Lyons McCloskey [1], a financial services consulting group, announced that they are partnering with Catalyst Business Services, LLC [2], regarding the Standardized Law Firm Audit and Law Firm Readiness Assessment tools created and managed by the company.
The audit tool is a standardized audit of law firms in default servicing and was developed over
the course of many years through an MBA Loan Administration Committee work group, with the
support of the GSEs and other oversight agencies. The development of the Standardized Law Firm Audit
was a cooperative effort with participation from MBA, ALFN, USFN, and over 20 servicers and law firms
in the default servicing industry. The audit was created utilizing the policies established by FNMA,
FHLMC, CFPB, and the OCC and provides servicers with increased efficiency and cost-savings.
This audit product allows servicers and lenders to have access to a comprehensive standard audit, and the law firms have the benefit of their audit being accessible by multiple servicers. The Readiness Assessment is a post-moratorium look into law firm readiness and viability moving forward, with the same high standards and comprehensive review of each firm as provided by the audit.
“All parties find efficiencies and economies of scale in these products,” stated Mark Atencio of Lyons McCloskey. “The industry has been anticipating the arrival of a thorough and objective standard audit of their law firm partners, and through years of work with multiple servicers, that product is now available. Adding the partnership with Catalyst to develop business and grow awareness around both the MBA Audit and the Law Firm Readiness Assessment was a natural next step due to their extensive network and commitment to finding adaptable and cost-effective solutions to common problems in the default servicing industry.”
For over 15 years, Lyons McCloskey has been providing specialized consulting to the residential mortgage loan servicing industry. Bob Lyons, the company’s founder, has worked with the GSEs, large banks, and servicers for over 25 years. He worked with FHA on many policy initiatives relating to loss mitigation, foreclosure oversight, and claims management. In addition to the Standardized Law Firm Audit and the Law Firm Readiness Assessment, Lyons McCloskey provides consulting expertise on process improvement, quality assurance, gap analysis, and policy, and procedure review for residential mortgage servicers.