DS News - U.S. Bank

» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 21 so on. e addition of one line in a statute might require a large amount of programming that we need to do on our end, and we also need to advise the clients. en they need to update their processes and procedures, and we need to do the same. Small statutory changes can produce enormous ripple effects across the firms and servicers. ere is a bill pending in the U.S. House that would exempt attorneys in judicial states from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). We're hopeful that it goes through. As attorneys, we have an ethical obligation to treat the borrowers with a certain level of professionalism, and our ethical responsibilities go to all parties. Unfortunately, while the FDCPA has good intent, all too often it's used as a weapon to ex- tract fees from us. Just about every firm in this industry has faced that at some point. Some of the class-action attorneys will try to take three words out of one letter and say, "is is decep- tive," and try to extract large fees as a result. Has a move toward more digital infrastructure and recordkeeping changed those problems at all, or is it still a matter where one wrong word on the page can create huge problems? As an attorney, every communication that you generate is still subject to all the same ethical requirements that they were 30 or 40 years ago. e difference is now those communications can be disseminated instantly to large numbers of people. If a law firm were to send out something that had confusing or deceptive language, someone could take that communication and instantly transmit it out into the world, where you instantly become a target. But I don't think technology has fundamentally affected the nature of our communication as attorneys. We still strive to meet the requirements of every statute that we have to operate under. We still have ethical obligations to every court we practice in that our communications are truthful and correct. What are some of the ways that firms can best work with their servicer partners? e key is communication. When issues arise, we need to communicate effectively to the clients, and vice versa. When the client is aware of an issue, they need to communicate that to us, so that we can look out for that issue. We'll review every file the same way, but if a client comes to us and says, "We've received communication from an attorney on this file, and they have an issue with X," we'll know that X is potentially an issue and we'll give it extra attention. Communication is crucial when we know there's an impending HUD-first legal deadline. We'll have some clients who say, "We're going to be referring a file to you in a couple of days. It's got a first legal deadline at the end of next week." Knowing that it's out there helps. It works both ways. If we get a call from an irate borrower, whether it's justified or not, we need to let the servicer know that there might be an issue and they need to reach out to that borrower. "With a decreasing pool of files, everyone has had to streamline their operations. You have to look at every discreet aspect of your operation to make it more efficient and eliminate any duplication of effort." THE LEADER IN DEFAULT SERVICING NEWS Help shape the next issue of DS News. Drop us a line at Editor@DSNews.com.

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