Posted by Kristine-CA on December 01, 2009 at 20:21:07:
Hi there. I’m impressed you can service your own notes. After today, I
learned that I will definitely be using a servicer in the future. My
courtesy call to the payor ended up just upsetting the office
manager/book keeper. She says she always sends it the first week of
the month (for payment by the 30th, which has always been the case).
I told her to please look into when it was sent and to let me know if it
was cashed…because now that I’m getting kind of senior, who knows?
Maybe I deposited it into a different account (been there, done that).
Maybe I cashed it? I have no memory of that, but I do have a really nice
new leather handbag that I think I bought last month. I hadn’t bought
a new handbag for years, as my daughters pointed out.
Well, the payor and the bookkeeper called back and said it was sent on
the 9th and not cashed. I said no problem, the PO Box gets lots of
mail, some of which gets misdirected or never shows up. Go ahead
and send another check.
When I told my husband about the missing payment, he said that he
knows that a check came about two weeks ago and that he handed it
to me in the car outside the post office. And that I must have thrown
it away in the recycling when we got home. The recycling is where I’ve
lost many important pieces of paper in the past, so he wasn’t making
that up.
Note servicing? Such a good idea, such a good value.
Posted by Kristine-CA on December 01, 2009 at 12:58:38:
I have a payor who has thus far paid early, but is now a week late. He is well
aware of late fees, etc.
For those of you who have serviced your own notes: how long do you go after a
courtesy call before you act on the default? I’ve had no trouble getting on
renters asap, but I’m unsure how much lee-way, if any I should give here.
I’ve been servicing my liitle portfoilo of TD notes myself for many years. My best advice is to act professional, have written policies (for you and your staff) and be consistent in the implementation of all policies.
That being said, I would look to the terms of the note for your initial guidance.
Our policy is that we send out a late letter the day after the payment is delinquent. For most all borrowers, that means the 11ith day if the month. Even if we do receive their payment within a few more days and it’s been postmarked within the 10 day grace period, the borrower knows what we expect and will have to call me to dispute the charge (I have no problem with this).
At around 21 days (my arbitrary policy) I send out letter enttled Notice of Delinquecy and Intent To Foreclose.
I give them until the end of the month to bring me current or I refer the loan for “collection” meaning I ship it off to start foreclosure (which means, ‘it was my concern; now it’s your problem’).
My motto has never changed: either make the payment or don’t, but please don’t park your car with the oil leak in the driveway
