DS News

64 customers into overdraft protection programs without their consent. Outsourcing has provided an opportunity to leverage vendor expertise while establish- ing scale at reduced cost, but without effective oversight, organizations are at risk of non- compliance, and premium costs to the business. Furthermore, third party vendors that are proac- tive in implementing vendor management best practices will ultimately have a competitive edge when retaining and cultivating new business. ASSET DISPOSITION RICK SHARGA Chief Marketing Officer, Ten-X the parent company of Auction.com I think there are a number of trends that will shape asset disposition in the near future. First, we're al- ready seeing a much greater emphasis on speed. Lenders and servicers have learned over the past few years that the earlier they can move an asset in the process, the better off they'll be. We'll probably continue to see assets moved earlier and earlier: sales of non- performing loans; properties priced for sale at courthouse foreclosure auctions; and REO assets moved immediately after the foreclosure sale instead of the more traditional process of foreclosing, evicting, repairing and then re- marketing the properties. ere are benefits for everyone involved in the transaction–servicers see a dramatic reduction in carrying costs and often sell at a higher price than if they'd held the property for the typical eight-12 months, investors get the properties before they've de- teriorated even further, and the neighborhood benefits from the property being brought back to marketable condition. Second is the probability that more and more asset disposition will take place online. is expands the pool of potential buyers from a local market to a global market. NAR esti- mates that over $102 billion in foreign capital flowed into the U.S. residential real estate market over the past 12 months, and a high percentage of that money was spent on invest- ment properties. As international markets have become more volatile, more investors view U.S. real estate as a safe haven for their capital, and distressed assets can be especially interesting– as a data point to support this, our Auction. com site has been used by buyers from over 100 countries. ird is an increased reliance on technol- ogy. Technology tools will drive asset market- ing to a much higher level of sophistication, enabling sellers to reach exactly the right kinds of buyers (investors vs. first-time homebuy- ers, for instance) with exactly the right kinds of properties. It also entails an accelerated use of online and mobile solutions to enable these investors to find the assets along with the information they need to make an informed purchase decision, all in one easy-to-use interface, and then be able to execute the buy from wherever they are on whatever kind of device they want to use–desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone. And these customer-facing technologies will ultimately be integrated with the back-end systems used by servicers and asset management companies to deliver a more efficient, cost-effective experience. COMPLIANCE MARIA MOSKVER General Counsel & Enterprise Compliance Officer, LenderLive When it comes to compliance, things are likely to change after January 20. Because President- Elect Donald Trump has publicly called for the dismantling of Dodd-Frank, those of us in the mortgage industry—along with a variety of other consumer finance industries—are looking at a moratorium and then a loosening of regulations. At the same time, look for state regulators— such as attorneys general—to pursue an aggres- sive regulatory agenda, filling gaps that may be created at the federal level. Loss mitigation and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) will continue to be areas of focus for regulators. We anticipate, at the very least, changes to the structure of the CFPB. We will probably see a commission take the place of the Bureau's present configuration with an autonomous regulator at the top, especially following the federal appeals court decision in favor of PHH Corp. in October which found that structure to be unconstitutional. It seems likely that Trump's administration will also work on constricting the collection of data such as consumer complaints. Compared to dismantling Dodd-Frank, that would be a relatively easy item to change. Overall, the changes will be most beneficial to small community banks, as the regulations aimed at large financial institutions will prob- ably see less of an overhaul. e cost of in-house compliance for lenders will only increase. Installing the solutions, managing the information and then, eventu- ally, looking to optimize—all while running the day-to-day business—is a process that will take months and possibly years to get done correctly and efficiently. e SCRA is another set of regulatory chal- lenges that servicers should expect to remain in place, as the Department of Justice is already pursuing enforcement of the Act. e CFPB may, in fact, change its organi- zational structure, but between Dodd-Frank, TRID, and impending HMDA changes, EXPERT OPINION "We'll probably continue to see assets moved earlier and earlier: sales of non-performing loans; properties priced for sale at courthouse foreclosure auctions; and REO assets moved immediately after the foreclosure sale instead of the more traditional process of foreclosing, evicting, repairing, and then re-marketing the properties." –RICK SHARGA

• Cover