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69 On a larger level, an unintentional benefit of embracing these solutions will help increase adoption of eSignatures, eNotes, and eVaults—whether it is a re-origination process in a refinance or modification. Unlike last time, it has been an agency/government market, so policy is consistent for treatment of borrowers. And with Ginnie Mae now accepting eNotes, another obstacle has been removed for a large sector of the existing population of loans. WHAT SERVICERS SHOULD BE DOING NOW Right now, servicers should be analyzing their portfolios to identify which borrowers are the best candidates for a loan modification and zero in on them. We can be reasonably sure that many borrowers suffering permanent job loss will not be able to afford to modify their loans. But by examining all their mortgage files now, servicers will be able to separate out those who may qualify once the forbearance period ends and prepare to move them through an express modification process. e biggest advantage of great servicing assisting technology is the ability to free up the people who are best positioned to help borrowers through the loss mitigation process. e bottom line is that there is only a finite supply of people who will be available to handle the increasing volume of refinances, modifications, and loss mitigation efforts. Similar to how point-of-sale technology and automated LOS platforms enable loan officers and processors to get more done, new servicing technologies can take the heavy lifting out of the decision-making process. is will enable servicers to leverage their human staff to focus on more complicated scenarios and guide borrowers through the process. ese technologies weren't available 12 years ago, but they are available today. And there is no better time for servicers to take advantage of them to scale their origination and servicing needs to meet spikes in demand that we know will come. e best way to get started is to partner with a technology provider that not only has all the tools servicers need in a single platform—including predictive analytics—but already embraced a remote workforce before the current crisis. As many organizations have already discovered over the past several months, outsourcing critical business functions and technologies to the right partner can make a huge difference. Some have learned this lesson very painfully. By choosing correctly, however, servicers will be in a better position to scale rapidly when needed to handle the challenges ahead. ere is no precedent to today's situation, and many unknowns remain. For instance, since borrowers didn't have to qualify for forbearance, we simply don't know how many of them really needed it or not. Whatever the case may be, we won't know the effect it will have or what borrowers will do when forbearance periods end. We also still don't know how long today's crisis will last. While businesses are reopening, and the economy is picking back up, at the time of this writing the pandemic does not appear it will end anytime soon. Plus, no matter what we think of COVID-19, we have seen some uptick in re-openings due to increased testing or letting our guard down. Indeed, we may already be heading toward a second wave of coronavirus cases. at could ultimately create further financial disruption and place even greater pressures on servicers. We're telling everyone to prepare for the worst. Given everything we know—and don't know—procrastination isn't just an unwise move for mortgage servicers. It's a self- imposed death sentence. In other words, don't listen to Mark Twain, because even the day after tomorrow could be too late. Paul Anselmo brings more than 30 years' experience in the banking and mortgage industries. Prior to founding Evolve Mortgage Services, Anselmo served as President and CEO of Mortgage Resource Network, a business process outsource and technology provider to the mortgage industry, which he founded in 1999. Anselmo has held a variety of positions during his career, including Partner and EVP for a firm providing due diligence and origination support services to the mortgage industry, becoming the largest vendor to the RTC. He spent 15 years in the banking industry and served as a senior officer for an $87 billion bank holding company from 1982 to 1993. The bottom line is that there is only a finite supply of people who will be available to handle the increasing volume of refinances, modifications, and loss mitigation efforts.

