. Whether they're ready to follow the advice of Dickens or Twain remains to be seen. But there are most definitely reasons to act now. NOT AS BAD AS 2008 … BUT JUST WAIT roughout our industry, comparisons are being made between today's financial crisis and the Great Recession. ere's an eerie feeling as though we're all watching a reboot of a movie we've seen before. But this version is quite different. For example, servicers are being tested by simultaneous spikes in volume both from forbearance requests and refinancing, which we've never seen before. ese have historically been countercyclical. e most significant difference, though, is the fact that no one saw the pandemic coming. e 2008 crisis was caused primarily by an unhealthy housing market, and it built up over time due to loans being made to people who couldn't afford them and inflated property values. is time, the financial crisis isn't being driven by economic factors, nor through any fault of consumers. In fact, property values overall are generally holding steady thus far, so there's optimism that the current crisis won't last nearly as long as the previous one. ere are other positives. Compared to 2008, the government's response to the current crisis has been much better. Feature By: Paul Anselmo PREPARING FOR THE END OF FORBEARANCE It's not too late for mortgage servicers to prepare for the next pandemic-driven event—a likely rise in loan modifications and loss mitigation requests.