Q&A With Cornerstone Servicing’s Toby Wells: How AI Is Transforming Mortgage Servicing

Toby Wells is a seasoned leader in the mortgage servicing industry with over 25 years of experience in servicing, originations, capital markets, and asset management. He currently serves as president of Cornerstone Servicing, a division of Cornerstone Capital Bank, SSB, and a leading provider of end-to-end mortgage servicing solutions designed to empower healthy, sustainable homeownership. Known for its exceptional customer service, Cornerstone Servicing combines an integrated technology platform and customer-centric processes to meet the needs of today’s homeowners. Toby can be reached at twells@cornerstoneservicing.com.

MBA NewsLink: Where is AI creating the most impact for servicers?

Toby Wells: AI is helping servicers make industry-leading service scalable. From customer care to data management, it enables us to blend the best of human expertise with intelligent technology so we can serve every customer with greater consistency, speed and care. For example, it can summarize customer calls accurately and consistently, something that’s tough to do when agents rely on shorthand or individual note-taking habits. With AI supporting those summaries, we can use real language that’s standardized across the organization and ensure key details aren’t missed. That alone helps elevate service quality and continuity.

AI can also assist our customer service agents in real time by surfacing relevant information based on what a borrower is asking. Empowering agents with faster, more accurate answers directly improves the customer experience. Internally, we’re also exploring how a private large language model within our network can determine whether a homeowner’s question is process-based or specific to their individual loan. From there, it can route the question to the right place, whether that’s the LLM for a process answer, or securely to our data warehouse if it’s personal to their circumstances. But the human in the middle remains critical. We’re committed to ensuring every response is accurate and empathetic.

MBA NewsLink: How well do virtual assistants and chatbots enhance the borrower experience, and how should servicers balance these tools with human interaction?

Toby Wells: The biggest advantage of virtual assistants and chatbots is accessibility. Homeowners want answers when they need them, and that’s often outside of business hours. AI enables us to deliver that by providing 24/7 access to accurate information. As these tools mature, they’ll be able to evaluate data and deliver increasingly complex answers at scale, which will dramatically improve the speed and consistency of responses.

That said, balance is essential. We never want technology to feel like a barrier between us and the people we serve. AI should help our people work smarter by reducing friction. We see it as a way to extend our reach—it doesn’t replace our relationships. The most powerful use of AI will always be when it amplifies the human element and allows our team to focus more time on empathy, problem-solving, and providing an exceptional experience.

MBA NewsLink: How can AI-powered tools help identify early warning signs of borrower distress and improve loss mitigation?

Toby Wells: While AI isn’t a full loss mitigation solution today, I can easily envision how it could become a valuable forecasting tool. Over time, for instance, AI could help servicers identify early warning signs by analyzing payment patterns and predicting potential challenges before they surface. That would give us a chance to communicate earlier, reach customers more efficiently, and guide them toward the right solutions before issues escalate.

AI could also improve how we connect with borrowers in distress by identifying the best way to reach each homeowner—whether that’s by email, text or phone—and tailoring those communications accordingly. In loss mitigation, natural language tools could help customers explain their situations in their own words and get accurate, personalized information back. Even beyond that, AI could enhance after-hours outreach or coaching, so we can touch base with more customers and provide guidance when they need it most.

MBA NewsLink: What safeguards should servicers have in place to ensure AI systems remain transparent, explainable and free from bias?

Toby Wells: It all comes down to data quality and oversight. To keep AI systems transparent and fair, servicers must process data accurately and regularly while anonymizing it to remove potential bias. That starts with pre-processing and ensuring data sets are large, diverse and representative of all the customers we serve.

Still, a human should always be involved. AI can do a lot, but it shouldn’t operate unchecked. Having people review and verify AI outputs ensures that the technology stays explainable, that decisions are fair and in service of our customers, and that the end result supports, not replaces, the human judgment that’s so essential in servicing.

MBA NewsLink: As AI adoption grows, how can servicers use it in ways that strengthen rather than weaken borrower trust?

Toby Wells: Trust is built through communication, consistency and care. These are areas where AI can be a real asset when used thoughtfully. A model that is trained well and draws from quality information allows servicers to deliver faster, more reliable responses. That consistency builds confidence. AI can also help identify events or downstream impacts that could affect a borrower’s loan and alert them, sometimes even before they’re aware of the issue. That kind of foresight could allow servicers to reach customers earlier, communicate more personally, and deliver the information they need in the way they prefer to receive it.

The ability to anticipate needs and tailor communication will be game-changing for the borrower experience. It means we can personalize service on an individual level yet still maintain scale and efficiency. But ultimately, AI’s role is to enhance human interaction, not replace it. When used responsibly, it gives our people the tools and insight to focus more on what matters most: building trust and delivering an exceptional experience for every customer, every time.

(Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect policies of the Mortgage Bankers Association, nor do they connote an MBA endorsement of a specific company, product or service. MBA NewsLink welcomes submissions from member firms. Inquiries can be sent to Editor Michael Tucker or Editorial Manager Anneliese Mahoney.)