Supporting all retail and consumer lending accounts on a single platform will enable financial institutions to reduce staffing and technology costs and improve customer service.

Expansion of the loan servicing platform will help financial institutions keep portfolio loans in house, prevent loan account run-off, increase customer wallet share, maximize loan administration productivity and eliminate costs associated with software system maintenance. The platform will satisfy lenders' needs to retain loan assets and grow portfolios while interest rates continue to climb.

To keep pace with consumer demands, the platform already supports unsecured credit lines, home equity lines of credit, mortgages, closed-end seconds, home-equity rate locks, interest-only loans and option adjustable-rate mortgages (option ARMs). Next year installment and indirect loan support will become available within the platform, followed by the addition of lease functionality.

Managing all lines of business on one platform allows loan servicers to do more with less, according to Thomas Gorman, president of Fiserv Lending Solutions' MortgageServ. "Retail and mortgage lenders need to focus attention on securing loans from new customers and cross-selling additional products to existing customers," Gorman said. "Replacing disparate accounting, workflow and default management systems with a comprehensive technology platform eliminates product silos in the business, resulting in enhanced borrower experiences over the lives of loan relationships."

The real-time loan servicing platform accelerates customer service for all loan and line-of-credit products by providing immediate payment awareness and instantly updating available balances for revolving loan products. When all of a borrower's loans and lines of credit are linked within a single system, cross-selling becomes easier. The servicer knows the status of all the customer's loans and identifies the creation of credit capacity in terms of loan-to-balance ratios and untapped credit lines.

"A comprehensive platform creates cross-selling opportunities because lenders can anticipate a borrower's need for additional loan products as well as identify when a borrower is in a position to refinance old loans or seek new ones," says Gorman. "The platform is also useful for identifying under-utilized credit lines so that lenders can promote line use."

The platform not only manages payment processing, escrowing and securitization for multiple lending product lines, but also provides collections, bankruptcy and foreclosure functionality to preserve distressed assets and mitigate default loss. Because loans are linked to the borrower, payment performance issues on one account can trigger loss prevention activities for another loan relationship.