By: David Lee, vice president of business development, default services

As the national delinquency rate continues to trend upward, reaching 3.29 percent in September, it is important to make sure you’re prepared for anything in the mortgage servicing space. You need a partner equipped with expertise, technology and scalability to help you meet this increase and navigate the challenges to come. What should you look for in a default mortgage servicing solutions partner? Here are some key factors I recommend considering:

Trust

Trust is key when considering your servicing partners. When you work with an organization you trust, it helps increase your overall efficiency and profitability. My military background taught me that when you're being led into battle, you must know the individual leading you and know you can trust them. That being said, you should always look to people and organizations with integrity and a good reputation. Having a partner you can trust can alleviate some stress. When you know and trust that a partner will take the initiative and apply their expertise to get the job done, it allows you to focus less on managing your vendors and more on the core competencies within your business.

Commitment

You want a partner that is staunchly committed to the default industry. ServiceLink brings you a partner that is willing to take a step back with you, look at the big picture and provide tailored mortgage servicing solutions for a better overall outcome. That focus shows commitment to you and the industry. For decades, ServiceLink has invested significantly in default innovation to deliver solutions that span the entire default lifecycle. The end-to-end solutions ServiceLink provides reach beyond the servicers in the default space to support law firms and investors as well.

Strength, Stability and Scalability

In today’s changing world, the need for a strong and stable partner is more prominent than ever.

The ability of your partner to quickly scale to the specific fluctuations of your business needs is important, too, particularly as uncertainty continues to prevail. ServiceLink assists with all of this as we work closely with our clients to anticipate and prepare for business volumes, and we have the resources to shift up or down on a dime to help our clients meet the demands of the day. Along with being the nation’s leading default service provider, we also provide a comprehensive suite of services across title, auction, field services and valuations. And, we are backed by Fidelity National Financial (FNF), the highest-ranking title insurance company in the Fortune 500. ServiceLink continues to be the diverse, stable partner to meet your day-to-day needs, while offering financial strength and deep industry experience to assist you through any problem.

Innovation and Technology

The world is moving at a high speed, and the default market is right there in the fast lane. Keeping pace means working with a partner whose technology is forward-thinking, flexible and easy to use. For example, ServiceLink supports the strategic initiatives of servicers and investors with EXOS One Marketplace®, the only asset-decisioning tool of its kind. EXOS One Marketplace is a game-changer: It provides visibility of assets through the entire default lifecycle, using predictive modeling to determine the optimal disposition strategy for properties in default. Our clients can see around corners and make well-informed decisions to reduce their losses and fuel their profitability as well as make the process more efficient. EXOS One Marketplace can assist in reducing holding times, decreasing costs and can provide teams with training on client-specific systems and processes, dedicated single-point of contact, managing communications and resolutions and manage both GSE and non-GSE transactions. This tool is a result of our unwavering commitment to default innovation.

Respect

When the industry respects who you are and what you do, that speaks volumes. You want to work with people who have experience and the reputation to back it up. I look at ServiceLink as the gold standard in transactional mortgage services, particularly in the default space. It’s a large company, but it operates with a boutique approach. Every ServiceLink client has a client manager and a dedicated operational team assigned directly to them. This structure enables a customized approach designed to meet the unique needs of each client.

Every one of us at ServiceLink is committed to respecting our clients and their goals, and helping them achieve those goals through expertise, technology, scalability and dedication. This, in turn, earns ServiceLink the industry’s respect. It’s respect we strive to earn every single day.

If you’re ready to partner with a mortgage servicing solutions partner provider who can step up and help you meet whatever challenges and opportunities the coming days may bring, go here.

David Lee joined ServiceLink Default Services as vice president of Business Development in 2020. He has been working in default services for more than 18 years, joining the industry after serving for more than 22 years as a United States Marine. He finds the principles and tools that drove his military career also come into play in business and life, especially when it comes to evaluating servicing partners during this critical time in our industry.

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