Mortgage technology

When Guaranteed Rate's Sam Sharp discovered past clients' online reviews were bringing in new business, he started making customer feedback a major part of his digital marketing strategy.

From single-point-of-contact requirements to the need for better self-service options, servicers surveyed by National Mortgage News are taking a much-needed hard look at the full range of customer touch-points that they operate.

Intuvo, a company that provides marketing automation software to the credit union industry, and a division of CU Direct, announced it has entered into new partnership agreements with three credit unions.

In one instance, a single complaint in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's database was counted as 35 different ones while in another, a complaint against a payday lender was filed against an unrelated bank. Current and former officials say that's par for the course, leading to inflated complaint numbers and inaccurate data.

Lenders are doing a better job keeping consumers informed about the loan process, according to the latest J.D. Power mortgage survey. But the actual speed of loan closings is also a key factor to borrowers' overall satisfaction.

Amid a renewed focus on improving customer service and the overall borrowing experience, lenders surveyed by National Mortgage News indicate a strong interest in customer-relationship management software, but remain tepid about electronic signatures.

A proprietary loan origination system is the best way to stay ahead of compliance and organizational growth.

While regulatory pressures remain top of mind for the mortgage industry, lenders surveyed by National Mortgage News are shifting their attention from defensive-minded compliance initiatives to ones that improve companies' ability to compete.

Title insurers are bracing for a bumpy fourth quarter due to the CFPB's new mortgage disclosure rules. But the timing of the regulation might actually help get the short-term pains out of the way during what's typically a slower period of mortgage activity.

Fannie Mae was affected by the same derivatives accounting mismatch that led to Freddie Mac's first quarterly loss in four years. But its bulk and balance sheet provided enough cushion for the larger of the two government-sponsored enterprises to post a profit for the third quarter.

Nationstar Mortgage Holdings took $66 million in losses for the third quarter, compared to a $75 million gain in the second quarter.

Critical shortcomings in data management and analytics to support servicing rights transfers will become more problematic amid servicer expectations of accelerated activity, according to the results of a National Mortgage News survey.

After years of plowing resources into compliance projects, mortgage lenders surveyed by National Mortgage News are foregrounding core business initiatives in their plans for the coming year. High on to-do lists are projects aimed at improving the customer experience and seizing new business opportunities.

Though the deadline for compliance is more than two years away, lenders are already warning that they do not have enough time to comply with a new rule that requires institutions to report additional data to regulators on home loans.

Accurately capturing mortgage data to meet new federal regulators is a top challenge for banks and credit unions, according to Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.

Calling the purchase of its first customer-relationship management vendor "a mistake," Ellie Mae CEO Jonathan Corr is ready to tee off with its new CRM acquisition, Mortgage Returns.

Quicken Loans CEO Bill Emerson's term as chairman of the MBA underscores how the consumer-direct mortgage channel has grown from a quirky novelty to the force leading a technology revolution.

An alternative compliance model merges mortgage and home equity oversight by focusing on common operations is an innovative way to compete with the traditional manner of handling those efforts separately.

The head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned software vendors that they face new scrutiny from regulators for causing mortgage lenders to miss the TRID-compliance deadline. He was vague about how far the CFPB might go, but many in the industry are prone to fear the worst.

From thrift deregulation to government domination, the mortgage business is prone to dramatic shifts. Here are 10 people who share the credit, or the blame, for major industry changes.