PRODUCE THE NOTE: How a request for a retained record delayed mortgate foreclosure proceedings

ABC News had a fascinating story today which highlights:

1. the unfortunate state of our economy, and
2. the failure of critical records management capabilities within organizations that should know better.

But I would suggest it also points to how better information governance practices can play a key role in preventing future crises of the kind which have caused today's global crisis.

From that article:

"A University of Iowa study last year suggested that companies servicing mortgages are often negligent when it comes to producing the documentation to support foreclosure. In the study of more than 1,700 bankruptcy cases stemming from home foreclosures, the original note was missing more than 40 percent of the time, and other pieces of required documentation also were routinely left out."

This situation is obviously mission critical to the companies holding these mortgages -- but imagine just for a moment that five years ago the firms had implemented truly robust information governance policies?

Imagine that finance firms had proper visibility into these business-critical records.  In those records, trends would have surfaced regarding difficulties with a growing class of over-leveraged borrowers.  The properly-governed financial institution would have been able to take a preventative action on that large group of borrowers -- staving off their customers' financial tragedies (foreclosure, bankruptcy), and preventing their own decline which for some brought on effective government takeover.

Bold claim?  Perhaps.  But it makes all kinds of sense.  Let's raise visibility to the need for robust and reliable information governance policies and practices.

Comments

[James H Balter]

Good presentation