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66 fully understand—particularly when they have limited English proficiency. To address the language barrier, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac launched the Language Access Multi-Year Plan to help limited English-speaking borrowers understand and participate in obtaining a mortgage. e Mortgage Translations clearinghouse, CFPB, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac provide resources related to forbearance and avoiding foreclosure in several languages. ese language resources benefit consumers and the mortgage industry, especially since 70% of new U.S. homeowners in the next two decades will be Hispanic. COMMUNICATE PROACTIVELY e CFPB has made it quite clear that the government is not taking responsibility for helping consumers navigate the post- forbearance process. Mortgage servicers are responsible for helping borrowers who have questions about their loan and/or post- forbearance repayment options. e CFPB does not expect to see borrowers coming to them for information that they should be receiving from their servicers. Many servicers, however, fall short when it comes to communicating effectively with borrowers. Key findings from the 2020 JD Power U.S. Primary Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Survey put this into perspective. » More than three-fifths (62%) of customers visit their lender's website as a first line of information, but only 28% say online is the most effective channel by which to resolve an issue. » Nearly one-fifth (19%) of customers say it is not easy to contact a live agent via the telephone. » Nearly half (44%) of at-risk customers called their servicer in the last 12 months vs. 25% for low-risk customers. [at's nearly twice the load for servicing personnel, and it will get worse when forbearance ends.] » Customers who receive three or four proactive communications per year from their mortgage lender have the highest levels of overall satisfaction. Yet only 8% of customers indicate receiving this level of communication. e CFPB expects servicers to communicate more effectively and proactively in 2021 as forbearance ends. Fortunately, leading-edge mortgage servicing software can help servicers meet this expectation. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MORTGAGE SERVICING SOFTWARE AND WEB APPLICATIONS Servicers need the right mortgage servicing software and effective self-service web applications to quickly deliver information to borrowers. Servicers must have the ability to push out messages to borrowers through multiple media and then track the results. is will be critically important, both for helping borrowers achieve the best possible outcomes and for satisfying federal regulators. But that's just table stakes. Servicers need mortgage servicing software that also allows them to: » Easily and automatically generate emails to specific borrowers, notifying them that a statement/notice is waiting for their review via a web application. Sharing information via web application allows servicers to track and confirm that borrowers received the information. » Generate and push out personalized messages to specific borrowers that they can view through the web application portal. ese personalized messages should appear in a pop-up window whenever the borrower logs into the web application. For example: "Your forbearance period will end on September 30, 2021. Please contact us to discuss your repayment options." » Reach out to borrowers electronically for rapid communication, in addition to contacting them by mail. Servicers must follow the specific borrower contact requirements of the various regulatory agencies regarding notification of borrowers whose loans are entering foreclosure, of course. Servicing software should make this easy. » Deliver real-time mortgage statements and other information to borrowers easily and automatically via web apps. By reducing routine phone calls from borrowers, servicers have more time to reach out to borrowers who are getting ready to exit forbearance and/or at risk for defaulting on their loan. e right mortgage servicing software provides this functionality. Servicers should examine their software to be sure it has these essential communication-enhancing capabilities. By improving communication with borrowers, servicers can help them avoid foreclosure as forbearance ends. Susan Graham is President and COO of FICS® (Financial Industry Computer Systems, Inc.), a leading mortgage software company specializing in flexible, cost-effective, in-house mortgage loan origination, residential mortgage servicing, and commercial mortgage servicing software for mortgage lenders, housing agencies, banks, and credit unions. FICS' software solutions provide customers the flexibility to choose an in-house or cloud hosting solution. e company also provides innovative document management, API, and web-based capabilities in its full suite of products. Visit fics.com for more information about our exceptional mortgage software solutions. Feature By: Susan Graham Servicers must have the ability to push out messages to borrowers through multiple media and then track the results. This will be critically important, both for helping borrowers achieve the best possible outcomes and for satisfying federal regulators. But that's just table stakes.