Delinquency begins on the day a payment sufficient to cover
principal, interest and escrow for a given billing cycle is due and
unpaid.
It is the policy of the VHPB that once a borrower is
delinquent for at least 36 days, the Agency's servicing department will make a
good faith effort to establish live contact with the borrower and if
appropriate, inform the borrower about the availability of loss mitigation
options. A good faith effort to establish live contact consists of reasonable
steps under the circumstances to reach the borrower. For delinquencies that
begin on or after January 10, 2014, the VHPB will consider the following
communications reasonable steps under the circumstances to establish live
contact:
A. A borrower working with the
VHPB servicing department to obtain loss mitigation. The live contact
requirement is satisfied with regard to a case in which a borrower is
delinquent in consecutive billing cycles if the VHPB's representative has
established and is maintaining ongoing contract with regard to the borrower's
completion of a loss mitigation application and the service department's
evaluation of that borrower for loss mitigation options.
B. A borrower stops paying under a loss
mitigation plan or becomes delinquent after curing a prior default. A borrower
is not delinquent under the rule if performing as agreed under a loss
mitigation option designed to bring the borrower current on a previously missed
payment. This includes forbearance plans and trial modifications. If the
borrower fails to make a loss mitigation payment, a new delinquency begins and
the VHPB should make good faith efforts to contact the borrower within 36 days
of the start of the delinquency and for each of any subsequent billing periods
for which the borrower's obligation is due and unpaid. Similarly, if a borrower
successfully cures a prior default but becomes delinquent again, the VHPB's
representative should make a good faith effort to contact the borrower within
36 days for each of the subsequent billing periods for which borrower's
obligation is due and unpaid.
C.
Communication in conjunction with other contact. Live contact is established
when the borrower initiates contact with the VHPB. Early Intervention Rule
contact is satisfied by combining contacts made with the borrower for other
reasons, by adding a brief script to collection calls or other contacts to
inform the borrower that loss mitigation options may be available in accordance
with the rule.
D. A borrower is
unresponsive. When the borrower fails to respond to the Agency's attempts to
make live contact, a statement to contact the Agency's servicing department
regarding the delinquency may be included in the periodic statement or in an
electronic communication. Such efforts are appropriate when there is little
hope of the home retention by the borrower.
