PERSON OF THE WEEK: Yogesh Chaudhari is senior vice president of IndiSoft, a provider of Web-based software to the default servicing industry. MortgageOrb recently interviewed Chaudhari to get his views on how technology is revolutionizing how mortgage servicers operate.
Q: With the new regulations that are now in place, servicers are being held accountable for their vendors and their practices. How can technology help them in this effort?
Chaudhari: Rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the national mortgage settlement are holding servicers more accountable for the way they manage their business and their relationships with vendors. No longer can they say they are in the dark regarding how their vendors manage relationships with consumers. Technology will give servicers the transparency they need to manage these relationships and monitor the work while creating a process trail that could be easily reviewed. Using a properly collaborated and rules-based system will also help servicers evaluate processes to ensure optimal performance at every stage of servicing.Â
Q: Given the increased focus on the quality of loans from origination to closing, how can technology help all the stakeholders involved in the process?
Chaudhari: Technology has always been able to help users create efficiencies and improve processes. The challenge has been adoption. The heightened scrutiny has made it essential for every participant in the mortgage process to monitor and validate their efforts. The only way to do this effectively is with the use of technology – not just to automate processes but to help collect data that in turn can be used to further improve processes. There are systems, many of which can be integrated with existing systems and require little to no extra training, that allow originators, servicers and everyone in between to improve how they work, thus helping to improve the industry as a whole.
Q: How do you see technology helping the mortgage industry in this age of increasingly stringent regulatory compliance?
Chaudhari: This is an opportune time for everyone in the mortgage industry to learn not only how technology creates efficiencies but also how it is critical to achieving compliance. Take for instance a housing counselor and a servicer who are working together to offer a home owner an alternative to foreclosure or modify an existing mortgage. The ability to share information and manage each stage of the process could be mean the difference between a consumer losing their home and the servicer losing hundreds of thousands of dollars or the consumer retaining their home and the servicer profiting from improved loan performance. The audit trail of each activity of each stakeholder's actions in the process, pre-defined measurable factors of the compliance scoring in the collaborative platform will help to achieve, monitor or flag quality during the process.
Q: Where do you see the role of mobile technology in the mortgage space in the next years?
Chaudhari: More and more transactions are starting from mobile devices, including people looking for real estate and shopping for rates. People are also using their devices to make payments and check on their accounts. Mortgage companies can take advantage of this opportunity by getting people the right information they need to make decisions about a property or a loan. One area of the mortgage industry that also could be most significantly affected by mobile technology is lead generation. Mobile apps can help to interact with any platform while roaming to keep track of everything and avoid delays in information and/or document sharing. It may take some time for the industry to become more comfortable with using mobile applications because of the issue of security, but it can be done.
Q: What are some of the latest technological advancements that could help the mortgage industry rebound faster?
Chaudhari: Other industries are using HTML5, CSS3 and Web APIs, which are standard technologies that allow web sites and applications to be easily accessible from multiple platforms (mobile devices as well as desktops). This would allow professionals and consumers to access company websites from any device without difficulty. Once the mortgage industry adopts this technology, – and in time it will – it will greatly improve the level of efficiency, as well as the speed and accuracy of customer service.
