DSNews delivers stories, ideas, links, companies, people, events, and videos impacting the mortgage default servicing industry.
Issue link: http://digital.dsnews.com/i/1388591
60 e pre-disaster email communication should achieve several objectives, Hughes added. e communications should inform the customer of the impending disaster and provide recommendations from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on how to prepare. e pre-disaster communications should also detail the financial relief options available with the customer's lender/servicer, especially if homeowner's income is impacted by the disaster, advising them to contact their insurance company to start the claims process. is will help ensure the customer understands the servicer's role once the claim process is completed and provide information for additional available resources through the government. "We learned we can't expect many different departments, groups, and teams to seamlessly work together at the speed our customers need us to in the midst of a disaster or in the recovery phase," Hughes said. "Having separate and disconnected loss mitigation, insurance, call center, and other teams trying to coordinate efforts and communication with our customers proved inadequate." As such, RoundPoint developed an internal group, HEART (Home Emergency Assistance Response Team), which includes trained employees dedicated to guiding customers throughout the disaster event—prepping for the storm, assisting with forbearance plans, educating them on their options, resolving their balance of forborne payments when the plan ends, guiding them through the entire insurance claim process, and providing helpful tips and advice for hiring contractors in the aftermath, to name a few. After a disaster, it is important to document everything, Iafigliola added. Take photos and videos to capture the conditions. He also recommended photo- and video-documenting properties prior to any disaster event, as well, to help with any claim questions and verify the property's condition. TECHNOLOGY PROVIDES AN EDGE Today's technology resources are much improved over what was available only a few years ago, enabling borrowers and servicers to go online to address disasters, no matter how sudden they are, said Jane Mason, CEO, Clarifire. e right technology can help with the influx of customer calls and digital messages that come after a disaster, O'Connell said. e servicer's IVR should be tweaked to have disaster messages at the beginning of any message tree. However, servicers should also recognize that the IVR can't answer all questions, so many of those impacted will still need to communicate with live agents. "Assign people with multiple language skills to answer the calls. e worst thing is to be calling in to your servicer and not being able to contact somebody," O'Connell said. Adequate staffing is essential. Beyond having enough people, "disaster queues" should be established, with staff trained specifically on disaster-related issues. Schachter added that it is important that contact center personnel are not only trained on disaster processes but that they also remain empathetic. ey will be dealing with borrowers who are experiencing extremely stressful situations. is is not about getting someone off the phone quickly, rather it's more important to resolve the borrower's issue on the first call. "You need to be able to communicate with the customer in the channel he or she prefers," Schachter added. Some will prefer email, other the phone, and still others text messaging. Planet Home Lending offers monitoring for the disaster recovery process and tracking damage to a borrower's home and takes steps to initiate the insurance process. "You have to respond quickly to disasters; that's what homeowners appreciate," O'Connell said. Additionally, a borrower with a non- responsive servicer will sometimes alert the media out of frustration. Technology continues to be a major focus in emergency response plans, agreed Chad Mosley, President, MCS. "Having the best tools in place prior to the natural disaster provides us with the ability to respond quickly and effectively. Software tools that help with weather monitoring are critical in our advance planning. Radars, precipitation measurement tools, flood plan mapping, wildfire burn radiuses and storm path tracking are all essential in tracking potential property damage." Overlying these tools with clients' properties enables MCS to see which properties were, "We learned we can't expect many different departments, groups, and teams to seamlessly work together at the speed our customers need us to in the midst of a disaster or in the recovery phase." —David Hughes, Servicing Channel Executive, RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corp. Cover Story By: Phil Britt