We started a quick hardship screen at CTC and again 72 hours before funding to catch early risk and connect borrowers with assistance resources (HUD-approved counseling, servicer contact, and agency forbearance education) before a payment is missed. If anyone has a cleaner way to embed this in Encompass with reason codes and an auto-escalation to default management, or wants the 6-question prompt we use, I’m happy to compare notes — please treat this as general process guidance and verify against your investor/agency guides.
I wired this in by adding a ‘Hardship Screen’ custom form at CTC and 72‑hr Pre-Funding; if the reason code isn’t ‘None’, a Business Rule auto-creates a Default Mgmt task and drops a ‘Counseling Offered’ doc in the eFolder (ref: Welcome). To cut noise, we add a 24‑hr cooldown so repeat updates don’t spam the queue — like a smoke detector that doesn’t chirp every time you make toast. If you want earlier capture, tie the same trigger to ‘Docs Out’ as an alternate milestone.
One thing that’s worked for us is tying your CTC and “72 hours” checks to a Condition Set: when the reason code isn’t None, a Prior-To-Funding condition called “Hardship Outreach Complete” fires to block Funding, and a Milestone Completion rule auto-adds Default Mgmt as an additional role for follow-up. Small caveat: if ops hates extra conditions, swap the PTF condition for a Funding Checklist item marked Required so you get the stop without cluttering the pipeline.