Being the VP of Sales and Marketing, you might be surprised that I do not often self-promote; at least I am not aware of it if I do. I prefer to identify real issues and address real pain points. At that point, I will offer assistance or a complete solution that has real value for my prospect.
With that said, our industry is currently experiencing very high volumes of loan origination and refinance with limited resources, at best, to stay on top of the workload. To add to that, many firms have employees working from home. Despite being in a “digital age,” there are many steps along the way, through the life of a residential mortgage, that require physical paper handling. Even when physical touch is not required, many firms rely on outsourcing, which is also a problem with financial service vendors dealing with the same circumstances, regardless of whether your partners are onshore or offshore since, unfortunately, the pandemic effects are worldwide. This all presents quite a logistical problem.
With two years of the typical volume being processed in a single year, what is backing up? Nothing? Good for you! Lots? What can you do?
I want to think that I could illustrate accurate figures around the current landscape of increased new purchase closings and refinances our industry is currently experiencing. Still, someone will undoubtedly prove my numbers wrong. It comes down to which publications you read or analytic firms you believe. Let us go with something that no one will contest; it is a LOT!
Are your closing documents being chased down, received, reviewed for accuracy, imaged, and shipped to the investor or custodian? Is anyone of those pieces falling behind? Many in house processes that I see currently are stacking up boxes of documents at their facility with not enough people on site to process them. This holds up many downstream events that will ultimately cost money, cause lost revenue, missed opportunity, and create problems.
How is your lien release process fairing with timely filings to the county to stay compliant? Is your compliance rate dropping increasing downstream risk? Is this also causing an increase in customer service calls from angry homeowners and or title agents? With agency mortgage forbearance plans in effect, call centers are already stretched thin.
It would be safe to assume that starting soon, there will be plenty of diligence to do on loans sitting in forbearance. Are you proactive enough to handle a possible spike in default? What would you do pro-actively to be prepared? Anyone that has been around our industry for a while knows the challenges and risk associated with a sudden increase of default loans.
The questions above are addressed across three different service subjects at NTC.
Final Document Processing
Document chasing, intake, imaging, indexing, and delivery to investor or custodian or NTC Onsite collateral storage vault.
Lien Release
In a complete or partial outsource environment, or simply as a DRBC back-up provider, NTC’s lien release processing includes a full-service solution for preparing and recording the documentation to cancel a mortgage as the final step in the payoff or charge off process, manage client notification and appropriately handle the remaining collateral documents.
Default
NTC will review loans going into default for any remediation needed before referring a loan for foreclosure or during bankruptcy. NTC manages the process according to investor rules and foreclosing entity requirements. Assignments are prepared and recorded, as applicable, with a documentation package supporting that the loan is appropriately in the name of the foreclosing entity. This enables the client to move to the next step in their process with no delays.
NTC also provides a complete chain of title binder service that incorporates a note review to determine the note holder, remediate it to the foreclosing entity, and then include a validation in the package delivered.
It would be unrealistic to say NTC has not experienced any pain in keeping up with the increased volume; however, I believe we have dealt with it very well and ramped up effectively. We have not maxed out and continue to increase our capacity to assist our clients, peers, and prospects.
Whether processing in-house or with another vendor, if you are experiencing issues or simply backlogging with any or all of the above, or are not sure how strong your answers are to the questions I have posed, perhaps I can help. At least it would be worthy of an excellent conversation and an exchange of ideas.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Danny Byrnes is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc. Byrnes joined the company in 2011 and spent a very successful two years as the firm’s Director of Sales before being promoted to Vice President of Sales in 2013. He has since helped broaden the scope of services offered by initiating and customizing solutions for clients. His experience and knowledge of complex sales, sales management, marketing, and product management are invaluable to NTC. Byrnes also has deep technology sector aptitude, having spent nine years in the industry as a sales executive and successfully running sales teams for several specialty software companies. He has over 30 years of sales experience across several sectors, including the entertainment industry, where he worked as an agent/manager for some of the world’s most significant musical acts for 15 years.
