Cenlar uses MortgageServ to enter private-label HELOC servicing.

CENLAR FSB, EDISON, NEW JERSEY, WILL use the MortgageServ loan servicing platform from Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wisconsin, to support home-equity lines of credit (HELOCs). According to Cenlar, the addition of line-of-credit subservicing to its service offering was driven by increased demand for open-end products.

"As rates continue to rise, HELOC products will provide growth opportunities for our clients," said Stephen W. Gozdan, Cenlar's chief operating officer. "Since institutions define line-of-credit products their own way, supporting the business requires significant processing flexibility. With MortgageServ, we are able to service a diverse realm of credit line plans, inclusive of various scenarios for interest and fee calculations."

The result, Gozdan said, is that Cenlar's clients can develop new equity-line-of-credit products tied to the latest promotions and incentives. As a private-label subservicer, Cenlar performs back-office loan servicing operations on behalf of its clients, in many cases unknown to its clients' customers--the line-of-credit borrowers.

"We must be able to look and feel like the institution of record to the customer, because their relationship is with the company that originated their loan," said Cenlar Senior Vice President George T. Schwartz. "Therefore, critical to our selection of MortgageServ is its ability to preserve multiple brand identities. Its product and branding dimensions will allow us to configure our processing to match our clients' needs."

In addition to the customer-care benefits of MortgageServ, Cenlar also will harness operational advantages. The private-label subservicing functionality built into MortgageServ, called PL$$, enables Cenlar to maintain all of the lines of credit it services on a single copy of the system, while maintaining security, processing rules and branding for all its client companies.

Important to Cenlar's plans to be servicing lines of credit by year-end, the browser-based MortgageServ allows for rapid training because the processing rules govern employee views, tasks, assignments and next steps. Cenlar employees will not have to memorize the servicing plans of the various loan types belonging to its clients, because the MortgageServ system internalizes and enforces the parameters defined for each loan's institution of record.

The MortgageServ platform allows Cenlar to offer a collaborative approach to life-of-loan account management. Because line-of-credit borrowers use checks or cards to pay third parties and draw cash from the lender, financial institution employees at the branch level may be involved in line-of-credit transactions. To that end, MortgageServ may be used to provide Cenlar clients with the opportunity to view account updates in real time.

MortgageServ is an offering of Fiserv Lending Solutions, a suite of products and services provided by Fiserv to mortgage and consumer lenders.