News and Information from HLP APR 2015

Counseling Intermediaries Increase Network Effectiveness with HLPNonprofit counseling intermediaries with a network of affiliates face a wide variety of challenges. How do they make certain the affiliates are providing quality, efficient service while staying within budgets and meeting compliance regulations?

In The Community

A partial list of recent and upcoming events where you will find HLP executives:

MBA Advocacy ConferenceApril 14-15Washington, DCMark Cole to attend

Ocwen Annual Housing Advocacy Forum and Policy MeetingApril 16Washington, DCMark Cole to attend

Source Media Mortgage Servicing ConferenceApril 22-24Dallas, TexasCam Melchiorre and

Jon Ballard to attend

National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA)April 23-26Chicago, IllinoisJon Ballard to attend

2014–HLP launched a multi-stakeholder case to solve document and communications problems associated with foreclosure mediation.

HLP recently introduced its Affiliate Manage-

ment and Case Management systems to help

intermediaries support their networks. These

systems, along with HLP’s traditional connec-

tivity to servicers and lenders, now provides

intermediaries with a one-stop, comprehen-

sive solution to maximize their affiliates’ perfor-

mance and meet compliance demands, while

also lowering costs.

“Hope LoanPort’s recent expansion of its

technology platform was designed to help

intermediaries better manage their affiliates

and also streamline their case management

needs,” said Camillo Melchiorre, Hope Loan-

Port’s president and chief executive officer.

“By helping intermediaries collect and analyze

data more efficiently, we can help them serve

more clients while lowering costs and meeting

everyone’s compliance needs.”

Here is a brief description of these systems

and how they can help your organization:

Affiliate Management Program (AMP) provides a comprehensive, structured way

to engage with the members of your affiliate

network to increase their effectiveness. It has

three primary benefits:

• One System for Managing the Net-work Relationships. AMP ensures all

required documentation (e.g. certifications,

insurance, licenses, and contracts) are kept

up-to-date; consolidates critical communi-

cations into a single channel and keeps a

permanent history; and provides a custom-

ized rating system of affiliate effectiveness.

• Measures Program Effectiveness. AMP establishes criteria for agencies to

participate in specific programs; provides

a customized audit tool and risk rating by

agency or program; offers a designated

communications channel for each program

group; and adds an ability to publish ma-

terials, allow group discussion and receive

feedback.

• Framework for Continuous Quality Improvement. AMP reduces compli-

ance and operational risk through use of

its robust auditing tools and customiz-

able performance ratings. This allows you

to monitor cases and communicate by

individual agency/counselor; reinforce

standards by giving direct, measurable

and actionable feedback, including private

…continued on page 3

Take Five is a regular feature that enables a leader in the housing sector to share valuable insight on important and emerging topics. Future “Take Five” Q&As will feature leaders from mortgage companies, counseling agencies and investors.

Mark Cole is an Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for Hope LoanPort. He is responsible for expanding the capabilities of Hope LoanPort’s technology platform, particularly in the regulatory, technology and consumer advocacy sectors.

Cole has served as a senior-level executive in the nonprofit financial counseling sector for more than 25 years, including more than 10 years as Chief Operating Officer for CredAbility (now ClearPoint Credit Counseling), one of the nation’s largest nonprofit credit counseling agencies.

Why should a counseling organization use HLP versus the other software providers in the marketplace?

One of the best reasons is that our mission and core val-ues are perfectly aligned with the mission of the nonprofit counseling community. As 501c3 nonprofit, HLP’s mission is to help families achieve and sustain homeownership. Our core values of neutrality, transparency, and collaboration speak to the way that we unify the efforts of all the stake-holders to help individuals and families. We are committed to being the platform of choice for the nonprofit counseling community.

Recent funding cuts have significantly hurt the capacity and capabilities of the housing counseling sector. How can using HLP help counseling organizations?

The cuts to support counseling have had a dramatic impact on counselors and additional cuts are expected in the coming year. The sector is making a transition from government grants being the primary funding source to a fee-for-service model paid for by the private sector and consumers. Our software-as-a-service (SaaS) significantly reduces your technology costs, while providing a fuller range our capabilities. Being part of a software develop-ment community that incorporates feedback from coun-selors, lenders, servicers and government, enables you to benefit from group innovation, minimize development costs and risks, and engage with sector thought leaders.

Security, compliance and audit costs have grown dramatically for the counseling sector. Can HLP help me with these requirements?

We understand these challenges and our systems meet these requirements. Our platform applications and data are hosted in an enterprise-class environment with the highest levels of availability, recovery, security, and respon-siveness. This environment meets all key industry certifica-tions and undergoes regular onsite and remote audits, plus performance monitoring and penetration testing. It is a fully redundant, highly available configuration that is certified to ensure the highest levels of uptime, with enhanced managed services to ensure our mission-critical applica-tions are always up and running at optimum levels.

What is the National Housing Solutions Platform?

The National Housing Solutions Platform (NHP) is HLP’s initiative to unite a broad array of stakeholder efforts to help families achieve and sustain homeownership. Through our secure platform, these parties can exchange informa-tion, documents and messages and collaborate together. For counseling organizations, the core of the NHP is com-posed of three primary applications—Case Management System, HLP and Affiliate Management Program—that work seamlessly together to deliver this vision. Look for more additions to the NHP in the months ahead.

How do I find out more about how HLP can help my organization?

Contact me at mcole@hopeloanportal.org. We also conduct regular seminars/webinars about how to use HLP. We look forward to discussing your needs and working to help you deliver your mission!

“Unifying the Efforts to Help Families Achieve and Sustain Homeownership” MCole@hopeloanportal.org | 410.942.6464 x1021 | 100 International Drive | 23rd Floor | Baltimore, Maryland 21202

Coming Next MonthWhat do you do when a homeowner cannot afford to keep their house?

Read the May issue of Convergence to learn more about the programs

HLP supports to offer families a graceful exit that avoids foreclosure.

Also, the May issue will feature some fascinating statistics about how

HLP is creating faster and better solutions for homeowners.

2015–Wells Fargo selects HLP as its designated channel for its fee-for-service counseling network to use for submitting cases.

…continued from page 1

Counseling Intermediaries Effectiveness

and/or shared notes, documents, questions and responses;

and identify best practices or at-risk cases at the individual case,

program or agency level.

HLP’s Case Management System (CMS) can be used as a

full CMS, optional CMS or activity aggregator. It enables interme-

diaries to see activity at the case level, while also providing a daily

service level and a counselor case view. When an intermediary

chooses a common CMS for all affiliates, it offers both the inter-

mediary and the counseling agency a host of important benefits.

There are four primary reasons to deploy our CMS for managing

client cases:

• Comprehensive Management Tools. Our CMS provides

centralized administrative tools for oversight of counselors and

affiliate agencies, program management and access control,

as well as the ability to distribute work to specific agencies or

counselors based on the criteria you establish.

• Consistent Client Experiences. Standardized systems

and workflows promote consistency in client experience. Our

CMS supports a full range of housing cases and products,

including pre-purchase, post-purchase, post-modification,

early intervention outreach, foreclosure prevention, short sale/

deed-in-lieu, mediation, bankruptcy and reverse mortgages

and fully incorporates our case & document management

capabilities and connectivity with servicers/lenders/third

parties. Intermediaries and counseling agencies can select

from a full range of case types, allowing you to customize

your usage to provide your clients and partners the best and

latest programs.

• Custom Dashboards and Reporting. Instead of using

a spreadsheet or homemade database to collect data or

progress toward grants or other contracts, a common CMS

allows you to see and analyze activity in real-time. Intermedi-

aries maintain better oversight of its agencies by tracking a

wide variety of metrics. Users can also create custom reports

and dashboards by agency, program, case type, or counsel-

or by selecting the data fields desired and saving individual

user report templates. Users can also automate delivery of

reports at set frequencies and export data to common file

types. The CMS can also be used as a database for research

and outcomes analysis.

• Simple Technology Requirements. Our HUD-approved

CMS meets financial institutions security and compliance

requirements for the exchange of client and financial institu-

tion data. It minimizes infrastructure and the need for technical

expertise through an affordable software-as-a-service

platform that connects with a standard browser and Internet

access. Its open architecture makes integration or data

exchanges with other systems simple and easy.