Daily Briefing Weekend Edition

SML Now Offers MI Search Capabilities

By James Comtois

Due to user demand and as a result of the tightening of loan origination guidelines in the mortgage industry, a provider of loan search and pricing services for the mortgage industry is now offering its users the ability to identify mortgage insurance products.

SearchMyLoan.com's platform is a loan search engine providing comprehensive search and pricing for every loan type, such as A-paper, alt-A, FHA and subprime loans. The company's new mortgage insurance feature on its search and pricing engine enables loan officers to locate insurance companies within seconds of any loan search, allowing users to see which MI company will approve the loan and/or whether lender-paid MI is available.

According to Salvatore Tomaselli, chief executive of SearchMyLoan.com, this new feature was created mainly as a result of customer demand and to address a challenge that originators face when identifying the loans that include insurance backing. "We polled our users and they came back with their 'pain points' that they were experiencing in the market. The loan officers were saying to us 'we're having trouble locating MI companies,'" he said. "We saw this as an opportunity and identified all MI guidelines. It was based on an outcry of the user base."

Originators now can enter the loan scenario into the system, obtain the suitable product and programs and click on a "MI" button to find insurance company matches.

Mr. Tomaselli said that the MI feature matches the loan program and product with the most appropriate mortgage insurance company within five seconds, addressing the problems faced getting MI loans approved. "Now within a single seating, our customers can identify which MI company can approve the loan without having to go to a third party for information."

The need for a separate MI search on SearchMyLoan.com's engine came about due to the recent mortgage crisis and inherent consequences. "If you look at what took place in the market, MI companies suffered massive losses. This sparked a tremendous tightening of guidelines. In the past, there was a parallel thought process between the lender and the MI companies. Now, MIs took more prudent lending positions and came down very hard very quickly on declining market areas. Now it's harder for originators to get MI coverage. By combining our product search with an MI search, we've been able to solve a very significant problem for the originator."

Mr. Tomaselli added that the new feature also indicates whether lender-paid mortgage insurance is available. "In the past, loan officers would have to sift through guidelines and find out themselves whether LPMI was available. Now, it's as easy as clicking on the [right button]," he said.