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41 DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR ADVANCES ARE? Recovery of advances for property inspection and preservation expenses is a perennial challenge for mortgage servicers. When a borrower stops paying, servicers spend their own money to protect the loan's collateral. ose advances are not always recoverable, however. Borrowers challenge expenses, sometimes leading to wasteful—and frivolous—litigation. At the same time, the GSEs and FHA deny claims for advances and servicers need to recover them from their vendors or accept them as a cost of doing business. To manage these challenges, servicers have to dedicate considerable staff to ensuring compliance with investor guidelines, documenting expenses, and supporting claims— an expensive investment for a cost that should be a simple pass-through. ere is a better way: Aspen's property management module, a component of Aspen's servicing platform. e module saves servicers money. With the module: » Servicers make fewer advances, reducing their cost of capital. » Claim-recovery rates improve, leaving less money on the table. » e productivity of vendor-oversight and claims staff increases. » Servicers can see how much they spend by investor, vendor, work-order type, and region. Servicers use the property management module to pre-approve work—no more surprises when the bills come in. A servicer may elect to approve work by authorizing individual work orders or by establishing parameters that vendors must follow. If work requires investor pre- approval, the module tracks the approval request to completion and captures the results, ensuring that work orders follow investor instructions. e property management module also allows servicers to cancel work when the status of a loan or property has changed, saving money by terminating unclaimable work before it is completed. e Aspen property management module also controls pricing, ensuring that bills are within investor allowables or, if an exception is authorized, within exception limits. Pricing can be managed by client, investor, region, or vendor. e module gives servicers full control over and visibility into bids, allowables, and exception signoffs. Once jobs are completed, vendor payments and investor claims become straightforward. e module collects "proof of service" (proof that work has been completed) and "proof of compliance" (proof that a vendor's contractors passed a background check). e module stores records generated by multiple vendors if a servicer needs more than one vendor for a property. Servicers sign-off on a vendor's work based on a complete and detailed record, including photos and the claims team then uses those same records to create a claim file—no more logging into multiple vendor systems. Normally, claim preparation can take a day and a half as staff search for the necessary supporting documentation. With Aspen's property management module, the process is shortened to a few hours. e module also benefits vendors. As servicers signoff on work before payments and, as a result, claim recoveries improve, servicers no longer have to make billbacks, allowing vendors to free up their contingent liability funds. Setup is easy. Aspen can get started as soon as the servicer completes an integration questionnaire. e module is already integrated with all major vendors and with leading servicing systems. A standard implementation takes 60 days. In addition, if a servicer has unique requirements, Aspen can accommodate them quickly because the module is no-code, configurable software, giving servicers flexibility without the cost, risk and time demanded by a typical software implementation. Some of the mortgage servicing industry's leading institutions use Aspen's property management module, including top banks and mortgage servicers. Aspen's property management module is unique—no one else offers software like it. It is the only property management software that reduces the cost of advances and improves servicer productivity. To learn more about Aspen's property management module, please visit our website at AspenGroveSolutions.com or contact us at sales@aspengrovesolutions.com. Journal SPONSORED CONTENT

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