Wolters Kluwer Financial Services announced the company has expanded its comprehensive Loss Mitigation Service to include fair lending compliance consulting. The company’s experts with strong experience and knowledge in helping financial institutions avoid discriminatory lending practices can now be deployed on-site at mortgage servicers to help them meet all state and federal fair lending requirements when modifying loans for distressed borrowers.
As U.S. mortgage servicers ramp up their loan modification efforts to help slow the exploding number of home foreclosures, the primary focus on doing so is mitigating financial losses for both the financial institution and borrower. However, the Treasury Department recently issued guidelines reinforcing the importance of compliance with fair lending requirements when modifying loans within its Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services’ compliance consultants can evaluate a servicer’s loan modification policies and procedures to help determine how they can address fair lending risks more thoroughly and rapidly. Next, they can review a representative sample of loan modifications the servicer has completed and denied to determine if any disparate treatment of borrowers exists. And finally, the consultants can conduct a statistical analysis of all completed modifications and denied applications, identifying certain modification criteria that might lead the servicer to violate fair lending laws.
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is also offering financial institutions a free Webinar on how to prevent discrimination in the loan modification process and mitigate associated fair lending risk on Nov. 12.
“While modifying loans at risk of default as quickly as possible is paramount for servicers and their borrowers, so is making sure everyone is treated fairly and equally in the process” said Don Morrow, Ph. D., senior consultant and statistician, for Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. “Regulators have put forth notice they’ll intensify their scrutiny of servicers’ fair lending compliance.”
“Wolters Kluwer Financial Services’ fair lending compliance experts possess decades of experience analyzing loan data. They have the skills and knowledge necessary to help servicers begin addressing emerging fair lending concerns immediately,” said Kurt Sames, vice president and general manager of consumer compliance for the company.
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services Loss Mitigation Service also helps servicers ensure compliance with requirements surrounding various loan modification programs, including the government’s Home Affordability Refinance Program (HARP), HAMP and HOPE for Homeowners programs, and meet Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Treasury and Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines, through its expansive library of mortgage compliance documents.
On the front end of the loss mitigation process, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services enables servicers to quickly review their entire portfolios through a new automated tool that helps them rapidly identify the loans that can be modified, refinanced or paid off through a short sale before they go into default. In addition, the company can help servicers make the settlement process easier and faster through a complete, online suite of settlement services. And Wolters Kluwer Financial Services can help servicers record loan modification packages within any U.S. jurisdiction through a partnership with CT Lien Solutions, another Wolters Kluwer company.
For more information, visit www.WoltersKluwerFS.com/LossMit.
