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Is your Hazard Insurance Tracking Provider taking care of your Customers?
December 4, 2015
As a mortgage servicer, you recognize the importance of adhering to exceptional borrower and customer service. The quality of service provided to your borrowers often dictates loyalty and profitability. If a borrower could receive the same services from anyone else, what would stop them from refinancing with one of your competitors?
Sometimes it’s challenging to consistently provide a positive experience for your borrowers. Therefore, differentiating yourself from competitors through superior customer service may be the deciding factor for a borrower to remain loyal to your organization.
However, borrower experience is not always something you have direct control over – especially when you are outsourcing hazard tracking and insurance related services to a third-party vendor. When you outsource any value chain activity to third-party vendors, you entrust that they will deliver a superior borrower experience that surpass expectations. As a mortgage servicer, you will perceive this third-party provider as a direct representation of your overall firm. Outsourcing your borrower relationships to a third-party vendor requires due diligence and proper evaluation, so it is important to carefully assess how your hazard tracking provider is adhering to standards to protect your organization and borrower relationships.
When evaluating a third-party hazard tracking insurance provider, how do you know that the vendor is going to give your borrowers a good experience that will help you retain their business? Fortunately, there are a number of ways to manage your third party vendors.
Compliant Borrower Focused Workflows
As we are all well aware, the mortgage servicing industry must comply with government regulations. When vetting third-party hazard tracking Insurance providers, it is imperative to understand their adherence to industry compliance protocols and utilize vendor management tools to manage quality control and your borrower experiences.
Third-Party Attestations for Quality Assurance
So how do servicers determine quality when evaluating third-party hazard tracking insurance providers? It’s not enough for providers to boast about how superior their services are, otherwise every provider would be considered without hesitation. Third-party or outside validation allows servicers to truly identify a provider’s level of quality through certifications and attestations.
o Call Center Certification
Independent certification programs affirm an organization can demonstrate they have processes and policies in place to ensure customer satisfaction. BenchmarkPortal, the leader in Call Center Benchmarking, applies rigorous standards in 21 areas of criteria from cost to quality, and only the call centers who rank in the top 10% when compared to their peer organizations earn the Call Center of Excellence award. Proctor Financial is proud to have earned this award for 4 consecutive years beginning in 2011. PFI also records all borrower phone calls for quality control, and audit purposes. PFI’s borrower call center has a 95% first time resolution and is staffed with trained professionals for borrower inquiries, claims, service level agreements and vendor management; which enhances the borrower’s overall experience.
o ISO 9001:2008
The ISO 9001:2008 certification can help identify whether a provider’s quality of work is meeting published service level agreements or key performance indicators. In order to meet ISO 9001:2008 requirements the provider should have a clear set of procedures and processes, maintain detailed and accurate records, and have a system that they use to measure and correct deficiencies. PFI obtained its ISO 9001:2008 registration for the servicing of lender-placed insurance in 2011 and has expanded the scope to include claims in 2013 and policy production in 2014. This certification demonstrates PFI’s commitment to improving quality and setting standards for continuous performance improvements which streamlines the borrower’s experience.
o SOC 2 Type II Compliant
This audit ensures that financial, IT, and system operations are protected, available for operation, confidential and private. PFI is proud to be SOC 2 Type II compliant for the past 3 years, and takes great pride in demonstrating that controls are in place to ensure security of data, compliant workflow, and efficient operations and financial controls exist to which enhances PFI’s partnerships within the mortgage servicing community.
o Tested Disaster Recovery Plan
Everyone is required to have redundant sites and systems in the event of a disaster. Continuity plans are created and need to be tested to ensure operational efficiency with minimal disruption in the event the plan is triggered.
Information Security and Service Organization Controls
As a mortgage servicer, it is imperative that you are putting your borrowers’ information in good hands when it comes to securing client sensitive information. When evaluating an outsourcer, you want to confirm that the provider has the proper audit processes and borrower privacy protection practices in place.
When servicers work with providers who care about the servicers’ borrower experience, it can make for a mutually beneficial and long lasting partnership. At PFI, we understand that customers and borrowers are the lifeblood of your business – which is why we are committed to taking the necessary steps to demonstrate our commitment to superior customer service for the mortgage servicer and its borrower relationships.
Proctor Financial, Inc. (“PFI”) – the leading provider of lender-placed insurance and hazard tracking services has invested in compliance, IT security, and standards of performance to protect banking customer’s data and enhance the borrower experience. Being an industry leader is why so many banks and mortgage servicing companies continue to call upon PFI to fulfill their outsourcing, lender-placed and hazard tracking needs.