""Integrated Mortgage Solutions"":http://www.imstoday.com (IMS), a collateral protection resource for the mortgage servicing industry, announced today at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Mortgage Servicing Conference & Expo in Tampa, the addition of two new clients to its Asset Disposition and Management Services (ADAM) division. The new clients have engaged IMS for borrower outreach and REO management services.
Through ADAM, IMS offers loss mitigation services such as skip tracing, door-knocker, borrower outreach call center, notary service, short sale, and REO management, as well as inspections and preservation. The company explained in a press statement that its technology delivers scalability for clients and real-time updates with electronic documents accessible via the Web site - necessities for improving speed and accuracy in the loss mitigation process and better assisting distressed borrowers, while also boosting servicers' revenues.
According to Cheryl Lang, president of IMS, increased demand within the industry for effective loss mitigation is a driving force behind the company's growing client base. ""Our continued and steady growth is directly related to our commitment to delivering exceptional client service,"" Lang said. ""IMS is focused on providing loss mitigation services that enable our clients to reduce costs and increase homeownership levels. Our clients benefit from an expedient and customized approach to loss mitigation service and are, in turn, able to offer distressed borrowers a vast array of workout options,"" Lang explained.
According to the latest RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, foreclosure activity dropped 10 percent in January 2009 -- although the January total of 274,399 was the fourth highest monthly total since January 2005 and still up 18 percent from January 2008. Statistics like these have pushed home retention and mortgage workouts to the forefront of the political arena and mainstream media, putting default servicing front and center on the national stage.
IMS explained that it reaches out to the borrower and makes ""soft contact"" on behalf of the servicer, separate and apart from a collection environment. By providing borrowers with a single, third-party point of contact throughout the loss mitigation process, IMS substantially increases the success rate of loss mitigation initiatives for the lender, the company said.
IMS' ADAM division provides lenders with asset managers and a Web-based technology platform to customize and manage a loss mitigation outreach and short sale approach based on the individual lender’s business model. In addition, IMS said its short sale model helps to expedite the closing process, greatly increasing the chances that interested buyers will not be lost during a long approval process.