Peoples Processing: Recent Episodes
Peoples Processing
Peoples Processing is an end-to-end mortgage processing company, providing processing support across originations as well as servicing. We also offer end-to-end mortgage servicing support to streamline servicing & default operations, while ensuring compliance.
FHA, which stands for the Federal Housing Administration, is a United States government agency which insures home loans for FHA approved lenders.
One of the best tips for buying a house is to fully understand all the financing options that are available to them. As a buyer is trying to determine which type of mortgage is the best, they must weigh the PROs and CONs of each option. Continue reading...
A mortgage loan processor is the link between a borrower, loan officer and the underwriter in the context of a residential mortgage. And he or she is arguably the most important member of the team.
The National Association of Mortgage Processors says, “The primary function of the Loan Processor is to ensure the timely and accurate packaging of all loans originated by loan officers.” So it’s mostly an administrative role. Continue reading...
In today’s ever-evolving, competitive market, mortgage lenders face a host of challenges like meeting borrower expectations, improving closing ratios, reducing the cost of origination, and most importantly keep growing. One of the best ways for lenders then is to tie up with reliable mortgage processing partners who can do the heavy lifting for them, and allow them to focus on the market expansion. Continue reading...
Outsourcing is a very common practice in the finance industry. Since the 1970s, banks and other businesses have been outsourcing several functions including clerical, record storage, accounting, data processing, security and plant maintenance. The mortgage industry too followed suit soon. What fuelled the growth of outsourcing is the fact that outsourcers could do the work at a fraction of the cost of what companies spent to maintain themselves. Continue reading...
The mortgage industry has been evolving since the past few years amidst a lot of regulations. In the US, today, a median borrower puts 5% down payment for their home purchase, as compared to 20% about a decade ago. This aspect, paired with price wars, new CFBP regulations, and other accompanying challenges, has resulted in many mortgage lenders looking positively towards outsourcing services as an option. Mortgage loan processing companies, who specialize in offering these outsourced services are able to cut down costs and improve productivity. Continue reading...
The mortgage processing industry is a complex ecosystem that has a highly regulated environment and the need for a delicate balance between modernization, cost, and risk. Processing larger mortgage volumes is an element that requires more efficient services on part of lenders and processors.
Processing Higher Mortgage Volumes
At a time when more millennials are pursuing homeownership than ever before, the volumes of mortgages are bound to go up. Over the past few years, it has been observed that as millennials age and grow in their careers, they are acquiring more purchasing power, are shopping for mortgages online, and entering the market well prepared. Continue reading...
2020 is just around the corner and it’s that time of the year when the mortgage rate predictions begin. Experts have pulled up their sleeves to forewarn about how the mortgage interest rates will do in the coming year. There is a lot of curiosity over whether the rates will continue to drop or skyrocket. Those looking to purchase a new home or refinance next year are all ears. Continue reading...
The mortgage processing industry is intensely regulated and one of the biggest challenges is to keep up with changing fed regulations. The industry demands extremely proficient and expert processing teams who can help lenders resolve and address the growing challenges in mortgage processing services. It is a good idea for lenders to outsource the mortgage process to a mortgage processing services partner who can provide the needed support for the business.
Here’s how mortgage processing services partners can help in addressing the challenges that arise: Continue reading...
Missed payments are not a matter of overt concern until the second missed payment period has passed – which means the borrower is 60 days late in making payments. When a borrower misses two consecutive loan payments, the account is considered in early-stage delinquency.
Mortgage servicers are responsible for handling delinquent loans. Mortgage servicers also handle the day-to-day processing of mortgage loans which includes communicating with borrowers and investors, processing payments and handling escrow accounts. So, if a borrower does not rectify the delinquency, mortgage servicers are responsible for choosing whether to pursue a foreclosure sale or to implement a loss mitigation option. Continue reading...
Mortgage Refinance Trends in 2020 2020 has seen a strong start in the mortgage business for new home loans and refinances. In the first month itself, refinancing led the surge, thanks to a drop in mortgage rates. According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), applications for refinance jumped 43% and were 109% higher than a year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 62.9% of total applications from 58.9% the previous week.
MBA economist Joel Kan noted that refinances increased for both conventional and government loans, as lower rates provided a larger incentive for borrowers to act. Trends like these are an indicator towards a possibility that mortgage rates may continue to stay low for most of 2020. This would help the home buying market as well as refinancing activity, which would mean that there are chances of loan applications going up as compared to the early part of 2019. Continue reading...
As the world grapples with the Coronavirus pandemic, businesses everywhere are finding ways to deal with uncertain times. The mortgage sector is no exception. Lenders now must find various ways to avoid delays in loan processing.
Across organizations, employees are increasingly skeptical and hesitant about traveling to work. because of coronavirus concerns. Continue reading...
The process of mortgage origination is time-consuming and intensive. It is in the best interest of lenders to work with mortgage processing partners who offer a variable pricing option for the mortgage process.
On average, a loan can take about 35 to 40 days to close. During this period, mortgage lenders collaborate with various service partners and vendors in order to manage all the functions related to data collection and verification. Their main aim is to close as many qualified mortgage loans as possible while ensuring that they are following all compliances. Continue reading...
COVID-19 has brought in a difficult situation for all of us and everyone can feel the impact all around. As the virus continues to spread across the globe, it is not only impacting your health, but also your pockets. In a very short span of time, COVID-19 has brought in a change in how businesses approach and fulfill their commitments towards their customers.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has now declared the Coronavirus as a public health emergency of international concern. With every passing day, more and more people are coming under the radar of this epidemic, creating a significant concern for workplaces globally. With no travel, frozen budgets, and daily changes in global health reports, a technology-driven approach to businesses is the new mantra for success. In such situations, businesses with contingency plans in place are less likely to experience disruptions. Continue reading...
The last few weeks have been very distressing, with all the news related to the Covid-19 pandemic. I hope you are staying safe and positive amid all the uncertainty. We have never experienced anything close to what we are seeing with the Covid-19 pandemic. Without any doubt, it is having a drastic impact on how we live and work.
It is time, we do our best to protect our families, communities and thank all our healthcare professionals for what they are doing. Continue reading...
Earlier this week, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in a release, announced that enterprises will purchase qualified loans in forbearance to keep the lending flowing. This move comes in to support homeowners and mortgage lenders. FHFA has said that they are approving the purchase of certain single-family mortgages in forbearance that meet specific eligibility criteria by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises).
In the release, Director Mark Calabria said “We are focused on keeping the mortgage market working for current and future homeowners during these challenging times. Purchases of these previously ineligible loans will help provide liquidity to mortgage markets and allow originators to keep lending.” Continue reading...
In a recent article, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has confirmed that borrowers in forbearance with a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (the Enterprises)-backed mortgage are not required to repay the missed payments in one lump sum.
This indeed is valuable news for homeowners, and they should no longer be worried about losing their home during this national health emergency. To help homeowners navigate the forbearance process, FHFA partnered with CFPB on the Borrower Protection Program to provide homeowners accurate information about forbearance and address concerns noted in some consumer complaints. Continue reading...
Covid-19 has officially been designated a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Originating from Wuhan, the coronavirus has affected every person and place like a global tsunami. It’s proven to be not just a health crisis, but also a social, economic, and political crisis.
Today we have a special story to share about one of our employees, Viju Davis, who has exhibited remarkable dedication and resilience in the face of this crisis. Viju Davis is a Senior Manager and Heads the Peoples Processing operations at Kochi, India – across 2 locations. Continue reading...
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) in a recent release revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance increased to 7.91% of servicers’ portfolio volume. According to MBA’s estimate, almost 4 million homeowners are now in forbearance plans.
With unemployment rising from historical lows in early 2020 to a record 14.7 percent in April, it is inevitable that mortgage delinquencies would increase as well. 33.5 million U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits in the past seven weeks, and with signs of economic distress continuing into the second quarter, mortgage delinquencies will likely further increase. With it, the forbearance numbers as well will continue to rise. Continue reading...
Lenders and Servicers need to stay abreast of market changes, understand them well, and adapt their business practices to suit the new normal. While this has always been true, it is even more so, amid the current COVID-19 pandemic situation.
Handling complexities?
For several lenders, the uncertainty of the market has caused internal lending guidelines to tighten up. With physical meetings not happening, how do we handle the complexities? How do we have those conversations with our referral partners and even those sometimes-difficult conversations with borrowers in our pipelines? Continue reading...
Servicing loans is much more than retaining a portfolio and collecting payments; it’s about meeting the evolving needs of your customers and delivering an improved borrower experience. The current Covid-19 pandemic is causing significant social, economic and personal disruption. Most companies have 90-100% of staff operating remotely. The availability of teams to handle work volumes has been a challenge.
In this time of crisis, Peoples Processing is offering loan servicing support to Mortgage Servicers to help them improve borrowers’ experience and retain their customers. Continue reading...
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is posing a significant challenge. Experts are not in a position to quantify or project the delinquency numbers, as per a recent report in Black Knight’s Mortgage Monitor.
“Trying to gauge the impact of COVID-19 on mortgage performance is as much an art right now as a science,” said Ben Graboske, president of Black Knight Data Analytics. “The fact is that there is no true point of comparison in the nation’s recent history for analysts to model against.” Continue reading...
As lenders process loans, the role of an underwriter is critical. All of us know that underwriting usually consumes a lot of time and costs and usually goes through multiple iterations. If a lender can bring in improvements during the pre-underwriting stage, then this can have a large impact on the productivity of underwriters.
At the pre-underwriting stage, teams need to manage a lot of paperwork, including document verification, stacking and indexing the loan papers received, preparing and sending the initial mortgage disclosures to the borrower, etc. This can get very cumbersome for in-house teams. Continue reading...
The mortgage industry has been deeply impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Black Knight reported that nearly 4.1 million homeowners are in forbearance programs, representing 7.7% of all active mortgages.
With the increase in the number of forbearance requests, servicers will need to have a process in place so that they can ensure that not a single request goes unanswered. Continue reading...
I think the last 2-3 months has seen a big change in the mortgage industry with low-interest rates and the pandemic. Who would have imagined that we will see such high forbearance volumes? Of course, because of the pandemic, people should not be losing their homes. The good news is that 3.7 million of the foreclosure prevention actions have helped troubled homeowners stay in their homes.
The Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) completed 26,910 foreclosure prevention actions in the first quarter of 2020, bringing to 4.4 million the number of troubled homeowners who have been helped during conservatorships. Continue reading...
The housing market is currently witnessing a major surge, thanks to record-low mortgage rates. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index, mortgage applications to purchase a home was a remarkable 21% higher than one year ago.
At a time like this, it is likely that underwriters may feel overwhelmed with the sudden surge in volumes. An underwriter does require several documents that are current and complete to ensure that there are no gaps in the borrower’s financial narrative. Continue reading...
Ginnie Mae announced a major step in modernizing its platform, allowing so-called “digital collateral” or electronic promissory notes and other loan files as collateral in its securities.
Six weeks after a Ginnie Mae executive said the agency was “just around the corner” from beginning to accept eNotes in its securitizations, Ginnie Mae Principal Executive Vice President Seth Appleton said the program had been launched. Continue reading...
With the COVID-19 pandemic severely hurting the economy and unemployment levels skyrocketing, many homeowners are struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments. To help alleviate the impact of COVID-19, the federal government passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to grant relief options for federally backed loans.
Post the Act, there has been a tremendous rise in the number of forbearance requests with around 4.3 million mortgages in forbearance, representing 8.53% of the total outstanding mortgages. The high rate of unemployment and the wave of layoffs have also meant that delinquencies among borrowers for past-due mortgages have soared majorly. Mortgage delinquencies spiked by 1.6 million in April, the largest single-month jump in history, according to Black Knight, a mortgage technology and data provider. continue reading...
As many businesses begin the slow process of returning to work and bringing employees back from remote working, there are many areas to think about and prepare for, to ensure that businesses are protected, and employees feel safe.
Supporting Staff Health and Well-being
The health and safety of the workforce should be management’s top priority.
Companies need to support their employees who are coming back to the workplace as some may be excited while others could be very anxious about the thought of mixing with other people. Continue reading...
With the rise in forbearance volumes servicers, must rethink their mortgage default servicing operations and technology. Improving the mortgage loan servicing process will help servicers limit losses and keep more borrowers in their homes. Servicers must improve mortgage servicing operations to improve borrower loyalty and stand out from the competition.
According to the Mortgage Bankers’ Association, only 17% of borrowers plan to return to their same mortgage servicer for another loan. Additionally, J.D. Power’s 2019 U.S. Primary Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study, stated mortgage servicers were at the bottom of the industries studied with a score of 777 out of 1,000. Continue reading...