Jacksonville, Fla.-based National Infusion Technology’s (NIT) executive vice president Jim Satterwhite is a 20-plus year veteran of the default servicing world. During his tenure at JP Morgan Chase, one of his key responsibilities was running the lender’s outreach services division. Now Satterwhite’s on the tech side of the default servicing industry, overseeing operations for National Quick Sale, NIT’s Web-based short sale software. But that hasn’t stopped his philanthropic work. He was the chair of the HOPE Now Alliance subcommittee on short sales, working in Washington DC to facilitate short sales when other loss mitigations efforts are unsuccessful. Three months ago, the firm launched the Home Equity Lease Program (HELP), a non-profit initiative that’s keeping distressed borrowers in their homes. Working with its servicer clients and a network of real estate investors, NIT contacts eligible distressed borrowers and in exchange for short selling their home to an investor, the investor then leases the property back to the former borrower. The investor makes a commitment to not sell the property for a certain period of time. In some cases, if a borrower’s financial situation improves, the investor will sell the property back. In an exclusive sit-down with HousingWire during the Five Star Default Servicing Conference, Satterwhite said the program’s benefits are two-fold. For borrowers, it minimizes the disruption to families, avoids a foreclosure on their credit records and keeps a roof over their heads. Investors know they have a tenant with a greater stake in the home’s well-being and the program eliminates the time it takes to find a tenant when they purchase a property. Mortgage servicers look at delinquency cases as fitting in one of two categories, retention, which are resolved with loan modifications or payment plans, and non-retention — exit strategies like short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure. But the HELP initiative makes the non-retention strategy (short sale) a retention strategy by keeping people in their homes. NIT’s National Quick Sale software helps real estate agents process short sales faster by streamlining the application process. The Web-based software has lender requirements in place and through automated quality control systems, lets agents know when a required document is missing via e-mail, phone call and text message. Satterwhite said the biggest inaccurate or missing document in short sale applications in pay stubs. They’re usually not the most current or not included at all. National Quick Sale’s quality control mechanisms will red flag the application before it goes to the servicer to keep the application from being denied. Write to Austin Kilgore.