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Client Bulletin: July 08, 2022

Update on Exela Cyber Incident

We wanted to update you on what we know regarding the cyber incident that has affected our vendor Exela.

At this time, there is still no evidence that any homeowner data has been compromised. Exela, with the help of third-party firms that specialize in cyber incident response and forensics, continues to investigate. Exela said no enterprise data was affected by the cyber incident, and there is no evidence at this time of downstream impact to third parties.

Incident Timing

Exela discovered the cyber incident on Sunday, June 19 when it received alerts from its internal monitoring solutions. At that time, Exela immediately shut down all inbound and outbound connections, as well as all of its servers.

Two days later, on Tuesday, June 21, the vendor alerted Cenlar that it had experienced a cyber incident. From that point, Cenlar’s information security team immediately launched our incident response plan, and began the work of reviewing and vetting the information from Exela to determine the necessary next steps, including providing accurate information to our clients.

Homeowner Data

We understand that our clients want to know as much as possible about this situation and, in particular, potential homeowner impact. Again, we do not at this moment have any indication that any homeowner data — the information that appears on a physical check and/or payment coupon — has been breached. Exela has told us that its data retention policy is in line with the standards of the industry, as well as those set by HiTrust, HIPAA and the PCI Security Standards Council.

Where We Are Now

Exela’s servers are now being restored from backups, with its third-party forensic team verifying and validating all servers before they are used. Exela has installed additional cyber protection tools as part of the restoration process. Exela also has told us that all systems have been cleared of any ongoing cyber security concerns stemming from the incident.

Our information security and operations teams remain in daily contact with Exela, and expect to receive information about the findings of their investigation in the next several weeks. The amount of time needed to complete such an investigation can vary, though, from a number of days to weeks or months.

We will continue to share any updates with you as they become available.

Cenlar Deploying FHA 40-Year Loan Modification Program

On April 18, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), by issuing Mortgagee Letter 2022-07, established a 40-year recovery loan modification/partial claim as an additional waterfall solution in the COVID-19 Recovery Loss Mitigation Options.

This announcement is to inform our clients that Cenlar will be deploying the FHA 40-year loan modification ahead of schedule, on Friday, July 15, 2022.

The existing 30-year FHA recovery modification/partial claim targets a 25% reduction to the principal and interest portion of the borrower’s monthly mortgage payment.

New Process

Under Mortgagee Letter 2022-07, if the 30-year review detailed in the existing process is unsuccessful, the mortgagee must review the borrower’s eligibility for a 40-year term and a Partial Claim. Partial Claim funds must first be applied to the arrearage. The interest rate will be modified in accordance with Mortgagee Letter guidance for the new term. If the targeted reduction is not achieved, then the Partial Claim amount should be increased until the reduction is achieved. If the 25% P&I reduction could not be achieved but the maximum allowable Partial Claim was met (maximum allowable Partial Claim amount = 25% of the unpaid principal balance as of the date of default), the servicer would offer the lowest monthly P&I payment that was achieved.

According to mortgage letter guidance for the 40-year program, the interest rate of the modified mortgage must be no more than 50 basis points greater than the most recent PMMS rate for 30-year fixed rate conforming mortgages (U.S. average), rounded to the nearest one-eighth of 1% (0.125%) as of the date the borrower is offered a COVID-19 recovery modification. The mortgagee must round the modification interest rate to the nearest one-eighth of 1% (0.125%) before adding no more than 50 bps to the interest rate.

Although FHA’s guidance permits the mortgagee to increase the rate to no more than 50 basis points greater than the most recent PMMS rate, Cenlar’s standard offering of this program will set the interest rate to the current PMMS Rate for 30-year fixed rate, rounded to the nearest one-eighth of 1% (0.125%).

Cenlar will accommodate client requests, via a letter of direction, to offer an alternative interest rate for this program within the allowable guidance.

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

MoveIT Migration to the Cloud

Cenlar has begun preparations to migrate MoveIT, the application we use to share files with you, to the cloud. We plan to complete the migration by early October.

Your help has made our cloud migration effort seamless thus far. Just as we did with other phases of our cloud effort, we need your assistance to make this transition as smooth as possible.

Please carefully read the following instructions for whitelisting and testing information.

Whitelisting IP Addresses

You will need to update IP addresses for servers impacted by the MoveIT migration before Aug. 15 to ensure security protocols do not prevent you from testing and accessing the migrated environments. The new IP addresses are listed here:

Transfer Server	New IP
Outbound	12.151.180.140
Inbound	12.151.180.139

In addition, you will need to validate the following ports and protocols:

Transfer Server Outbound (IP Address 12.151.180.140)

Protocol	Port
SFTP/SCP (FTP/SCP over SSH)	22
FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS)	20021 to 20025
HTTPS (HTTP over SSL/TLS)	443

Transfer Server Inbound (IP Address 12.151.180.139)

Protocol	Port
SFTP/SCP, FTPS, HTTPS	Specifically configured for your FTP host

Please note, you will also need to keep our old firewall rules active (12.26.45.84, 12.26.45.67 and 12.26.45.24) during this transition in order to maintain access to the servers. We will reach out to you once we have confirmed the migration is complete and it is safe to deactivate the legacy IP address information.

Testing

We are asking that all clients perform testing in advance of the migration date. Testing capability will be enabled in mid-August.

Going forward, we will send you instructions on how to test, as well as communicate to you when the testing period begins officially.

We are looking forward to completing this migration, and thank you for assisting us as we continue to advance and evolve Cenlar’s technology. These efforts will enable us to better serve you and your homeowners.

Please share the information in this notice with your IT team, and if you have any questions, contact your client manager.

Payoff Statement Feature Now Live on Global Teller

A feature that allows our clients to generate payoff statements through Global Teller is now live.

First introduced in our June 17, 2022 Client Bulletin, this enhancement enables you to retrieve a digital payoff quote in Global Teller’s document center in as little as 30 minutes after submitting a request. This is the fastest self-service option available for payoff requests.

To request a payoff on behalf of a homeowner, click the “Request Payoff” option on Global Teller, and enter the loan number, payoff date and your contact phone number. The payoff quote will be added to the “View/Print Documents” area of Global Teller.

You can submit a request for standard payoffs or HELOCs. Some loans will still require payoffs to be generated manually, including those in bankruptcy or foreclosure and those with pre-payment penalties or with force placed insurance.

An updated Client Support Options matrix can be found in the Support section of CenAccess.

Thank you again for your understanding as we worked to bring this enhancement to you. If you have any questions, please contact your client manager.

Certificates of Insurance Available on CenAccess

Evidence of insurance for Fidelity Bond, Mortgage Impairment and Professional Liability lines of insurance are now available on CenAccess. If you have any questions or need to sign up for CenAccess, please contact your client manager.