DSNews delivers stories, ideas, links, companies, people, events, and videos impacting the mortgage default servicing industry.
Issue link: http://digital.dsnews.com/i/1307602
50 is past summer, Home Point Financial, the third- largest wholesale mortgage lender in the country, announced the hiring of Perry Hilzendeger as its President of Servicing. While Hilzendeger was new to Home Point, he was a veteran of the mortgage industry, with more than 30 years' experience under his belt, much of it spent serving at Wells Fargo. Prior to joining Home Point, Hilzendeger worked as Wells' Head of Retail Operations, where he oversaw nearly 15,000 retail production team members in mortgage and home equity sales, underwriting, fulfillment, and support functions. During this period, Fargo was the top overall lender in America, and he served as the company's Head of Home Lending Servicing, overseeing "nearly 13,000 team members who serviced mortgage loans and home equity products for more than 9 million customers and more than $1.2 trillion in mortgage loans for investors." During a recent in-depth conversation, DS News spoke with Hilzendeger about his transition to Home Point, as well as some of the key lessons he has taken away from 2020. Starting a new role at a new company would be challenging enough, but how much more difficult was it in the midst of an unprecedented health crisis that had most of the workforce remote? In the pages ahead, Hilzendeger shares insights into the year's biggest challenges, from forbearances to borrower communication and education. Read on to learn Hilzendeger's thoughts on his top priorities at Home Point, the benefits of keeping your servicing in-house, and more. HOW SHOULD SERVICERS BE WORKING TO PREPARE FOR THE END OF FORBEARANCE PLANS? It's been a challenging year for us as servicers, and for our customers. e most important thing is that we're prepared to serve the customers, and we are doing so when, where, and how they choose to interact with us. It's critical that we put ourselves in the position where the customers can contact us. We've had the opportunity early in the forbearance process to provide customers the ability to work with us online, as well as through some of our voice-response units and in the traditional manner by contacting the agents. We've seen pretty good usage here on the online space. Sixty percent of our Cover Story By: David Wharton CREATING 'CUSTOMERS FOR LIFE' Perry Hilzendeger, Home Point Financial's President of Servicing, discusses the benefits of in-house servicing, lessons from the pandemic, and why the little things matter most.