Mortgage technology

Woodward Asset Capital has started a real estate brokerage brand catering specifically to property sellers, including banks and mortgage servicers unloading foreclosed homes.

Loan modifications continued their dominance as the primary method for foreclosure prevention in 2013, both through government-driven and proprietary servicer programs.

Many conversations in the loan process start with this often uttered, never welcome phrase: "I am going to need an explanation…" If you were on the receiving end of that message, how would that make you feel?

Business contingency plans kept originators and vendors humming along at almost normal during the January and February blizzards.

It has to do with the visibility and prominence of your company when consumers conduct online searches.

Mortgage servicing has long been a scale business, but rising compliance costs are now threatening the survival of smaller operations that lack efficient systems or staff expertise, industry experts say.

Marketers should try different platforms and see which of them work best for their needs.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's crackdown on mortgage servicers' operations will increase the pressure on lenders to improve their processes, paperwork and communications with borrowers. National Mortgage News journalists discuss how both banks and nonbank servicers can get ahead of the new regulatory scrutiny.

Lower volumes and increased regulation are leading more lenders to consider outsourcing. But the savings and compliance improvements must outweigh increased liability for contractors and a rise in offshore prices.

Once written off as an endangered species, nonbank home lenders are making a comeback in the third-party origination businesses abandoned by banks since the financial crisis.

There are many conversations that take place during the mortgage process, and a lot of them are conversations between players in the industry.

Platinum Data Solutions has completed an initial round of accuracy testing on the 18 automated valuation models that it resells to lenders and servicers.

Thousands of lenders post oceans of data each year to meet Home Mortgage Disclosure Act obligations. There may be more reporting requirements coming. Will the value of the new transparency outweigh the added compliance burden to lenders?

• CFPB Servicing Standards
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• MT Awards Photos

The mortgage tech vendor is trying to maintain profits by signing and upgrading customers. The headwinds it faces reflect broader industrywide challenges: lower origination volume and new compliance requirements.

Mortgage software firm Ellie Mae posted higher year-over-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2013, but reported a dip in net income as operating expenses rose.

A New York startup vows to reduce risk and bring transparency and regulatory oversight to a much-hyped investment class.

The Green Lender Award acknowledges a lender that uses technology to promote sustainable and environmentally conscious business practices in the mortgage industry. Learn about this year's finalists and see who won the 2013 MT Award.

Centralized databases inside the loan origination system provide an efficient way to comply with the Qualified Mortgage requirements and more efficiently use loan information from origination to servicing and securitization.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new notification requirements for property valuations have rekindled old debates over appraisal alternatives and are expected to add costs alongside yet another layer of mortgage litigation risk.