Marix Servicing - Borrower Outreach Program
Logicalis Gives Marix Servicing a Head Start on Saving Viable Mortgages for Homeowners in the Face of the Collapse of the Sub-Prime Market
Marix Servicing LLC, a loan servicing company founded in 2007 in response to
distress in the U.S. mortgage market, leverages technology to initiate loss
mitigation procedures in time to keep homeowners in their homes. If time is of
the essence in normal markets, it is especially critical today, as the outright
collapse of the sub-prime market continues to undermine credit markets around
the world.
Responding to its clients’ urgent need to collect detailed information about
mortgages they either insure or own, Marix needed an application to help
it gather current data from homeowners who were at risk of defaulting on
their loans. And they needed it fast.
“It is a truism in the mortgage market that the more time goes by for a distressed
loan, the more likely it is to end up in foreclosure,” says Marix Senior Vice
President Steve Paton. “The key to saving distressed borrowers is contacting
them directly. We needed a way to reach out to individual borrowers as
quickly as possible and begin collecting information on their loans.”
Marix maintains teams of highly trained experts who can help homeowners save
their mortgages through a range of financial options, including refinancing,
short sale arrangements, and other workout plans. Everyone benefits, especially
the homeowner, when a mortgage can be kept from foreclosure. Innovative
technology was required to get help to homeowners in time to make a difference.
Marix had worked with Logicalis in the past on the development of a
comprehensive Portfolio Management Reporting Solution that allows employees
and investors to create custom reports within a secure portal accessible via the
Internet. (Read more at: www.us.logicalis.com/custexp_marix_servicing.htm)
In the face of the political and economic tsunami crashing through the
mortgage market, Marix Chief Technology Officer Glen Banta again turned
to Logicalis to develop the Marix Borrower Outreach program, a new software
application that would be used to greatly accelerate the process of collecting
critical information from homeowners. The word from the business side was
clear—they wanted this
yesterday. This would be rapid application development on steroids.
Less than five weeks later, working as an extension of the Marix IT team,
Logicalis completed requirements for development, quality assurance, user
acceptance testing, and full production of the Marix Borrower Outreach program.
“Logicalis knocked it out of the park,” Banta summarizes.
A Light in the Darkness
The Marix Borrower Outreach program responds to
the very specific needs of two distinct sets of Marix
clients: mortgage insurance companies and mortgage
investors. The key for both audiences is the ability to
begin direct communication with individual borrowers
as quickly as possible.
Mortgage insurance companies are liable for claims
on defaulted mortgages, and rely on loan officers to
provide critical information on the status of the
mortgages they insure. As delinquency rates increase,
and some officers’ capacity is stretched, many
borrowers are not being reached on a timely basis.
Marix Servicing recognized the need to begin
collecting information from borrowers more quickly
and developed the Marix Borrower Outreach, a
high-touch, high-tech approach with special licensing
that enables them to reach borrowers quickly while
there may still be time to prevent homeowners from
defaulting on their mortgage loans.
Similarly, mortgage investors who buy mortgages in
blocks of hundreds and thousands need to establish
immediate communications with individual
homeowners to initiate loss mitigation procedures
before their mortgages reach a tipping point that
almost always ends in foreclosure. Typically, there is
a delay of anywhere from 30 to 90 days during the
legal transfer of mortgages from one investor to
another before the data on an individual loan is fully
“boarded” into a loan officer’s system. This delay
effectively creates a dark period during which no
information is available. By accelerating the collection
of critical data, the Marix Borrower Outreach program
shines a light into that darkness and allows Marix to
begin contacting homeowners as soon as a minimal
amount of information is available.
Pre-boarding Critical Information
The Marix Borrower Outreach program makes it
possible to “pre-board” critical information including property
information, payment history, and the real-time status of the
mortgage before the formal transfer of data is complete from
the previous owner of the loan.
Marix distinguishes itself from other loan servicing companies
by its diligence in its efforts to establish direct contact with the
homeowner. If calls and letters don’t establish a meaningful
dialog with the homeowner, a Marix loan expert will make
house calls. The Marix Borrower Outreach program enables
Marix to capture more than 500 data points and customize a
strategy to save the home for the homeowner, and preserve
the value of the mortgage for the investor.
The program gives Marix a competitive advantage among loan
servicing companies.
“At every presentation I make, clients and prospective clients
are impressed with our use of technology,” says Banta. “No
one else has anything like this–yet.”
“Logicalis has been very good at understanding the business
needs and bringing that to bear on what we are trying to
accomplish,” Paton says. “They do a good job of retaining
that information, too,” he adds. “We’ve done several projects
with them, and they never have to start over from scratch.
Logicalis works like an extension of our own IT team.”
What’s good for Marix has also been good for the mortgage
market. By shedding light on a dark space in the market, Marix
is able to facilitate the informed re-evaluation, maintenance,
and management of mortgage portfolios.
“With the money the government has infused, and the
acknowledgement that everyone is in the same boat,” Paton
says, “activity will begin to pick up and these distressed
assets will be traded more actively. There are lots of buyers
with billions of dollars waiting on the sidelines to purchase
these loans.”
