Mortech: Lenders Still Not Tech-Savvy

The current refi boom finds mortgage lenders only slightly more prepared to streamline processes with technologytools, according to Mortech LLC's Jeff Lebowitz. That is one of the conclusionshe was scheduled to present March 22 to Mortech 2000 sponsors gathered in Washington, D.C. The Mortech Study pollssenior mortgage industry executives on how the industry spends an estimated $2.6 billion annually on technology(according to Mortech findings), 75% of it by the top 12% of lenders. "This is the year of the loan officer formortgage technology," said Mr. Lebowitz. "Lenders say they are going to focus their technology development to increasesales and loan officer effectiveness." Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to be the leading providers of technologyto the industry, he said, with Alltel and Fiserv leading among technology providers to mortgage servicers. Seventypercent of lenders purchase technology directly from vendors, the latest Mortech study showed. Only 10% of thecompanies surveyed currently use automated valuation models, and only 4% use wireless technology. Extensible MarkupLanguage, or XML, remains a "veritable unknown" among senior mortgage company managers, the study showed. Mortech'swebsite address is http://www.mortech-llc.com.