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Client Bulletin: August 5, 2022

Cenlar Refines Loan Operations Team Structure With New Leadership Adds

Cenlar Loan Operations, with responsibilities that span core operations and support, transfer operations and default, has refined its structure with the addition of several new senior positions. Led by industry veteran and Senior Vice President William “Bill” Moffett, Loan Operations is deepening its bench strength with experts singularly focused on both stages of default — early and late stage — as well as specific areas within late-stage default, like foreclosure and claims/loss analysis.

The enhanced Loan Operations structure also centralizes the quality control function and moves SPOC from the Contact Center to Early Stage Default where it’s more tightly aligned with our efforts to keep homeowners in their homes.

“At Cenlar, we’re consistently investing in people, process and technology to deliver excellent service to our clients and their homeowners,” Moffett said. “People are at the center of the refinement to Loan Operations. The addition of four senior leaders fortifies an already solid team. And the centralization of the quality function and movement of SPOC underscore our commitment to continually improve how we do business.”

The new Loan Operations leaders include:

Adam Saab, Vice President and Head of Early Stage Default, has more than 20 years of experience working in both servicing and subservicing for servicers and large banks. Adam will oversee all the early phases of the default process, which include: Single Point of Contact (SPOC) and loss mitigation. Before joining Cenlar, Adam spent 14 years at CitiMortgage where he was most recently Senior Vice President of Default Operations. Adam previously held the role of Executive Vice President of Mortgage and Consumer Operations at PNC Bank, as well serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at LoanCare, where he implemented an enhanced Compliance Management System.

Adam Wood, Vice President and Head of Late Stage Default, brings more than 25 years of mortgage industry and servicing experience to Cenlar. Adam will be responsible for all late stages of default, which include: bankruptcy, REO/property preservation, claims, loss analysis and foreclosure. Prior to joining Cenlar, Adam held several positions at Mr. Cooper. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President of Default Operations where he was responsible for overseeing multiple default business phases of delinquency. This included loss mitigation, modification fulfillment, foreclosure, bankruptcy and mediations/litigation. Adam was also responsible for the complete rebuild of the foreclosure and bankruptcy departments. Adam also held multiple leadership roles at Fannie Mae (FNMA).

Jason Schmidt, Vice President and Head of Claims, has 15 years of mortgage servicing experience. Before joining Cenlar, Jason spent seven years at Mr. Cooper as Assistant Vice President of Claims. In this role, he managed multiple operations throughout the claims and cash management processes, as well as oversight of government claims. Jason brings expertise to the areas of bankruptcy, government and mortgage insurance claims, business analysis, default operations, portfolio management, loss analysis and foreclosure. Jason previously held leadership roles with Ocwen Financial and Brice, Vander Linden & Wernick/NBS.

Jessica Sharp, Vice President and Head of Foreclosure, brings more than 14 years of experience to Cenlar, specifically in foreclosure operations. She recently held the position of Vice President of Default for PennyMac Corporation. Prior to her role with PennyMac, Jessica was with Nationstar Mortgage (now Mr. Cooper) where she was the Assistant Vice President of Foreclosures. During her tenure, Jessica managed multiple functions, including bankruptcy, GSE foreclosure processes, business analysis, default operations, investor reporting and loss analysis.

The restructuring of our loan operations team, with the addition of these four valuable leaders is a testament to our commitment to continually improve how we do business with our partners.

Cenlar Looks to the Future after Cloud Migration Success

With the recent completion of the fifth cloud migration of 2022, Cenlar is pleased to mark the end of its efforts to move our application and onsite data centers to the cloud. Thank you for all of your assistance and cooperation as we worked to ensure the project’s success.

We expect the cloud migration will provide immediate benefits for

our clients and their homeowners. Our technology is now more reliable and resilient, and provides a solid foundation for our continued establishment of a solid risk management organization. It is also a key step in our evolution as a forward-leaning organization, with technological innovation integrated fully into every aspect of the business.

“This is a very important project for our company,” says Chief Information Officer Steve Taylor. “Cenlar’s move to Microsoft Azure speaks to our commitment to building a stronger, client-focused organization through innovative technology.”

Providing a bevy of benefits

Cloud computing and cloud-based services are a cornerstone of modern business IT infrastructure, and Cenlar looks to capitalize on this.

Since beginning the project, we have successfully moved our disaster recovery, production and non-production platforms from physical on-site locations to the cloud. As a result, all customer interaction and default call center desktops are now being hosted in the cloud.

“Homeowners benefit from this as it provides a more reliable, modern and high performance experience,” Cenlar Senior Vice President of IT Infrastructure Rene Gonzales said.

Bolstering risk management

Moving to the cloud has made our critical applications and data more resilient, secure and scalable. In addition to helping us better serve our clients and their homeowners, it will ensure our continued enhancement of a strong risk management organization.

Cenlar conducted separate assessments with two established risk service organizations to ensure the appropriate security features enabled in cloud are sufficient in protecting our client and homeowner data.

Keeping pace with technology trends

Going forward, Cenlar looks to be ahead of the curve — not just keep pace — as the rate of technological change continues to accelerate faster than ever before.

“We are an innovative company and we will be dedicated to understanding technology trends and thinking about ways in which we can leverage the power of technology to reach our business goals,” Gonzales said. “Cloud technologies provide the foundation for becoming more collaborative and client-focused.”

In the near future, we plan to share more with you about our technology initiatives, as well as the future of Cloud innovation at Cenlar. Dubbed “Cloud 2.0,” the next steps promise to further integrate technological evolution within the business in order to refine the best-in-class service we provide to you and your homeowners.

As Loan Buydowns Return, Cenlar is Ready

As we all know, market conditions are changing quickly, with rates accelerating to levels we haven’t experienced in more than a decade.

As affordability becomes harder for prospective homeowners, we’ll likely see more customers exploring options, like loan buydowns, that can give them a boost in higher-rate environments. Cenlar has always had the ability to service loans with buydowns, and we’re ready should you roll out a program to offer to your homeowners.

The required fields to board your buydowns with us are included in the New Loan Transfer Instructions on CenAccess. But here are three important things to do as you add this buydown product to your mix for the first time:

Update your XML new loan interface to board the additional required fields. If you are using NLAI, there are fields that need to be input to capture the data.
Provide us with the imaged Buydown Agreement, along with your new loan documents using the document code of ASIDL16.
Include the buydown funds with your daily escrow funds as part of your daily cash settlement.

We’re happy to work with you as buydowns come back into popularity. If you have any questions, your client managers are always available to assist you.

Self-Serve Payoff Option Now Live for Homeowners

We continually refine the homeowner experience so that your homeowners receive the best service, whenever and however they need it.

In the spirit of this mission, we’ve launched a new feature on the CenNet™ homeowner website that allows your homeowners to generate a payoff statement with a few simple steps. This

self-serve option is the quickest available to homeowners, delivering a payoff statement directly to their Document Center on CenNet in about 30 minutes.

Here’s how to do it:

After signing in, the homeowner will land on their Dashboard, where they can click on “My Home” to see the “Estimate” Payoff tile
Once there, select “View payoff quote”
The homeowner has the option to either “Preview Estimated Payoff Amount” or “Generate Quote”. For an estimate without generating a payoff statement, choose “Preview Estimated Payoff Amount”. To generate a payoff statement, click “Generate Quote”.
If they choose to generate a quote, the homeowner will be prompted to enter information like:
- As-of date
- Reason for payoff
- Fax recipient name (If mail, leave blank)
- Fax number (If mail, leave blank)
A statement will be generated, appearing in the “Other” section of the homeowner’s Document Center about a half hour after the request has been submitted. If a payoff statement cannot be generated, the homeowner will receive an error message, as well as instructions on how to receive further assistance.

This feature is just one way your homeowners can obtain a payoff statement for their loan. In June, we debuted the ability for clients to generate digital payoff quotes for their homeowners through Global Teller. Our self-serve payoffs phone line also remains available.

If you have any questions about this feature, please contact your client manager.

Update on HAF Processing

In accordance with the FNMA/FHLMC directive, Cenlar is placing loans on hold — suspending or delaying the initiation of foreclosure actions or foreclosure-related activities — for 60 days when an I-record is received for the Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) from a state, territory or tribal nation.

Many states are currently experiencing elongated evaluation/processing times for homeowner assistance decisions. FNMA/FHLMC has released guidance regarding how to obtain

approval to extend the hold past 60 days, if necessary. On all FNMA/FHLMC loans, the extensions will be requested at the 45th day of the 60-day hold. For all other loans, Cenlar will be reaching out to the clients at Day 45 to approve or deny the extension of the 60-day hold by an additional 30 days.

If your response is not received by the expiration of the 60-day hold, Cenlar will automatically extend the hold for 30 days. Clients will be responsible for any required timelines that cannot be extended and may be missed during this period, such as HUD reasonable due diligence.

Reminder about GSE-Required Review of LIBOR ARM Notes

In our July 22, 2022 Client Bulletin, we shared with you that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have issued directives related to their LIBOR loans, requiring a review of all LIBOR ARM Notes. We are asking, if you have not done so already, that you please confirm the results of your review by Sept. 1, 2022. Your response can be sent to Special Products through the Client Case Management (CCM) system.