Mortgage technology

When it comes to appraisals, the key words in today’s market are quality and defensibility. Inaccurate valuations result in serious risk. When loans go sour, no investor or lender wants to be the one stuck holding the bad loan. Today, the threat of a forced buyback, or even follow on legal action, is all too real.

A federal judicial panel denied a motion to include the Dallas County district attorney’s lawsuit against Merscorp in the ongoing multidistrict litigation against the private loan registry in Phoenix.

Real Matters, the Markham, Ont.-based parent of Solidifi, an appraisal management solutions company with operations on both sides of the border, has obtained C$22 million (US$22.13 million) of "growth financing" through the placement of both equity and debt.

Tree.com, Charlotte, N.C., has modified the agreement with Discover Financial Services regarding the latter's purchase of Home Loan Center, which does business as LendingTree Loans.

County recorders in New Jersey will now be required to accept electronic documents, following the recent enactment of a bill to modernize the land recording process.

David Zugheri, founder of Houston-based Envoy Mortgage discusses preparing for the Uniform Mortgage Data Program.

David Zugheri, founder of Houston-based Envoy Mortgage discusses his bank’s approach to technology adoption.

Richard Cordray extended an olive branch to the banking industry last week when he said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would support legislation to protect data that institutions provide during exams.

Business process outsourcing and workflow platforms originally tended to be separate, but it has begun to make more sense to package them together, according to Narayan Bharadwaj, business head for Wipro Gallagher Solutions.

Another state attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Merscorp, this time in New York, where Eric Schneiderman took aim at the thousands of MERS “certifying officers” employed by mortgage servicers whom he alleges filed defective and inaccurate foreclosure documents that deceived and mislead borrowers and courts.

Even though the vast majority of its services are as an outsource solution, Bensalem, Pa.-based ISGN also provides contract employees to help meet transitory needs in the mortgage industry, including IT staff.

The end of Google Advisor Mortgage is another missed opportunity by a larger technology player trying to make its mark in the mortgage industry.

After significantly reducing its geographic footprint in November, Google “discontinued” its mortgage rate advertising platform Wednesday, just two years after the search engine entered the online rate search and lead generation market.

Ellie Mae created a new chief information officer position and hired David Robbins to fill the new role, the mortgage technology vendor announced.

RiskFinder Distress enables users to track and analyze key distress events throughout the life cycle of a loan. This computer product provides investors and lenders the information needed to evaluate risk, determine the impact of distress sales on loss severity estimates, drive loss mitigation strategies and identify markets that are starting to recover.

A major hurdle for the mortgage industry in 2011 that may continue to pose a significant risk this year is ineffective quality control. Interthinx identified two defects in the outsourced quality control programs of lenders that affected residential mortgage loan files—missing documentation and inaccurate information.

Producing quality loan documents and maintaining the integrity of borrower data within them will be critical for both lenders and servicers as part of meeting new requirements.

Valuation Vision, a subsidiary of The Kirchmeyer Group, has launched a new product that acts as an alternative to a traditional broker price opinion.

VantageScore Solutions has stated that 46 investors, who run the gamut, are now using its consumer credit score model in their risk and pricing models.

One of the most surprising questions I get on a regular basis is "Why are you still talking about mortgage fraud? Hasn't it gone away now that property values are declining, lenders are requiring full documentation to support an application, and they are checking with the Internal Revenue Service to verify borrower income?" The short answer is: no.