Mortgage technology

The Mortgage Bankers Association and MERSCORP Inc. have entered into a management agreement under which MERSCORP will be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of MISMO, and the MBA vice president responsible for the technology standards initiative has left the trade group. Under the management agreement, MBA retains full control of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization Inc. and will maintain a permanent seat on the MISMO board of directors. John A. Courson, president and CEO of the association, said, "It has always been the intent for MBA to develop and nurture MISMO and then align with another entity to conduct day-to-day management of the company in a way that best serves the real-estate finance industry. MERS, as an industry utility owned in part by MBA, provides an ideal infrastructure for MISMO and will ensure the user experience of current MISMO participants remains constant at its current high level." When asked how this affected Harry Gardner, the MBA's VP of technology who had been charged with MISMO's oversight, an MBA spokeswoman said he was no longer with the association and referred further comment to trade group executives who were not immediately available Wednesday. Mr. Gardner could not be reached for comment at press time.

The Justice Department says it foiled a plot by a fired Fannie Mae contract worker to destroy all the data on the GSE's 4,000 computer servers nationwide. The worker, 35-year-old Rajendrasinh Makwana, of Glen Allen, Va., is scheduled for arraignment Friday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on one count of computer intrusion, according to a report in the Associated Press. U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said Mr. Makwana was fired in late October. The prosecutor said that on that day Mr. Makwana programmed a computer with a malicious code that was set to spread throughout Fannie's network of servers and destroy all the data by the end of January 2009. Mr. Makwana's public defender has yet to comment on the charges.

Global financial services consulting firm Headstrong has acquired business process outsourcing firm Lydian Data Services, Boca Raton, Fla. The sale price was not disclosed, but all LDS staff will be retained as the objective is to grow the LDS business further. However, within the next three to six months the LDS name will be grandfathered and the business unit will be dubbed Headstrong Business Services. With the acquisition of LDS and its platforms, Headstrong will position itself as a consulting firm that can offer a full suite of services from consulting and implementation to mortgage processing to its global clientele. Further, according to Headstrong, the acquisition of LDS will strengthen Headstrong's U.S. operations, through the addition of processing centers in Atlanta and Boca Raton.

Only one-third of financial institutions are using the Internet to send confidential documents to customers, partners and service providers using a secure electronic document delivery solution, according to a recent Wolters Kluwer Financial Services survey. Nearly 62% of the 347 banks, credit unions and mortgage companies responding to the survey said they are using the Internet to transmit confidential documents such as loan disclosures and documents. Of those institutions, however, only one-third say they are using a secure electronic delivery solution. Approximately another third are using traditional e-mail, which does not encrypt customer data. The remainder use less secure document delivery methods such as password protected e-mail and websites, regular or overnight mail, or are not sure of the method they use. According to Jason Marx, vice president and general manager, Mortgage, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, the recent growth of identity theft and other forms of electronic fraud make it harder to send documents or information safely via traditional mail, e-mail and websites. Even with password protection, he says, fraudsters can hack into these systems to access customer information.

eLynx has enhanced its e-collaboration platform dubbed expedite to provide workflow capabilities lenders can use to manage loan processing and documentation electronically throughout the loan's entire lifecycle. The new release is based on feedback from lender customers and is available to all eLynx customers who utilize the eLynx expedite platform. The new enhancements are part of expedite and are built into electronic loan folders. As documents within the folder change or new documents are added, appropriate parties can be notified as work is queued up. All loan related information is stored securely in a centralized location, including detailed notes about loan-level and document-level status changes that do not necessarily reside on traditional mortgage documentation. The system protects all sensitive data by making it easy to control who has access. A complete audit trail provides loan history and progress at every point in the loan lifecycle. In addition to improving process workflow, usability and individual workflow enhancements were also made for this new release.

In order to help overburdened servicers, Overture Technologies has launched Mozart for Special Servicing to help servicers automate and get borrowers in the right mod the first time around. The new tool leverages Overture Technologies' automated decisioning technology used in mortgage underwriting in a process called, "automated re-decisioning," applying a rules system to re-evaluate risk and value of a loan at any point along the mortgage value chain. Mozart for Special Servicing enables servicers to align the interests of borrowers, bankers, secondary markets, investors and other third parties at the beginning of the loan modification process, as well as keep up with changing policies and requirements. The application maintains consistent, defensible, and transparent, processes, levels of discretion and approval practices, calculations and agreed upon outcomes for every loan, regardless of spikes in volume and industry booms. It also provide tailored workout options at the loan level, while still making it easy for Special Servicing operations to scale up to meet the volume of today's crisis. Lastly, the technology leverages existing infrastructure, and integrates with legacy systems and other data facilities.

The electronic registry for tracking ownership of mortgage loans and servicing rights has been expanded to allow the registration of loans where MERS is not the mortgagee of record. These "information only" registrations are being called MERS iRegistrations, and they give members the anti-fraud and tracking benefits of a "MERS as original mortgagee" registration without naming MERS as the mortgagee. The iRegistration procedure can be used to register a loan prior to closing, MERS said. The MERS website is www.mersinc.com.

Phoenix Capital, a Denver-based provider of mortgage servicing analytics, consulting and brokerage services, will begin using Compass's CompassPoint technology in determining the value of mortgage servicing rights. CompassPoint will be used by Phoenix as the cash flow engine and model with which Phoenix applies its market color and assumptions to generate valuations and analytics for MSR portfolios. The two companies said the transition to the Compass technology should be complete by the end of this month.

California's Nevada and Placer counties have selected Lender Processing Services Inc.'s Aptitude Solutions' division to provide a software solution that further automates and streamlines land recording and indexing for both counties. OnCore, Aptitude Solutions' recording and indexing platform enables county governments of all sizes to reduce internal paperwork and easily manage workflow by electronically moving document images through the recording process, rather than through traditional manual and paper-intensive processes. OnCore's features include electronic recording, automatic document queuing, electronic digital stamping, historic image back posting, full accounting functionality. Nevada County will become the first county in California to implement Aptitude Solutions' OnCore platform for electronic land records indexing and e-recording. Placer County also plans to implement the OnCore platform to handle high-volume recording and to provide increased automation and detailed audit checks.

Avista Solutions has integrated the Avista Agile loan origination system with DocMagic, a loan document solution provider. The integration to DocMagic streamlines the loan document production process for Avista Solutions customers, giving Avista customers access to DocMagic's e-disclosure and e-sign features. DocMagic's interface with Avista's Agile LOS is a direct interface. DocMagic's e-disclosure feature allows lenders to deliver and get receipt confirmations of disclosure documents via e-mail. DocMagic monitors the entire e-disclosure process, notifying lenders when borrowers view their documents and mailing printed copies of the documents to borrowers if they fail to view them electronically within 48 hours.

ISGN has purchased Richmond Title Services, Plano, Texas, as part of its title business cross-sell strategy. RTS is one of the top 25 independent title agents in the US and has more than 40 employees. According to ISGN, the plan is to cross-sell RTS's services to existing ISGN customers as well as through ISGN's e-services platform, Lenstar, Bridgelink and the MORvision Plug-in Partner Network. A plug-in will be written for all Dynatek MORvision customers. ISGN said in a prepared statement that the acquisition will help ISGN gain market share in the title business by leveraging ISGN's knowledge process outsourcing onshore and offshore processing capabilities. No sale price was disclosed.

Best known for its Funding Suite credit and AVM product, Cogent Road is expanding its offerings to enable lenders to go fully paperless with Business Spaces, an e-collaboration document management system designed to first help lenders eliminate paper and gradually move to full electronic processes. Business Spaces automates work processes by delivering documents, tracking their status and notifying key workgroups of issues that may delay closing. The moment a loan officer orders a credit report, a Business Space is created and the applicant is notified via e-mail. The loan applicant enters a private, secured environment through which he or she can view, e-sign or upload documents directly into the Business Space via computer, fax or an easy-to-use virtual printer. Further, the borrower can also communicate using micro-blogs and discussion threads integrated in different areas within the Business Space. With automatic audit logging, all borrower actions are effectively tracked for compliance purposes. As the loan progresses, the Business Space evolves into a collaborative workspace enabling communication between the loan officer and title agents, notary agents, appraisers and real estate agents.

Subservicer Ofori Lender Services, Southfield, Mich., plans to service all of its loans through a new system in January in a move it said is slated to save it $2,500 in telecommunication costs. Ofori said it plans to service its loans through the Southfield, Mich.-based McDonald Computer Corp.'s Web-based system during the upcoming month. "By greatly reducing our cost on technology and management portfolios, we will become a more competitive subservicer," said Karen Heller, Ofori Lending Services' servicing manager.

Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Ltd., and Citigroup Inc. said that they have reached an agreement for Wipro to acquire Citi Technology Services Ltd., the India-based provider of information technology services and solutions to Citi entities worldwide, for an all cash consideration of $127 million. As part of the transaction, Wipro and Citi will sign a master services agreement for the delivery of technology infrastructure services and application development and maintenance services for a period of six years. The agreement provides for the delivery of at least $500 million in service revenue over the period of the contract. The transaction is expected to be closed by March 2009, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

Real estate website Zillow.com has launched Zillow Advice, an online resource for consumers to find answers to specific local real estate questions. Located in the "Advice" tab on Zillow.com, Zillow Advice encourages consumers to "Ask a Question," tag it by topic or locality, and receive advice from Zillow's online community of local real estate experts. Zillow Advice adds to existing community features such as Zillow Discussions and Home Q&A, which allow for broader discussion topics or home-specific questions and answers. Currently, more than 40,000 contributions are made to Zillow.com by its community of users each day, according to Zillow.

Fraud prevention firm National Loan Auditors, Walnut Creek, Calif., is now offering an online resource portal aimed at providing clients with up-to-date information on statutes and case law pertaining to lending and foreclosure. The portal includes status updates on all federal, state and municipal legislation, the company said. "NLA Law Portal adds value to our forensic loan audit by providing support for its findings and information on how to effectively use the audit report in legal proceedings," said August Blass, CEO of National Loan Auditors. "Users are given summaries and guidelines that distill lending and foreclosure law into a short manageable synopsis, saving hours in research." Once access has been granted, clients have the ability to search various summary topics such as alternatives to workout agreements, Truth in Lending Act summary, and Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act action steps. State legislation topics also are available. By selecting a state, users will receive current case law and statues in that state. Litigation tools also will be displayed when applicable.

Harland Financial Solutions' Interlinq E3, the company's Web-based loan production platform management system, is providing complete integration with Compliance EAGLE, an automated compliance review service developed by QuestSoft. Compliance EAGLE offers Interlinq E3 users a compliance process within the LOS. Compliance EAGLE uses proprietary rule sets to identify regulatory exceptions. "Harland Financial Solutions has been a valued integration partner of QuestSoft's for more than ten years," said Leonard Ryan, president of QuestSoft in a prepared statement. This integration is said to provide customers with a best practices approach to dealing with regulatory compliance.

Bethesda, Md.-based decisioning and analytics vendor Overture has closed $6 million in Series C funding led by Capital Trust Ventures with continuing participation from CNF Investments, New Markets Growth Fund and other existing investors. Financing will be used to support market expansion to meet urgent and increasing demand for the company's financial decisioning solutions serving the mortgage and education lending industries. In conjunction with the funding, Tim Meyers, managing partner at Capital Trust Ventures, has joined Overture's board of directors.

Dallas-based Vantium Capital Inc. has begun offering electronic modifications through its Acqura Loan Services in an effort to improve and accelerate borrower acceptance. The company is using SigniaDoc's SMART Doc technology to prepare and present the e-mods to borrowers with loans that it services for investors and for its own fund. The borrowers are invited to view their loan modification documents online at a secure portion of Acqura's website and review them on a real-time basis with a representative from Acqura's Home Owner Solutions Center. If they agree with the modification, the borrowers can immediately e-sign the documents online in a secure environment. A growing number of investors will now accept e-signed mods, and federal and state courts have also recognized the validity of e-signed documents for loan modifications, the company said. Once the e-mod has been executed, it is electronically delivered to the investor's custodian and then filed in an e-vault.

Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv Inc. has enhanced capabilities to its Home Retention Solutions offering that enable financial institutions to identify and contact troubled borrowers with customized repayment solutions to try to keep them out of foreclosure. In addition, Fiserv is supporting programs such as Fannie Mae's Home Saver Advance Program, which provides an advance to cover past-due mortgage payments in exchange for a separate, unsecured loan, and the newly introduced Streamlined Modification Program, in which borrowers receive reduced interest rates or longer loan terms to make their payments more affordable. Among the enhancements developed since the initial launch of Home Retention Solutions in June 2008 are "one-touch" customer contact and advanced loss mitigation workflow tools that more fully automate the loan modification process, including secure electronic delivery of modification documents to borrowers with an electronic signature option when available. One-touch contact and the electronic fulfillment of the documents dramatically accelerate the completion of the modification process, even enabling the process to be completed in one phone call with the borrower.