New Tool Helps Servicers Manage Problem Portfolios.

New York -- Default management service provider LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. has released a new tool designed to assist lenders and servicers manage problem loan portfolios, improve overall profitability and better mitigate risk, the company, located in Richmond, Va., said.

Using the eZLoss Mitigation tool, lenders and servicers can outsource all or part of their loss mitigation processes, including skip tracing, hardship packages and various workout options, the company said.

It is delivered through LandAmericas mortgage subservicing subsidiary, LoanCare Servicing Center Inc., and powered by the LandAmerica Web-based default management platform, BackInTheBack, an application structured to gather and process for investor-use data supplied by mortgage customers, credit rating agencies and other sources.

What makes it unique, according to LoanCare Servicing Center president, Gene D. Ross, is the way it filters the data through the rules of the investor. While it basically provides a pass-fail evaluation, depending on the severity of the financial hardship an individual borrower is going through, it may come up with more than one workout option. Moreover, the evaluation process also uses various indicators including property value or appraisal, before it provides a remedy solution.

It takes the emotion out of the process to ensure accuracy of the information taken mostly from third-party sources, he said. We verify the information given by the customer.

Sometimes customers make unintended mistakes due to lack of understanding of the process, so to ensure accuracy at the back of the application form there are questions only a specialist can review and answer.

To facilitate the data filing process, customers have the option to send in their financial information either electronically or over the phone. Company experts review the data aiming to find the best loss mitigation solution, he said. What we want to do is everything possible to avoid foreclosure.