Most servicers understand the benefits of a standard tax service as well as a fully outsourced solution. But many are less familiar with LERETA’s Total Tax Solutions® (TTS®), which can give servicers even greater insight and control over their tax process. To bridge this gap, we recently interviewed Susan Portnoy, LERETA’s Senior Vice President of Product and Enterprise Operations who led the development of TTS®.
Let’s start with TTS: What is and why did you develop it?
Basically, TTS is SaaS technology that servicers can deploy to better manage their tax business. It is an enhancement to our standard tax service that pulls together all of the key information from a servicer’s loan servicing system, combines it with LERETA’s data and puts everything into one place. This allows the servicer transparency into what LERETA and their own internal teams are doing and what stage they’re at with every step of the tax process.
The idea for TTS grew out of our outsourcing business, which I used to lead. Prior to TTS, we were working from spreadsheets and were operating as many servicers still are today: In Excel Hell. We built TTS because we needed to have the transparency into the processes around tax payments. We created a tool that brought all of that information together in a usable dashboard format that makes managing the entire process much easier and more automated.
When we saw how much organization, automation, and visibility TTS brought to our outsourcing business, we decided to market it to our standard tax clients, realizing it would help them too.
What kind of lift can you get with TTS?
When we moved to TTS four years ago, we experienced a 70% reduction in penalties and losses and a 25% improvement in productivity. I’m not sure what kind of gains all of our users are experiencing, but I know that one servicer, with , has significantly reduced their manual payments, and has automated 99% of their payments with TTS.
When should a tax service client consider adding TTS?
Some telltale indicators might be an increase in borrower calls or complaints around late payments; a jump in delinquent notices and penalties because their team isn’t making timely payments; and duplicated efforts between their team and their tax service provider. For example, multiple calls to the same tax agency about the same borrower. These are all signs of gaps in the process or workflow.
How long does it take to implement?
The implementation process is relatively easy and usually takes 90 days or less. LERETA can do most of the heavy lifting. We’ll assign a project manager to the implementation and help with post-implementation user training.
Any closing thoughts on TTS?
Just that if you are a servicer with a national or multi-state footprint, and you’re servicing 20,000 loans or more with a tax service provider, TTS can significantly enhance and automate your workflow. And make your tax processing life easier. (It did mine!)
