Dallas area-based ""Wingspan Portfolio Advisors"":http://www.WingspanAdvisors.com, a specialty and component mortgage servicer, added 100 employees in the past 60 days to help servicers stay compliant with the ""interagency review issued"":http://dsnews.comarticles/regulators-hand-down-enforcement-actions-to-servicers-and-their-vendors-2011-04-13 this month by the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision.
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The regulators' document, which initially targeted 14 servicers subject to investigations into foreclosure affidavit issues, is expected to change the way the entire industry operates and how lenders and servicers document activities.
""We knew it was coming,"" said Steven Horne, CEO of Wingspan Portfolio Advisors. ""The time for action is here, and we're ready.""
As a result of the regulatory review, two key enforcement actions were included in the consent orders for each servicer examined.
[COLUMN_BREAK]One enforcement action was for each servicer to contract with an independent consultant to review residential foreclosure actions or proceedings that were pending from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2010, as well as residential foreclosure sales that occurred during that period.
The second enforcement action mandated each servicer to hire an expert to perform a comprehensive assessment of risks in servicing operations, specifically in regard to foreclosure, loss mitigation, and property disposition.
The servicers were given 45 days from the execution of their consent orders to select independent providers for the required reviews.
""The bar for oversight has been raised, and though the servicers named in the document need to react immediately, the clock is ticking for all servicers,"" Horne said. ""Wingspan has been providing these audits and reviews to servicers for a long time, and we're now beefing up our capacity to accommodate what I expect to be an ongoing need for these professional services.""
According to Horne, a servicer's stability will soon depend on the quality of their review partners.
""We're in a new day for regulatory oversight and transparency for loan servicers, and they need help to remain compliant,"" he said. ""Trusted third parties with deep servicing and audit experience are now to become partners for servicers in the best sense of the word.""