Start-Ups Target Risky Loans.

New York -- Subprime mortgage originators have been folding their tents right and left, but some industry veterans are entering the fray with new firms - servicing companies designed to help investors maximize recovery or rehabilitation of distressed loans.

Strategic Recovery Group, a national mortgage asset recovery company, is launching a special servicing unit to meet the growing needs of lenders and investors in distressed debt.

The servicing unit, to be known as Acqura Loan Services, will be based in Strategic Recovery Group's headquarters in Plano, Texas.

David Vida, CEO of both Acqura and Strategic Recovery Group, told MSN that investors and issuers are looking for innovative partners who can commit to the high levels of service and asset management to create better outcomes for borrowers and investors.

Acqura began hiring staff and developing proprietary scoring and servicing technology in the middle of last year, anticipating the boom in demand for special servicing. The company already has three special servicing clients. Acqura provides a full spectrum of servicing, loss mitigation and collection services to hedge funds, investment banks and lenders with a customized risk-management approach for each client.

The company calls its proprietary borrower risk-modeling tool BRF, for Borrower Risk Factors. BRF is used to score loans as they are boarded onto the servicing platform. The company says the scoring system will help predict the level of loss mitigation that is appropriate for the loan. The entire population of loans can be rescored nightly, the company said. And Acqura said it is in the process of developing new, more sophisticated scoring technology.

"Typically, loss mitigation begins when something bad happens," Mr. Vida said. "Our approach will allow us to be more proactive in anticipating events, such as resets or deteriorating credit, and to establish a profile and, hopefully, a dialogue with the borrower before the situation escalates."