The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has taken proactive policy steps to assist homeowners facing hardships, including options such as: forbearance, partial claims and streamlined loss mitigation options. It was announced this year that the FHA will reduce their annual mortgage insurance premium by 0.30%, lowering housing costs for homebuyers and homeowners in 2023. In the third quarter of 2022 alone, FHA-insured mortgages made up 7.5% of home sales.

As the importance of servicing these loans and the potential for more defaults increase, so has the complexity of managing the process. There are several activities working in parallel while servicing a default asset, and the FHA has provided several beneficial options for dispositioning of an asset. In many instances, there are multiple vendor partners assisting the servicer for each of these disposition options which branch across multiple departments. With these numerous touch points can come an increased chance for failure or delay within the process.

Finding a comprehensive, dependable holistic partner

Auction, property preservation and title play a key role in the success of managing default assets and mitigating losses, which have historically been divided and spread throughout multiple service providers. Using multiple providers can create the need for numerous points of outreach to determine a strategy for resolving potential or existing delays within the process. This can make it challenging for a servicer to have a clear line-of-sight into the successful path and reduces efficiency. Finding an experienced and reliable servicing partner is crucial to ensure a streamlined workflow. Getting as much of the auction, property preservation and title components under one roof allows for consistent communication, faster turnaround and accurate resolutions. ”ServiceLink has developed the most comprehensive solution with our streamlined approach and FHA expertise,” says Matthew Rogina, vice president, ServiceLink. “Through data integrations, shared quality control metrics and strategic internal collaboration, ServiceLink created a seamless experience to align with our servicer clients’ objectives. Our expansive products, services and geographic footprint allows us to centralize the communication for our customers, create performance transparency and help them move away from the challenge of multiple partnerships. By leveraging one company for these processes, their properties receive the attention they deserve.”

ServiceLink’s focused approach keeps the process moving forward. With an end goal of effectively and efficiently mitigating issues, they are able to help their clients successfully disposition assets. By using an experienced and proven single service provider to centralize their efforts, servicers can also more effectively meet timelines and minimize losses. “When we have a servicing partner that has all products with ServiceLink we take much of the handoffs in communication in-house at ServiceLink to lessen our partner’s hands-on involvement in day-to-day activity,” says Anthony Scotese, vice president, operations at ServiceLink. “This can range from notification from Auction to Field Services that an asset is under contract or Field Services notifying Title that a property is a mobile home and providing them with the necessary photos of tags and data labels from within the mobile home to streamline de-titling. By ServiceLink taking on these processes our servicing partners have more time to perform more valuable oversight and decision-making functions.”

Auction

ServiceLink Auction combines nationwide asset marketing and auction services and technology for a fast and efficient disposition process. Move auction assets quickly from foreclosure through second chance or REO, minimize unnecessary spend, and escalate loans that may take longer with this team.

Title

The ServiceLink’s title team has access to preservation systems of record to identify dwelling types and HUD tags. This access assists in decreasing de-titling delays and facilitating a faster more transparent process. From pre-foreclosure to the industry’s first “one-stop” FHA post-sale title solution, ServiceLink ensures efficient outcomes.

Property Preservation

Expedite timing and reduce risk with ServiceLink’s property preservation and title teams as they leverage dashboards to prioritize and show which loans are certified in conveyance condition (ICC), along with title status to decrease conveyance timelines. The property preservation services are also synchronous with the auction services. Once in auction, the ServiceLink property preservation team can identify severely aged, high-risk FHA files to prioritize and collaborate on the best course for disposition. Given the uncertain market conditions, it is important to use the most qualified partner that will help you navigate market and property condition volatility. ServiceLink’s solutions that bring comprehensive and holistic services paired with their expertise in FHA requirements makes them the leader in this space.

To learn more about the services that are part of ServiceLink's streamlined FHA strategy, visit svclnk.com/servicers/default/

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