In the business world it is common for products and services to be rolled out in phases. The first phase is generally more manual and labor intensive, as the business is eager to get there service/product to their clients as quickly as possible to maintain their reputation for being on the cutting edge and providing quality solutions.. However once a product/service has been released the subsequent phases begin to focus on increasing efficiency, in order to reduce the cost of offering said product/service.
In 2007-2008 banks rolled out loss mitigation options to provide their clients with solutions to the housing market crash. While they spun their stories to say they were helping homeowners their clients ultimately were the investors behind the mortgages, and modifications/short sales were just a way to help their clients recoup some of their losses.
The subsequent phases in the release of their loss mitigation options were focused on many things, but nothing more pressing than increasing the efficiency of offering these options. Their idea to increase efficiency: TECHNOLOGY. They began developing and contracting with companies such as equator, and private software companies to develop more automated systems better suited to the task at hand. Why? So that they could give more files to their employees and limit their expenses.
Sounds reasonable right? Unfortunately these increases in efficiency come directly at a price to homeowners pursuing short sales and modifications. The problem that a lot of homeowners are experiencing is that when a computer/software goes down (fails) it takes time to fix. Where there used to be a human who could make a decision, these overworked bank reps now have to sit on their hands until the computer system is working again.
I have personally heard horror stories in which homeowners have lost their homes to foreclosures while a bank representative waited to for a computer glitch to be fixed. Moreover the representatives that are working the computers are not competently trained to use these complex systems. Often times Homeowners are led to believe that their loans are in review and close to being approved for a modification, but in reality the house is at risk of foreclosure. Clearly, to prevent errors due to staff and technical problems lenders should implement better training programs.
As if the internal software systems and under-experienced staff wasn’t bad enough, Lenders have rolled out software to increase the efficiency in communicating with foreclosure attorneys. Many times the systems don’t get updated correctly, or at the right time, which leads to the property being foreclosed on. The idea of quality control seems to be completely lost within the loss mitigation system at most of the big banks, and homeowners are suffering because of it. It would be very unfortunate to wake up one day and realize everything one has worked so hard to achieve has been obliterated because of a misunderstanding.
In conclusion, while technology and the drive for efficiency is a natural part of the business model that banks employ, the quality control and training that needs to occur to effectively use the technology is not. My advice? If you’re a homeowner pursuing a loss mitigation option and you have a sale date scheduled on your property, contact an experienced professional who knows how to get real answers from these big banks.
Feel free to shoot me any questions you may have about what you’re going through and I’ll make sure to get back to you!
Contributor, designer & admin for JohnHart Gazette.
Great and insightful article Maral.