CLARIFIRE, the mortgage servicing industry’s workflow automation solution, has partnered with IndiSoft’s National Housing Advocacy Platform (NHAP) to seamlessly integrate HUD-approved housing counselors (HCAs) who provide foreclosure alternative counseling and loss mitigation assistance to homeowners into servicing workflows, Clarifire announced in a release.
A game-changing innovation for all parties, the integration expands the borrower assistance digital ecosystem and alleviates servicer-borrower interactions.
“We are thrilled to partner with CLARIFIRE, the renown SaaS provider of process automation, as investors, servicers and the federal agencies are leveraging these counselors to augment and complement the interactions with the borrowers preparing for an uptick in loss mitigation activity,” IndiSoft CEO Hans Rusli said in the release. “HCAs are playing an increasingly critical role to help distressed homeowners navigate complex loss mitigation options, manage finances and communicate with servicers on their behalf in pursuit of a foreclosure alternative.”
Since the Great Recession and the passing of the Dodd-Frank Act, there are many options, relief programs and protections available for at-risk homeowners. While these efforts have helped minimize foreclosures, they come with regulatory, process and eligibility complexities that only increase the importance of HCAs as indispensable trusted advisors for homeowners.
“Numerous pieces of legislation are providing increased funding to HCAs to assist at-risk homeowners,” CLARIFIRE CEO Jane Mason said. “The Housing Stability Counseling Program (HSCP), and the Homeowner’s Assistance Fund (HAF), for example, speak volumes about the importance of providing free, safe and effective assistance to homeowners who are ill-equipped or are under tremendous stress when faced with mortgage payment problems. To complement these developments, we’re providing proven technology to deliver visibility and results.”
By fully integrating IndiSoft’s HUD-certified client management system with CLARIFIRE’s loss mitigation process automation, mortgage servicers will gain a single point of access to nearly 2,000 HCAs using the IndiSoft system.
“As service providers, HCAs will be seamlessly presented to servicers through our configurable dashboards,” Mason said. “Consumers can also access and interact with counselors through our self-service, consumer-direct portal.”
“We strongly encourage mortgage servicers, investors, the FHA, VA, USDA and the GSEs to participate in the NHAP to interact with HCAs nationwide,” Sylvia Alvarez, executive director and founder of Housing & Education Alliance, a HUD-approved counseling agency in Tampa, Fla., said.