Ameriquest Piloting Appraisal Alternative

Ameriquest Mortgage Co., Orange, Calif., has announced a pilot program under which it will replace traditional appraisals on certain mortgage programs with Collateral Valuation Insurance, a new product developed by Fidelity National Information Solutions.Ameriquest said it has signed a letter of intent with FNIS under which Ameriquest will use CVI to speed up its collateral valuation process for its first-mortgage operations. Ameriquest, which has been using CVI for the past 90 days to replace certain appraisals, said it decided to expand the use of the product after experiencing "substantial improvement in turnaround times and quality of its collateral valuations." CVI can reduce the turnaround time for appraisals from several weeks to several days, the company said. Ameriquest said CVI is the first appraisal alternative product that combines automated estimates of value with an inspection of the property and valuation insurance.