Be Prepared: Equiant’s Back-Up Servicing Plans Ensure Continuity of Payments

When Hurricane Ian struck Florida in September, it served as a powerful reminder of the need to have disaster plans in place. For those who process receivables, an important part of being prepared for anything is to have a backup servicing plan in place in case your own personnel or primary outside servicer are unable to fulfill their roles. That’s where Equiant, a Chandler, Arizona-based loan servicer, and financial technology provider, can play an important role.

“When there is a triggering event, such as a natural disaster or a data breach, our backup servicing clients can rely on Equiant to assure that their portfolio performance continues at current levels,” says Ericka Schwarm, director of client development. “Putting a plan in place is simple, and once everything is set up, we’re invisible to our clients unless there is an issue where we can be of assistance.”

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Equiant’s backup servicing plans are customized to each client’s needs, ranging from “hot,” “warm” or “cold” servicing, which denotes the time required for Equiant to assume the duties of a previous servicer.

In addition to being a wise business strategy, there is a growing demand by rating agencies, originators, and investors for such plans to mitigate the risk of a disruption to the servicing of loan portfolios. “When loans are secured by accounts payable receivables, we require clients to have back-up servicing plans in place,” says Stuart A. Mitchell, senior vice president, of Specialty Corporate Trust at UMB Financial Corp. “Natural disasters, cybersecurity issues, and even pandemics can affect any company. We recommend Equiant for this role because we have full confidence in Equiant’s ability to deliver should conditions warrant activation of back-up servicing agreements.”

“At Equiant, we are committed to providing best-in-class services and technology to our clients,” Schwarm says. “We are continually investing in our staff, technology, and systems, which allows us to deliver outstanding client support while providing a wide range of services and products at a compelling fee structure.”

To learn more, call Ericka Schwarm at (480) 636-4892 or visit www.equiant.com.

About Equiant:

Equiant is one of the United States’ leading structured finance servicers with a portfolio that exceeds $1.5 billion and includes more than 175,000 individual consumer loans. Its array of financial products and services includes loan receivables and maintenance fee servicing on a fully hosted web platform, PaaS receivables technology, point of sale merchant processing with PCI Level I compliance, document custody (including digital), back-up servicing plans, integrated payments, integrated reporting, integrated communications and now integrated contact center tools for early-stage recovery and delinquency control. Equiant can also expertly navigate backup servicing for capital markets, providing a seamless experience. For more information about Equiant’s industry-leading receivables servicing and financial technology, visit www.equiant.com.

About UMB:

UMB Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: UMBF) is a financial services company headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. UMB offers commercial banking, which includes comprehensive deposit, lending and investment services, personal banking, which includes wealth management and financial planning services, and institutional banking, which includes asset servicing, corporate trust solutions, investment banking, and healthcare services. UMB operates branches throughout Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arizona and Texas. The company also serves business clients nationwide and institutional clients in several countries. For more information, visit UMB.com, UMB Blog, UMB Facebook and UMB LinkedIn..