68
e late journalist Helen omas once said, "When you're in the news
business, you always expect the unexpected." e same could be said for
mortgage servicers. In the past year and a half, servicers have experienced
a frightening amount of uncertainty and chaos, from COVID-19 that
continues to plague the U.S. and the horrific challenges presented by
hurricanes and wildfires.
While some of us have our own
expectations for the rest of 2021 and for
2022, nobody has a crystal ball. As Halloween
approaches—right in the middle of wildfire
and hurricane season—servicers are likely
bracing for more tricks than treats. In most
cases, however, there's a better way to prepare
for "Tales of the Unexpected" than the methods
they use today.
THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE
NIGHT
Everyone I talk to agrees—mortgage
servicers have never encountered so much
ongoing uncertainty as they do today. It may
seem difficult to quantify that statement, but
there are more than enough horror stories to
go around—and the most devastating among
them are beyond anyone's control.
Over the past several years, climate
catastrophes have impacted the entire country
in one way or another. ey've included
wildfires in the West, which have also damaged
air quality far beyond fire perimeters; ice storms
in the Midwest, Northeast, and even the South;
hurricanes in the Midwest and Southeast; and
a heatwave in the Northwest that killed more
than 200 people. As I write this, Hurricane Ida
has destroyed thousands of homes in Louisiana
and caused an estimated $16 to $24 billion in
flooding damage in the Northeast.
We can't possibly know when the next
natural disaster will strike, but we can
reasonably assume more are on the way. A
recent study conducted by the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Feature By: Jane Mason
HOW SERVICERS
CAN STOP BEING
SPOOKED BY THE
UNKNOWN
As Halloween approaches—right in the middle of wildfire and hurricane season—
servicers are bracing for more tricks than treats. In most cases, however, there's a
better way to prepare than the methods they use today.
