Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS), a provider of integrated technology and services to the mortgage and real estate industries, has announced the release of Version 2.0 of the LPS Desktop Tax Management application. This release incorporates new non-escrow functionality that will enable servicers to electronically load and match non-escrowed tax search results, track delinquency letter cycles, pay delinquent taxes and build tax lines for escrow collection.
Investors are increasingly concerned with ensuring that servicers are effectively managing their non-escrow portfolios to minimize losses and penalties related to delinquent taxes. In the past, these tasks not only involved a high level of manual work, but also required tax staff to access multiple systems to complete their non-escrow cycle processing. LPS Desktop Tax Management brings all of the non-escrowed tax tasks into a single system using customized business rules to automate a large portion of the processing. The system leverages integrations with LPS Desktop, tax vendor systems and the LPS MSP system to create a seamless flow of data between applications—resulting in higher efficiency, increased data accuracy, accelerated processing timelines and reduced risk of tax-related financial losses on the part of the lender/investor.
All non-escrow loans in a portfolio can be compared against annual tax search results and flagged as "taxes paid," "taxes unpaid" or "no match found." Exceptions to business rules flow into work queues that enable follow-up where non-escrowed taxes remain unpaid or are otherwise in question. This up-to-date tax status information is critical for servicers and investors who want to protect their interests in the properties that secure their loans.
"After our initial success with automating tax processing on escrowed loans with LPS Desktop Tax Management, we realized that by enabling servicers to use the same principles to automate the processing of non-escrowed taxes, lenders could achieve significant savings, reduce risk and attain a much broader understanding of the tax status on non-escrowed loans in their portfolios," said Ray Ferrarin, managing director of LPS Property Tax Solutions Inc. "We believe that by using LPS Desktop Tax Management, clients will increase efficiency when processing loans with delinquent taxes, which will help clients reduce tax-related losses and improve portfolio performance, both of which are critical to their future success."
LPS Desktop Tax Management's flexible design supports insource, outsource, and hybrid tax servicing models, enabling servicers to create customized tax management solutions that best support their unique portfolio needs.
For more information, visit www.lpsvcs.com.
