“Securing the wrong property can have disastrous consequences for field servicers. That’s why National Field Representatives is utilizing technological solutions to assist field reps in ensuring that they’ve got the right house, every time.”
Default managers industry-wide face a common problem—the potential for a field service company to secure the wrong property. This mistake can result in negative—even disastrous—consequences, including but not limited to lawsuits and permanent damage to the company’s reputation.
To this point, the standard procedure to avoid this type of error has been to require photos of the house number and street sign on both inspections and preservation work. This forces the contractor in the field to focus, if only briefly, on identifying whether or not they are at the correct location. However, this method is hardly foolproof. House numbers and street signs can be missing, damaged, or just incorrect.
To further compound the issue, some companies have stopped providing the property mortgagor’s name due to privacy concerns. This has made identifying the correct property even more difficult—for instance, eliminating the ability for the contractor to cross-check the name of the mortgagor with the name on the mailbox.
Dependency on technology has also caused problems for contractors attempting to identify a property. Mobile GPS apps often misreport the property address or do not register a particular address at all. This is common for new developments, complexes with multiple addresses, and rural areas. Signal interference can also cause GPS tracking to report the wrong property location, which is more common in urban areas.
National Field Representatives (NFR) is taking industry-leading steps to prevent these costly mistakes. NFR’s program utilizes thirdparty technology resources to validate that all addresses provided by mortgage companies and servicers are valid. This prevents an invalid address from making it into the field in the first place, which can sometimes result in the contractor making a subjective decision and securing an incorrect home.
The “gold standard” of prevention at NFR involves the comparison of photos taken at the property by NFR’s inspectors with photos from the origination documents. An employee of the mortgage servicer can compare an exterior photo of the house (via NFROnline.com) with one that is known to be from the mortgaged property. Once they are certain that the two photos show the same property, they can flag the photo as “verified” online. That photo is then sent to the contractor in the field along with all further orders.
NFR is committed to advancing customer success by leveraging technology, paying careful attention to detail, and remaining flexible. The NFR team’s creative problem-solving abilities, combined with an unwavering focus on customers’ needs, consistently results in new ideas that drive customer satisfaction. NFR looks forward to continuing to innovate in the face of new challenges, regulations, and requirements for the field services industry.
Doug Brecht serves as NFR’s VP and CTO.
You can reach him at [email protected].
