MAY 2021
In This Issue Partner Updates Military Appreciation Month: $100 Discount from Servion Title Go2Source National Referral Network Ask the Underwriter Borrower Options After COVID-19 Relief Ends Compliance Corner: Title Services on the Settlement Service Provider List 2021 Servion Lending Conference Canceled Servicing FAQ: Can a Borrower Make a Large Payment and Then Re-amortize the Loan? The Buzz: Recent Feedback
PARTNER UPDATES
We’ve been pleased to welcome several institutions to the Servion Mortgage family so far in 2021, and several existing partners have grown their relationships with us. We look forward to supporting you for many years! New Retail Lending Partners First Oklahoma Federal Credit Union Tulsa, OK
Heritage Community Credit Union Sacramento, CA
High Peaks Federal Credit Union Dillon, MT
Preston Federal Credit Union Kingwood, WV
Santa Fe Federal Credit Union Santa Fe, NM and Amarillo, TX
Share Advantage Credit Union Duluth, MN
Wellness Federal Credit Union Hartford, CT
LEARN ABOUT OUR PRODUCTS & PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
New Correspondent Lending Partners Community Resource Credit Union Baytown, TX
Tulsa Federal Credit Union Tulsa, OK
New Quality Control Partners Westby Co-op Credit Union Westby, WI
Relationship Expansions Central Minnesota Credit Union (added retail channel services)
Sartell, MN
DuTrac Community Credit Union (added VA correspondent channel
services) Dubuque, IA
Members’ Advantage Credit Union (now using Wholesale FHA/VA
services) Wisconsin Rapids, WI
Oklahoma’s Credit Union (added USDA approved lender status)
Oklahoma City, OK
Proctor Federal Credit Union (now using contract processing services) Proctor, MN
St. Cloud Financial Credit Union (now using Wholesale FHA/VA services)
St. Cloud, MN
TruStone Financial (now using quality control services)
Plymouth, MN
Your source for local Realtors®. The Servion Group developed the Go2Source Realtor® Referral Network as a tool to help credit unions and community banks earn more mortgage business. If you have a borrower who does not have a Realtor®, now you can connect them with one by utilizing Go2Source.
Benefits for Both Retail and Correspondent Partners Go2Source agents help your borrowers search, buy, sell and save on their transactions. Go2Source agents are local to your area and carefully vetted for professionalism and service attributes.
Go2Source agents never steer the borrower to any other financial institution. For just $30/year, we can help you get the word out about Go2Source with customizable print and digital materials.
What To Do Next Want more information? Contact your Servion Account Executive.
Ready to connect a lead with a Go2Source Realtor®? Visit: myservion.com/Go2Source
The Go2Source Realtor® Referral Network is managed by The Servion Group, which locates, vets and recommends real estate agents in cities across the country who then become part of the Go2Source-branded network.
Ask the Underwriter is our forum for answering common or recent partner questions. In this month’s edition, we’re answering a couple of questions that we’ve fielded multiple times from a few different partners this spring.
I have a question about the age of income and asset documentation for conventional loans. Under COVID guidelines, the age requirement moved from 120 days to 60 days. Is the 60-day requirement still in effect, and if so, when will this change back to 120 days again? You are correct; back in April of 2020, in response to the initial COVID outbreak, Fannie Mae decided they needed to ensure that the most up-to-date information was being considered to support borrowers’ ability to repay. At that time, Fannie modified the age of document requirements from 120 days to 60 days. As of now, income and asset documentation still expires at 60 days. This policy is in effect until further notice from Fannie Mae. If you would like, you can reference this portion of the Fannie Mae Seller’s Guide for more detail.
Does Servion do loans where the property is in the name of an LLC? At this time, no, Servion Mortgage does not do loans to an LLC. However, if the borrower is 100 percent owner of the LLC, they can deed back in to the property as an individual at closing and we can complete the loan at that time.
Have questions for our underwriters? If you have questions you’d like our underwriters to answer in a future issue, please send an email to underwriting@myservion.com!
Borrower Options After COVID-19 Relief Ends Mortgage servicing, like many industries, has had a trying year. Not because of a flood or other type of “regular” event, but because of the pandemic. Along with COVID-19 came hardship for many of your members and customers: many found it harder and harder to make their mortgage payments due to job loss, hours reductions or illness. Servion fielded hundreds of inquiries for COVID-19 assistance, ultimately processing and completing over 1,900 forbearances and deferments. Now that we have hopefully turned the COVID-19 corner and the future seems to be brighter, what lies ahead for borrowers who entered a COVID-19 workout?
Borrowers exiting COVID-19 forbearances in the current environment will likely have a mix of post-forbearance options that include traditional loss mitigation options and unique COVID-19 programs developed by the investor/insurer. A list of common post-forbearance options/ pathways and a brief description of each is included below. Of course, the types of options and specific terms available to any one borrower will depend on loan type, local laws and investor/insurer requirements.
Reinstatement
The borrower pays back all payments that were missed under the forbearance plan. After the reinstatement, the borrower continues to pay his or her contractual payment under the original terms of the loan.
Repayment Plan
The borrower resumes making his or her regular monthly payments, plus an additional portion of the missed amount each month, until the missed amount is paid off. Repayment plans can vary drastically in length and amount.
Payment Deferral / Partial Claim
Missed payments and, in some cases, other amounts (e.g. servicing advances paid to third parties) are deferred to the maturity date as a non-interestbearing balance. The deferred amount is due on the maturity date (or earlier whenever the home is sold, or the loan is refinanced or otherwise paid off). Once the deferral is processed, the borrower resumes making his or her regular contractual monthly payment.
Loan Modification
The terms of the mortgage loan
are modified to reach an affordable payment solution for the borrower. Loan modifications can take many forms but typically include capitalization of arrearages, a reduction in interest rate and/or a term extension.
Get in Touch with Servion’s Servicing Department If you have any questions about the options that may be available to your borrowers, you can always get in touch with our servicing department. Our phone number is 1-800-766-5626, or you can visit our website to find the email address most relevant to your question.
compliancecorner How to Properly List Title Services on the Settlement Service Providers List
During recent quality control reviews, we have noticed several instances of partners using the generic label “Title Service” on the Settlement Service Providers List. We would like to take this time to inform you that this generic term does not satisfy the regulatory requirements outlined in Regulation Z. The services the borrower is permitted to shop for, including the title services, must match or be listed like they are on the Loan Estimate. That means that the service must have the word “Title” listed before it, followed by the service they can shop for. Here are two examples of proper usage: • Title – Lender’s Title Policy • Title – Other Title Services For further clarity, here are two examples showing what to do and what not to do:
incorrectly completed form
correctly completed form
further guidance If you would like further guidance on completing the form, you may refer to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s sample model form. You can also contact your Servion team. Thank you for your attention to this matter and thank you for your continued trust in Servion Mortgage!
2021 Servion Lending Conference Canceled As you may know, The Servion Group hosted an annual lending conference for several years. Credit union and community bank leaders and employees from around the country converged on the Twin Cities to hear from speakers, engage in workshops and learn how to get the most out of their mortgage and business lending efforts. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancelation of the conference, and now, after considering several factors, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2021 conference as well. We are genuinely disappointed not to be able to host you this fall. Although the conference usually takes place in late September/early October, we felt it was wise to make a decision now. We know many of you who want to attend need to make budget decisions and travel plans months in advance and we did not want anyone to wonder about the status of the event. Health and safety, for you, for speakers and for our own employees is of the utmost importance to us. And while the COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues around the nation, there remains significant uncertainty and unease about gathering in close quarters. While we hope things are back to normal by the fall, we’ve all learned not to make assumptions about this virus, and so we feel it is prudent to make a decision with the facts as they are right now. Thank you for your understanding and support; it is much appreciated. We are eagerly looking forward to hosting you again in 2022. Stay safe and stay healthy. Sincerely, Your friends at The Servion Group
COMMERCIAL LENDING. Simplified. Ready to grow your lending portfolio? Few things help a financial institution grow better than commercial lending.
The Answer: The Question: How do you overcome costs like infrastructure and talent and make your commercial lending program successful?
By taking advantage of Servion’s full suite of Commercial Loan Resources. Full Portfolio Servicing ALLL Development Loan Policy Review and Development Risk Rating Assessment MBL Portfolio Auditing Tailored Portfolio Servicing Documentation Services A La Carte Services
Grow your credit union or community bank. Serve your local business community. A true win-win. Visit myservion.com/CLR or contact our dedicated CLR account executive, Brian Mielke, at bmielke@myservion.com.
Mortgage Servicing FAQ
“Can a Borrower Make a Large Payment and Then Re-amortize the Loan?” The Servion servicing department fields hundreds of questions every day from partners and borrowers. In this month’s newsletter, we wanted to tackle one of the questions that has been coming up regularly in recent weeks.
• Existing loans: The borrower may be delinquent at the time of the request; however, the funds must be used to first bring the loan current and any remaining monies are to be applied towards the principal.
Can a borrower make a large principal payment and reamortize the loan to lower their monthly payment?
Borrowers may remit the $250 fee, principal reduction, and written request to:
If a borrower makes a substantial principal curtailment, he or she may request that the mortgage balance be re-amortized over the remaining term of the loan to reduce the mortgage payment. (Note: FHA/VA loans cannot be re-amortized). There is a fee of $250 for a re-amortization and the minimum principal payment accepted for a re-amortization is $20,000.00. The funds must be in the form of a cashier’s check or certified funds and must be accompanied by a written request. • New loans: There are no payment history requirements for portfolio loans. Fannie requires the borrower to make at least three payments.
Servion Inc. Attn: Loan Servicing 500 Main Street New Brighton, MN 55112 Upon receipt of the request, Servion, Inc. will draft a modification/re-amortization agreement to be executed by the borrower(s). The new principal and interest payment will become effective with the borrower’s next monthly payment.
My member couldn’t say enough about the excellent service you provided and how quick all the communication was. Thank you so much for taking such good care of our members!
I can’t thank you enough for the hard work on our ticklers over the past month. The numbers are the lowest I think they have ever been since I started here. I appreciate all the hard work you all have done!
THE
BUZZ
Hear what our partners are saying about us!
Your ability to speak to the heart of Fannie Mae’s guidelines and instruct us on how to frame a borrower in the best possible light certainly contributes to more loans being closed and homes being purchased.
Thank you so much for your quick underwrite on this file. We pulled it from another investor, so we really appreciate how quickly Servion moved on this – amazing!
On Memorial Day – May 31 – Servion will be closed as we remember those who have given their lives while serving in the U.S. military. Thank you to every service member and military family for your sacrifices.
651-631-3111 • myservion.com Servion Mortgage is a DBA of Servion, Inc. NMLS #1037. Equal Housing Lender.