Why Haven’t Loan Officers Been Told These Facts?
Reach out to homeowners impacted by disasters
Don’t wait for a natural or financial disaster to occur before providing your customers with the resources necessary to recover. Ensure your borrowers know what to do when the unthinkable occurs.
Know where to turn before disaster strikes.
From FNMA
A HUD-approved housing counselor is a resource that you can access for housing-related support at no cost to you. No matter what your situation, their goal is to provide you with personalized advice that helps you reach your goals.
Housing counselors help by:
- Assessing your situation.
- Identifying suitable mortgage relief options, including options to stay in your home while avoiding foreclosure.
- Developing a personalized action plan.
- Talking to your mortgage company or landlord on your behalf.
- Checking in with you regularly to support your recovery over time.
Get in touch with a counselor sooner rather than later. The earlier you reach out for help, the more options you may have available to explore.
FNMA’s Disaster Recovery Vendor
Money Management International’s – Project Porchlight
Natural disasters can strike any time. Even if you’re prepared, recovery can be a long, painstaking process. Fortunately, help is available.
MMI is proud to offer post-disaster financial recovery counseling and personalized assistance for disaster survivors through Project Porchlight.
FHLMC Help After a Natural Disaster
MMI Disaster Recovery Counseling
HUD Disaster Relief Options for Homeowners
Do you have a great value proposition you’d like to get in front of thousands of loan officers? Are you looking for talent?
BEHIND THE SCENES – FHA Loan Servicers Significantly Fail to Implement Loss Mitigations
HUD Office of the Inspector General Reveals Significant Non-Compliance
From the HUD-OIG Report
Servicers did not provide proper loss mitigation assistance to approximately two-thirds of delinquent borrowers after their COVID-19 forbearance ended.
Based on a statistical sample drawn from 231,362 FHA-insured forward loans totaling $41 billion, servicers did not meet HUD requirements for providing loss mitigation assistance to borrowers of 155,297 FHA-insured loans. Nearly half of the borrowers did not receive the correct loss mitigation assistance. These borrowers did not receive the loss mitigation option for which they were eligible, had their loss mitigation option not calculated properly, or received a loss mitigation option that did not reinstate arrearages, which refers to any amount needed to bring the borrower current.
Approximately one-quarter of the borrowers received the correct loss mitigation option, but servicers did not follow COVID-19 loss mitigation guidance to help borrowers with payments that were missed during forbearance.
Tip of the Week – Are You Phobic About Implementing New Services, Programs, or Products?
What must you do to overcome the fear that keeps you from success?
Last week, the Journal addressed the topic of fear and how unbridled fear can have disastrous consequences. And yet, fear is an indicator that something needs your attention. Fear is a call to action. It’s not time to water the lawn or pretend you don’t like cooking when flames shoot out of your kitchen range.
But when the mind develops certain dysfunctional operations in response to fear, perceiving threats or danger where no threat exists, or you become paralyzed by fears, problems ensue. For example, when trying something new, why anticipate a negative outcome? The answer is obvious. There are uncertainties about changing course. Losses may occur. But why is anticipating a positive outcome so much more complicated and unnatural? Why is it difficult to take a balanced approach to uncertainty?
The science of epistemology unpacks thinking about thinking or how we reach conclusions and beliefs about ourselves, others, and the world as we see it. Take the time to think more strategically.
Are your fears keeping you from being the best version of yourself? Of course, for most of us, fear constrains our failures and successes. Accordingly, the end result is too often a sea of mediocrity and underachievement. Should we not be concerned about underachievement?
Fear does not automatically indicate a time to fight or run. It might be time to think.
“Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.”
– Winston Churchill
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
Taken out of context, the famous Franklin D. Roosevelt quote, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” is utter nonsense. Some suggest that Roosevelt’s speech borrowed from the author Henry David Thoreau’s journal entry, “Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.” That does make sense.
However, in context, FDR’s famous quote makes perfect sense. He was addressing the rampant fear gripping the nation during the Great Depression, “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
Nameless, unreasoning, and unjustified terror. The adjective unjustified could have been left out. It requires an overly subjective conclusion. A parent without means concerned about providing for their child does not manifest an unjustified fear. However, the nameless and unreasoning part is gold.
Both men witnessed an unraveling of sorts—Thoreau’s metaphysic interests at a time of national creep towards a pluralistic society and FDR’s navigation of the Great Depression during a time of widespread fear that the nation might not survive intact.
What Are We Running From?
Most folks do not enjoy chaos. Structure, cadence, and routine provide a sense of normalcy and security. When life gets weird, losing those things often leads to discomfort, anxiety, or fear.
Yet somehow, to successfully grow, the urge to flee from the uncertain must be overcome. As the Loan Officer School head says about doing hard things, “You have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
Be All You Can Be – The Best Recruiting Slogan Ever
From The Association of the United States Army
The “Be All You Can Be” tagline has “stuck with me for 40 years,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said. “We need every parent of this country to know, the United States Army is a pathway to success, both in and out of uniform, whether you serve for four years or 40 years,” McConville said.
“The Army is full of endless possibilities.”
And so is the mortgage industry.
Next week, the Journal will spotlight a common fear holding back many MLOs from growing their business: looking like fools. How to identify and mitigate this fear next week.