Mastering the tax moments framework: A guide to proactive borrower communication

As we mentioned in the first article in this series, every inbound call to your servicing center costs time, capacity, and money. When property tax season arrives, those costs spike predictably.

This is often the most confusing and stressful period in a borrower's financial year. Bills arrive unexpectedly, escrow balances shift, and exemptions get missed. When borrowers don't hear from their servicer, they assume something's wrong. They pick up the phone to find out if their bill was received, if it's been paid, or why their monthly payment just changed.

The result is a costly, preventable surge in call volume that strains your operations at a time when margins are already thin. Property taxes have risen 28.5% over the past five years, making volatility the new norm.

Managing this doesn't require hiring more staff or stretching your team to the breaking point. It requires a smarter communication program built around the precise moments in the tax cycle that cause confusion.

At Cotality, we map this out through the Tax Moments Framework. By moving from reactive to proactive communication, you can head off predictable questions before they reach your queue, reducing operational strain and protecting your bottom line.

Phase 1: Pre-Billing — Get ahead before the bill arrives

The pre-billing phase is an overlooked window. Borrowers aren't yet focused on impending bills, which creates a clear space to engage them before the heavy workload starts.

• General tax education: A simple message explaining how escrow works, what to do if a tax bill arrives directly, and your role as the servicer eliminates confused calls before they happen. This works best when coordinated with your origination team at loan setup.
• Exemptions: Remind borrowers to check for local tax exemptions like homestead or senior programs. These savings require an application with strict deadlines, and missing them means overpaying. You can turn this into a quick win for borrower goodwill by sending tailored outreach. For example, target your VA loan holders with a notice about Veteran exemptions and include a direct link to the local government site. It saves the borrower thousands of dollars and builds massive trust.
• Projected tax increases: When data shows that tax amounts are likely to increase in the upcoming cycle, due to reassessment, rate changes, or expiring exemptions, a proactive notice prepares homeowners for the change.

A word of caution, though, the data will need to be vetted and accurate to prevent unnecessary anxiety. A more conservative approach could be to let borrowers know when there are documented increases expected for their area, rather than on a per-rooftop basis.

Phase 2: Billing cycles — Communicate at every step

Once billing season begins, treating every step in the payment process as a communication moment reduces anxiety and cuts inbound volume.

• Tax bill released: The moment a tax bill arrives, borrowers wonder if their servicer knows about it. Outbound SMS notifications allow you to push proactive, loan-specific updates to borrowers when a bill is received, when a deadline is approaching, or when a payment is confirmed. Tens of thousands of borrowers proactively opted in to receive property tax-related SMS updates through Cotality in 2025 using our property tax data.
• Bill payment confirmation: "Were my taxes paid?" is the number one question our call center receives. A proactive confirmation after every payment answers it before it's asked. When an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system uses real-time, loan-specific tax information sourced directly from taxing authorities, it resolves these issues instantly without a live agent. In fact, 52% of our borrower calls were resolved without talking to a human.
• Tax question follow-up: When a borrower submits a question through a portal, a follow-up confirming the resolution closes the loop and prevents a repeat contact.

Phase 3: Year-round events — Stay present between seasons

Year-round triggers are event-driven rather than calendar-driven. They require real-time data to execute well.

• Refund or overpayment notices: When a tax refund is issued, borrowers need to understand what it means for their escrow balance. Over 57,000 borrowers avoided overpayment of taxes recently using our technology.
• Annual 1098 access: A proactive notification when the 1098's available, complete with a direct download link, eliminates a predictable surge in calls.
• Supplemental bills: New construction, property transfers, and reassessments generate bills outside the normal cycle. Borrowers need immediate context on what these mean and what to do next.

The right technology makes it possible

To execute this framework at scale, you need technology that integrates your strategy directly into your daily workflow.

We deliver real-time data through API-based tax integrations ensuring your automated SMS and IVR systems run on accurate information. For your internal teams, our tax management portal provides a centralized view of the entire tax ecosystem. This real-time dashboard helps your staff flag exemption discrepancies, reporting cutoffs, duplicate tax IDs, and economic loss dates early.

Servicers who use advanced technology help insulate their operations from predictable seasonal spikes and build borrower trust when it matters most. Explore how Cotality’s tax solutions deliver holistic support with specialized tax experts and strong technology.

A framework is only as good as its handoff

Mapping out your communications around key tax triggers is a powerful way to eliminate predictable, routine inquiries. But what happens when the calendar throws a curveball, or when a homeowner is genuinely scared about a sudden delinquency notice?

Technology is excellent at handling the predictable, but it cannot reassure an anxious borrower. To build a truly resilient servicing operation, your automated system must know exactly when to step back and hand the conversation over to a human.

Up next in Part 3: We explore the delicate balance between technology and empathy. Discover the four high-intensity call types that define your brand, and how leading servicers are using people-first AI to coach agents in real time—ensuring every high-stakes interaction turns a stressful tax moment into a customer loyalty win.