Federal Emergency Declared in Texas
On February 20, 2021, President Biden issued a disaster declaration for the state of Texas. The President’s announcement immediately empowered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide more resources and assistance, including grants for temporary housing and repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help communities recover.
CenNet, our borrower website, and the IVR systems both provide borrowers with disaster relief information. In addition, our contact center employees have received ongoing updates about how to support callers impacted by the weather.
In most cases, borrowers calling to report a loss will be transferred from Cenlar to our vendor partner where a customer representative will initiate the loss claims process and take the following steps:
- Speed up loss draft processes, including removal of contracting requirements
- Increase claim amounts that can be released without full inspection
- Prioritize Texas loan open items
- Reach out to Texas-based insurance carriers to determine possible processing delays
Additional disaster-related information may be found on the following websites:
- www.DisasterAssistance.gov – dedicated to disaster assistance for those affected.
- www.freddiemac.com/learn/pdfs/service/dis_prop.pdf – Freddie Mac guide to managing distressed properties.
- www.fanniemae.com/singlefamily/disaster-assistance – Fannie Mae disaster assistance summary.