Mortgage servicers are going to have to bring their “A” game more consistently to the table if they wish to avoid punitive actions from the CFPB, the bureau’s director, Richard Cordray, made clear recently. Speaking to the attendees of the Mortgage Bankers Association conference in Boston last week, the nation’s top consumer regulator said it is regrettable that much of the damage done during the financial crisis to consumers and the broader economy could likely have been contained early on by more effective servicing. “A more effective system might have been up to the task of working with struggling borrowers to find appropriate ways to avoid foreclosure through loan modifications and short sales,” Cordray said. “But servicers were ill prepared ...