Countrywide: 'AE' Mortgage Already Here

The technology to create all-electronic mortgages already exists and is currently in use by Countrywide Financial Corp., according to CFC's chief information officer and managing director, Richard Jones.Mr. Jones made his comments to attendees at Thomson Media's 5th Annual Mortgage EC conference in Las Vegas. "The technology to do this has been around for a long time," he said. But he added that two things stand in the way of AE transactions' entrance into the mainstream: customers have been slow to embrace them, and the documents have yet to be tested in a court of law. Countrywide, based in Calabasas, Calif., is building an electronic loan storage facility to store the all-electronic loans it originates and buys from correspondents. Mr. Jones did not speculate on how soon the AE mortgage would become widely accepted. Countrywide can be found on the Web at http://www.countrywide.com.