Cenlar Coronavirus Preparedness Update #2
This is the second update on our COVID-19 preparedness. Our Pandemic Task Force meets daily to discuss our readiness in accordance with our Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) plan. This plan, along with information provided by federal, state and local government, continues to inform our decisions to protect our employees and sustain core business operations and the service provided to you and your borrowers.
Accordingly, over the last several weeks, we have focused our efforts on preparing for absences and/or remote work for significant portions of our employee population so that we may assure critical business functions for you and your borrowers. As the situation evolves, our team is also readying for the potential impact to borrowers. Here’s how:
Working with You
- Our client managers are here and ready to talk with you about any questions or concerns you may have.
- In order to deal
with these exigent circumstances, and to account for absenteeism, we have
revised our client corporate resolutions to enable Cenlar authorized officers,
as well as our vendors (including counsel), to execute service related
documents.
- This will allow flexibility to appoint personnel as necessary to provide for a continuance of operations. Your client managers will forward the new resolution to you within a day or so. We ask that you execute and return promptly.
- As you have done
at your organizations, we are taking every precaution to prepare for any impact
to our business. While there are no significant disruptions to business as usual
yet, we will keep you apprised of any significant changes as they occur.
- For example, as we execute on our BC/DR plan, our call center routing may not adequately capture all calls for reporting purposes, and some reporting could be impacted.
- In order to better handle your requests, please keep us advised of any significant changes to your business so that we may adjust our plans as needed.
Remote Work
- Remote Work – A portion of our workforce across the organization is already working remotely, and we continue to execute on plans to move additional functions and people to a remote basis.
Borrower Support and Outreach
- Our team is following Cenlar’s disaster playbook. We are paying close attention to the potential impact to borrowers and the triggers for leveraging relief measures typically available in times of natural disaster, as well as any additional supports that may be offered through the government—for example, implementing HUD’s elimination of the face-to-face requirement.
- During this crisis, to the extent applicable, we are following GSE guidelines on borrower relief that allow a 90-day forbearance for “reduction in income hardship.”
- We have prepared an initial email letting borrowers know that we are here should they need our help.
- Additionally, we will roll out borrower messaging via our other available channels – website and IVR – to make it easier for borrowers to get the information they need and work with us.
- We are developing an identifier that can be tracked on a loan level that will allow us to track all borrowers who are impacted by the pandemic.
Conducting Business at Cenlar
As a reminder, following guidance from our BC/DR Plan and the CDC, we have taken the following steps that pertain to how we do business during this period:
- Hygiene and Cleaning – We continue to encourage all employees to frequently wash their hands and practice good hygiene. Our facilities are cleaned thoroughly each day.
- BC/DR Plan Review – We continue to work with all of our departments to proactively review and enhance our BC/DR plans that are intended to address a comprehensive set of threats, including a pandemic.
- Vendor Preparations – On-site vendor meetings have been suspended for the time being. In addition, we have requested and are reviewing the BC/DR plans for critical vendors. We will let you know if we need to take any additional actions.
- Inter-Office and Business Travel – As with our client and vendor meetings, we have stopped in-person engagement across our facilities in favor of phone and conference calls among our employees. We have also postponed all business travel.