Client Bulletin: June 10, 2024
New Schedule Aligns Escrow Statements with California Tax Disbursements
In the spirit of continual improvement, we are in the process of changing the State Mass Escrow Analysis Schedule for homeowners in the state of California from January to June. This change ensures annual statements for homeowners in California will now include the actual tax disbursements that occur in the state each year (in November and March), as opposed to the projected tax disbursements.
This change was made after completing thorough research, and ensuring our new method aligns with industry best practices and would not create undue disruption to affected clients or homeowners. Our research showed the number of shortage increases for California homeowners was minimal after this change since we already included the projected tax disbursement included in the escrow analysis.
“Throughout the organization, we’re always looking for ways we can work better for clients and their homeowners,” said Michelle DeHart, VP, Loan Operations. “This enhancement does just that — aligning homeowner escrow accounts in California with annual tax disbursements in the state, allowing for a better homeowner experience.”
We’ve already notified homeowners with properties in California about this schedule change. As part of this switch, for this year only, the affected homeowners will receive a short-year escrow analysis in the month of June, with a payment effective date of August 1, 2024. Again, this short-year escrow analysis is a one-time activity.
In 2025 and going forward, the State Mass Analyses will be sent to homeowners with properties in California once per year, in the month of June.
New XML Edits Included in Updated New Loan Transfer Instructions
We have an updated set of New Loan Transfer Instructions, which include new XML edits that may apply to your organization.
To help you with these changes, the following documents have been updated on CenAccess, for your reference:
- 2024-05 New Loan Flow Transfer Instructions Change Summary.docx
- Exhibit A1 – XML Standard Interface File-20240520.xlsx
- Exhibit A3 – XML New Loan Boarding File Edits-20240520.xlsx
Please review these updated documents for a detailed list of the changes.
Cenlar Leaders to Speak at ABA Risk & Compliance Conference
Four Cenlar executive leaders are among the speakers on the expert panels at the American Bankers Association Risk & Compliance Conference at the Seattle Convention Center this week.
The panel discussions will focus on compliance and risk challenges, issues management and third-party risk management.
Lynn Tarantino, Senior Vice President, Chief Controls and Quality Officer at Cenlar will serve as moderator of the June 11 panel “Navigating Through the Sea of Hot Topics in Mortgage Servicing” that features Ingrid Jaschok, Senior Vice President of Default Operations. Tarantino also will moderate June 13’s “Preparing for Large Bank Status – A Roadmap for Compliance” panel.
Jennifer Wilkinson, Vice President of Third Party Risk Management, will be a speaker on the June 11 panel “Adapting Your Third-Party Risk Management Program to New FinTech Risks”.
Allyson Kiesel, Vice President of Issues & Enterprise Change Management, will speak on June 12’s “Building an Effective, Efficient and Interconnected Issues Management Program” panel.
For more information about the ABA Risk and Compliance Conference, visit https://www.aba.com/training-events/conferences/risk-and-compliance-conference.
Juneteenth Observance
Cenlar will be closed on Wednesday, June 19, 2024 in observance of Juneteenth. Any files received on Wednesday, June 19 will be processed the night of Thursday, June 20. Output will be available the morning of Friday, June 21.
Check Your Inbox! CenAccess MFA Emails Out Today (June 10)
As we announced in several issues of the Client Bulletin earlier this year, we are introducing enhanced security for our CenAccess application through the addition of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). We are launching this feature today, June 10.
If you are a CenAccess user, please check your inbox. CenAccess users should have received two emails this morning with credentials and instructions needed to perform the CenAccess MFA registration process. The first email provides the login user ID. The other provides the URL link, temporary password and guidance on how to download Microsoft Authenticator, setup and access CenAccess via MFA. The emails also contain step-by-step instructions in the user guide that you can download to help facilitate the transition to MFA.
As we have previously communicated, MFA validation will be facilitated through the Microsoft Authenticator app. CenAccess users will download the Authenticator application — if they do not already have it installed — to their mobile device and use it to perform MFA to launch CenAccess. Microsoft Authenticator App is available in both the Apple App and Google Play stores via mobile device, at no cost.
After initial validation and on an ongoing basis upon CenAccess login, users will be provided a one-time code via the Authenticator app for additional authentication to enable login. This will also help streamline password resets for CenAccess, as this will now be available to be done online without calling the Cenlar Help Desk.