Wendover Sees Subservicing as Extension of the Client's Shop.(Brief Article)

Wendover Financial Services here is known as a specialist in product niches such as reverse mortgage loans, but the president sees the company's focus a little differently.

He believes the company's approach to subservicing is its real niche. In addition to reverse mortgage loans targeted to seniors, the company is a significant subservicer of Alt-A, prime and subprime loans.

Under the stewardship of parent EDS, based in Plano, TX, Wendover sees its role as that of an outsourcer of business process management functions.

"We try to really create an extension of our clients. It goes culturally beyond private-labeling," said Mark DeBenedictus, president of Wendover Financial Services, an EDS company. "We really try to enable our employees to be an extension of our client even more than they are an extension of Wendover/EDS."

To achieve this end, he said, Wendover bifurcates its servicing department by client, determining how many full-time equivalents each client requires on a daily basis. The company has two industrial engineers on staff whose job it is to determine exactly what resources are needed for customer service for a given time period down to the minute.

Employees are cross-trained so they can be shifted from one function to another as needs shift. For instance, employees trained in delinquency management can also work in customer service.

"That's where you gain efficiency, by understanding your workload, not just in customer service but across the whole enterprise," Mr. DeBenedictus said.