In this interview with the HousingWire host, Chris KennedyDirector of Sales and Business Development at RiskSpan, explores the key repossession strategies lenders can follow to increase profitability in the 2025 real estate market. He emphasizes the importance of improving workflows in a new market with new tools and techniques. Afterward, Kennedy introduced RiskSpan’s unique strategies and tools. One such solution includes The Edge Platform-is designed to assess the loan portfolio and identify refinancing opportunities based on current loan levels. Kennedy also highlights how RiskSpan empowers lenders to automate repossession reporting and data management.
HousingWire: Repossession represents a significant opportunity for lenders. Can you describe what that process looks like?
Chris Kennedy: Recapture refinances the customer with a new loan. It is an important job of a mortgage servicer. The mortgage servicer collects payments from the property and repays the investor. However, in the refinance market, that asset can disappear if the service is not combined with a strong originator. If the loan is repossessed, it is refinanced into a new loan. This is one area where mortgage originators and loan servicers have an advantage over consumer finance and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Freedom Mortgage is a prime example of a bank/mortgage servicer that has executed its foreclosure strategy better than any other business.
HW: What unique strategies or tools does RiskSpan bring to the table that improve recapture efficiency, especially in a challenging market environment?
CK: Ours The Edge Platform can quickly query an entire loan or portfolio’s Mortgage Servicing Rights (MSR) to identify loans that are eligible for refinance based on their current note-to-value ratio compared to the current loan-to-value market. This ultimately provides more money to the borrower. This data also allows internal loan managers or direct consumer channels to mine their servicer data to recap the business on a daily basis. Using servicing data and analytics to recap these MSRs and new loans is a critical task.
HW: RiskSpan provides advanced data and analytics for MSR management. How does your approach differ from others in terms of delivering actionable insights to increase recapture and asset performance?
CK: Our Edge Platform can fund all types of loans, including residential, consumer, auto, commercial real estate (CRE), MSR and other structured products – including agency-backed securities (MBS), residential MBS, MBS commercial and asset-backed securities. (ABS). Edge also knows the importance of public debt and collateralized loan obligations (CLOs). Only one company has this capability. As these MSR portfolios grow, having the ability to hedge keeps you in the game, and our analytics help with that. I believe we are the only engine or testing platform with an internal prepayment model.
Another unique piece of our platform is the data warehouse. At the end of our data model we have a data storage company Snowflake-a third party company that we license to build our data warehouses. We bring all the data we use and report on every day to the Snowflake database. If a lender partners with Snowflake, that’s a plus.
HW: For loan originators and lending teams who may not engage with secondary market data, how does RiskSpan make this information accessible? How do your reports or tools bridge the gap between originators and MSR data, ensuring they understand and act on recapture opportunities?
CK: RiskSpan can automate the daily delivery of repossession reports based on current market loan rate forecasts and loan rate data. We can automate risk management reporting with daily snapshot reports. RiskSpan tracks yellow, the broker or underwriter, and the buyer’s direct channel by loan ID. When founders borrow money, they are always in their next deal. This gives them a pipeline of new deals from the hard work they’ve done before. Basically we recapture all this data and have it in a risk management report.
HW: With the current deregulation of practices such as credit monitoring and inquiries, how does RiskSpan ensure compliance while providing actionable information for repossessions? What shifts do you foresee in MSR management in response to these forces?
CK: Our data analytics never use personally identifiable information (PII), and we do not pull credit data. We only need the loan number and the loan description, which keeps us out of the old regulatory framework. In 2025, we saw a huge refinance market. Fully managed mortgage portfolios and MSRs can refinance and refinance these borrowers into better loans, giving them new money to pay off car loans and student loans. Lenders can start reaching out to borrowers. If there is a big price move, it will be the first call. Be busy instead of answering, right? It is pounding hard waiting for the phone to ring.
HW: As the industry looks to potential rate cuts and eventual market recovery, how is RiskSpan positioning itself to support customers “through 2025” and beyond? Are there new features or areas of focus in your MSR programs to help lenders increase value in the returning market?
CK: RiskSpan is always focused on continuous improvement. That said, we will be rolling out new features to our data model to make it scalable and flexible. HELOC and non-QM types for residential mortgage investors and issuers are also on the table. This will help issuers and investors to measure, price, and hedge these non-agency lending programs.
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