Apr

Client Bulletin: April 1, 2024

In order to ensure the very best experience for you and your homeowners, we have started delivering to you, as of March 15, a new daily report that captures loans that you have submitted at time of new loan boarding but have not been permitted into our servicing system.

This new report is part of our effort to ensure the best quality data, and provides you with direct line-of-sight into your new loan boarding submissions that require your immediate attention to remediate before these loans can board into our servicing system.

The report also contains a rolling two-week look back and tracking of loans that remain rejected from boarding so that you may resubmit these loans successfully.

This report provides more transparency and insight into why loans in your portfolio have been rejected and what needs to be done to reconcile them by detailing the same notice you received upon initial rejection of the loan. The result is an increase in loan boarding data quality, removing boarding errors and helping us to achieve straight-through processing at submission.

Please implement processes to review this report daily, so that you may resubmit new loans for boarding, as well as identify and eliminate any recurring loan boarding data issues. You can find a sample report on CenAccess, under Training & Reference > Transfer Instructions.

Your Response Needed: A Change in the Satisfaction Process Begins April 15

In December of last year, Cenlar advised of a change to our collateral request process for paid-in-full loans. Specifically, we will only request the release of collateral, from you or from your custodians, in geographies that require the original documents to be mailed back to the homeowner. This new process will begin April 15, 2024.

Returning collateral to homeowner(s) is required in these jurisdictions: Louisiana, Maryland, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., Texas (cash-out refinances) and co-ops. Starting April 15, we will no longer request return of collateral in jurisdictions that do not require it and any collateral sent to Cenlar will be returned.

Collateral Process in Louisiana, Maryland, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., and Texas:

If the collateral is mailed back to Cenlar after our initial attempt to mail it to homeowner(s), we will perform a skip trace search to determine the homeowner’s new address. If the skip trace yields a new address, the collateral will be mailed to that address. If a new address is not found or otherwise cannot be sent to the homeowner, the collateral will be returned to the client for disposition.

Collateral Process for all Other Jurisdictions

In all other jurisdictions where return of collateral is not required, our vendor will shred the documents. Please contact your client manager by April 30, if you prefer that we send the documents back to you. The return of these documents will be at your cost. Again, we must have your response by month’s end, or your documents will be shredded.

Reminder: In order to process both the release and satisfy requirements where a copy of the note or note and mortgage must be returned to the homeowner as part of the lien release process, Cenlar will need the image of the recorded mortgage, the image of the note, any intervening assignments, UCC1 (where applicable) and any modifications. If you have not previously sent these images you should upload the images to the New Loan cabinet in Meta, our imaging system. If the images were previously uploaded to Meta, there’s no need to resend them.

Please reach out to your client manager with any questions.

NMLS Reports Updated to Reflect Latest Requirements

Our NMLS reports have been updated in response to new NMLS requirements. The structure and format of the reports have not changed; we have updated only the logic.

Updates include:

New Loss Mitigation templates and descriptions have been added to the logic, which include Stand Alone Partial Claims and Modifications. These will be categorized within the reports as required.
Delinquency days – updated logic based on NMLS requirements.
SF325 has been added to the reports.

We deliver NMLS reports to you quarterly. You can expect the latest report to arrive with you in mid-April.

Be Aware: Potential SSO Interruptions on Sunday, April 14

We’re always making enhancements to improve the homeowner experience. On Sunday, April 14, work to enhance our SSO offering will take place.

During this work, between 6 a.m. ET and 9 a.m. ET on Sunday, April 14, homeowners attempting to access CenNet via either legacy SSO or SAML SSO may experience brief interruptions.

Cenlar Receives ICE Innovation Award

We’re thrilled to announce that Cenlar has been named the winner of the 2024 ICE Innovation Awards for Best Use of Mobile Technology in Servicing. Chief Digital Officer Josh Reicher received the award on behalf of Cenlar during the ICE Experience 2024 conference, held March 18-20, at Wynn Las Vegas.

The ICE Innovation Awards recognize the most creative housing finance companies that are pushing the envelope with extraordinary, customized solutions, leveraging ICE mortgage technology to achieve their business goals with exceptional results. Cenlar received the ICE Innovation Award for Best Use of Mobile Technology for introducing the ICE Servicing Digital℠ mobile app and responsive web solution as a consumer-focused, self-service solution to review loan information, make a payment, explore “what if” payment scenarios and more.

You can read more about the ICE Innovation Awards here.

New Webpage Guides Homeowners Seeking Assistance

To better reflect evolving loss mitigation options, content on our CenNet homeowner website and on Cenlar.com has been updated to direct homeowners to a new webpage that lists the latest options potentially available to them.

The new webpage includes directions on how homeowners can call us, and encourages them to reach out so we can provide information about what assistance may be available to them. This page will also guide USDA borrowers on where they can find more about any pandemic assistance options still available to them.

Important Updates on Certificates of Insurance

Generic versions of required Certificates of Insurance documents for 2023-2024 have been posted, for your use and reference. These include certificates for Bond, Mortgage Impairment, Professional Liability and Cyber.

Client-specific Certificates of Insurance (COI) were distributed to you in March. If you have not received your specific COI or have any questions, please reach out to your client manager.

New Homeowner Email List Now on CenAccess

We have posted a list of all of the emails that we send to homeowners.

To access this list, go to the Training & Reference menu on CenAccess, and select “User Manuals.” The file name is “Email Listing for Clients 03.15.24.”

This file is updated with the most-recent list of homeowner emails once each month.

Cenlar’s 2023 Audited Financial Statements Now Available

Cenlar FSB’s Audited Financial Statements for 2023 have been released. The updated financial document has been posted online, and can be viewed in the “About” section.

Please contact your client manager with any questions.