Mortgage technology

It was 1976, the year of the U.S. Bicentennial, the dawn of Apple Computer and supersonic commercial flight aboard the Concorde jet. The average rate for a 30-year mortgage was 8.87% and the median sales price of existing homes was $38,100. And in an apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side, National Mortgage News was born.

The mortgage application forms from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should make for stronger loans, according to an analyst at Moody's Investors Service.

Mid America Mortgage will begin purchasing electronically closed loans through its correspondent lending channel.

Appraisal management software company Mercury Network has entered into an agreement to acquire valuation data and analytics services provider Platinum Data Solutions.

Equifax and TransUnion have stopped selling traditional credit reports, forcing lenders to buy their new, more expensive "trended" data reports that mortgage investors aren't using yet.

Ellie Mae has integrated settlement software from Qualia with its Encompass platform.

New specifications for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's common mortgage application unveiled Tuesday add data points and remove obsolete questions, as well as include additional capabilities to promote digital mortgage workflows.

Reynolds and Reynolds subsidiary International Document Services has added a fulfillment dashboard to its idsDoc mortgage document preparation system.

First Community Mortgage is taking somewhat of an unusual approach with its latest branding campaign.

Clara, a new online mortgage lender, has launched with $27 million in equity financing.