Mortgage technology

National Quick Sale, a division of software innovator Infusion Technologies, has rolled out its Web-based platform designed to automate the process of real estate short sales, and shorten the transaction time from the several weeks currently required to a matter of days. National Quick Sale has been in a pilot with one of the nation's government sponsored enterprises and several of their mortgage servicers since earlier this year. A number of mortgage servicers are working with National Quick Sale to provide their loss mitigation departments with technology-based assistance for short sales, and have been impressed with the solution's capabilities. National Quick Sale's platform enables all parties to react quickly, improving the chances of completion before the potential buyer loses interest and the property is sold in foreclosure.

Nationstar Mortgage, a mortgage lender headquartered in Dallas, Texas, has re-entered the wholesale market in October 2008, and has selected Overture's Mozart Decision Engine and Mozart POS broker centric user interface as the technology it will use to support its wholesale operations. The decision to use Mozart was reinforced by Nationstar's successful roll out of Overture's Mozart Decision Engine and Mozart point-of-sale user interface to its 200+ retail and consumer direct originators companywide. Thanks to Mozart, Nationstar's retail division is now benefiting from real-time, rich automated decisioning, which gives the lender the ability to put risk-based pricing, product eligibility, underwriting, best fit, mortgage insurance premium calculations, fee generation and analysis and loan optimization into the hands of the consumer consultant, all on a real-time basis.

SourceMedia, the publisher of Mortgage Technology magazine, gave out awards in seven categories honoring achievement in mortgage lending technology at the MBA's annual convention in San Francisco. The Steve Fraser Visionary Award is given to an outstanding mortgage technology innovator, visionary or evangelizer. The winner of the award is Kim Weaver of Fiserv for her dedication to furthering the e-mortgage and getting lenders live in an e-mortgage environment. The Release of the Year Award is given to the announcement of a technology product, platform, alliance or initiative that seems likely to have the broadest impact on mortgage lending. The winner of the award is DocVelocity for making lender-proven paperless technology available to all mortgage participants. The Synergy Award is given to technology initiatives and alliances that show exemplary inter-operability in a production setting to advance the cause of automation and e-commerce. The winners of the award are Optimal Blue and Secondary Interactive for bridging the gap between pricing and secondary marketing. The Lasting Impact Award is given to an individual, group or company that launched a technology initiative or development that has had a lasting impact. The winner of the award is Roger Gudobba for evangelizing on behalf of a data-driven process and working to help the mortgage industry embrace this vision. The 10X Award is given to a company, product or technology application having an exponential impact on mortgage lending. The winner of the award is The Turning Point for MACH 3, which helps lenders get repeat business through technology in a down market. The Help Desk Award is given for outstanding customer service and technical support. The winner of the award is Mortgage Builder for combining experienced support staff with cutting-edge technology to help clients. The Fix-It Award is given to a technology tool providing an effective solution for a particular industry problem, need or channel. The winner of the award is Zaio, for solving the problem of appraiser fraud through automation.

MountanView Servicing Group, Denver, has completed the transition to CompassPoint mortgage servicing rights valuation technology. MountainView provides MSR valuations for over 100 servicers. Compass's MSR valuation analytics were developed with significant input from Mountain View, the two companies said. The Compass MSR valuation analytics include both static and option adjusted spread valuations.

eLynx now offers lenders full or hybrid electronic closing capabilities through the eLynx expedite platform. In an ongoing effort to address fragmentation in the closing process, eLynx is working with leading settlement entities to provide lenders with a variety of channels to electronically close loans, including through eLynx's own closing room. Toward that end, eLynx has formed a strategic partnership with Stewart Lender Services, a subsidiary of Stewart Title Company. The integration of Stewart's eClosingRoom electronic closing technology with the eLynx expedite platform, creates a seamless connection between lenders and eClosingRoom that does not require any additional integration on the lender's part. This integration supports electronic, hybrid, and paper closings. In related news, eLynx has an integration partnership with LandAmerica that was just signed to automate the title portion of mortgage closings. eLynx has been approved to deliver Fannie Mae Category One SMART Docs and is in the process of being certified with MERS.

MRG Document Technologies has integrated with San Francisco-based ComplianceEase to provide automated compliance auditing for closing documents prepared by MRG. MRG is a provider of compliance and documentation services for the financial industry. ComplianceEase's automated compliance system, ComplianceAnalyzer, is accessible through MRG's document preparation system, MIRACLE ONLINE. The integration enables lenders using MRG to access all ComplianceEase tests and reports online. Audit results for possible compliance issues are available in both summary and detail formats. There is no additional charge for users to access ComplianceEase via MIRACLE ONLINE. Lenders simply sign up directly with ComplianceEase and the integration is handled by MRG.

Carlsbad, Calif.-based BasePoint Analytics has released new Web-hosted automation that enables lenders to obtain verifications of borrower income. Developed in response to lender requests for quicker turnaround on IRS 4506-T transcripts, the Income Verification Service includes a real-time tracking system for monitoring each transcript request and report, and gives managers the capability to view the status of all user transcript activity. Specifically, the service automates each step in the process to obtain the 4506-T report, with online data entry of the transcript request and automatic creation of the cover sheet. A system-generated e-mail provides instantaneous notification to the user when the transcript request is received and when the report is available, with a link directly to the report on BasePoint's secure system. The online tracking system allows requests and results to be retrieved at any time, with real-time monitoring for managers to check the status of all user transcript activity.

Rapid Reporting, Ft. Worth, Texas, has released EmploymentChek, a third-party employment verification service offering verbal verification of employment. VVOE picks up where automated employment verification services leave off by providing confirmations that come from live, person-to-person contact with the employer. With EmploymentChek, lenders and brokers can get definitive answers on a borrower's employment in 24 hours or less. All mortgage loans contain four major risk factors for fraud: identity, income, employment and collateral. The mortgage industry is particularly challenged by employment fraud because of the labor-intensive and paper-laden, manual process of verification, which opens lenders up to a variety of errors, oversights and opportunities for fraud. In most mortgage shops, the verification process is not measurable or accountable, and the mortgage companies do not capture the data. Rapid Reporting's EmploymentChek solves those issues with a process that validates the existence of the employer thorough a search of public and private records, and also provides a person-to-person verbal verification of employment conducted by a trained employment fraud specialist.

Costa Mesa, Calif.-based PriceMyLoan has completed an integration to Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector automated underwriting system. The integration allows originators to obtain decisions from Loan Prospector from within the PML system. PML is an automated eligibility and pricing tool that is used by mortgage lenders to provide loan decisions at the point-of-sale. Originators query the Web-based engine to determine which products their borrowers qualify for, and to obtain current pricing for those products. The Loan Prospector integration provides a method for originators to submit credit report and loan data directly to Loan Prospector system from within PML. Loan Prospector responses are brought back into PML and are used to generate product and pricing decisions for specific investor loan products. PML can be found on the Web at http://www.pricemyloan.com.

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, Minneapolis, has reached an agreement with Document Processing Systems, Inc. to transition DPS' customers onto the Wolters Kluwer Financial Services Document Services Platform. DPS, founded more than 25 years ago in Novi, Mich., provides mortgage lenders and brokers with document preparation services through the company's DIRECT-DOCS online technology platform. The company recently announced that it was exiting the document preparation services business. Under the terms of the agreement, DPS will work with Wolters Kluwer Financial Services to help migrate customers over to Wolters Kluwer Financial Services Document Services Platform.

Ellie Mae Inc., a Pleasanton, Calif.-based origination vendor, has acquired the assets of Online Documents Inc., a provider of guaranteed compliant mortgage documents, from Stewart Lender Services Inc. No sale price was disclosed. Online Documents, based in Concord, Calif., provides services to more than 500 clients nationwide, ranging from local and regional lenders to large organizations. The acquisition agreement between Stewart Lender Services and Ellie Mae includes Online Documents' employees, client relationships, technology, business operations, and other assets. Ellie Mae said it will continue to serve current customers of Online Documents, and in the coming months will add Online Documents as an additional provider on Encompass Closer, its document preparation solution integrated within the Encompass Mortgage Management Solution. In addition, mortgage professionals will continue to see Online Documents among the many document service providers offered on the Ellie Mae ePASS Network. Ellie Mae can be found on the Web at http://www.elliemae.com.

AllRegs, an information provider for the mortgage industry based in Eagan, Minn., and Optimal Blue, a Plano, Texas-based developer of a Web-based platform that couples decisioning technology with content management, have joined forces to provide an integrated system for loan officers. The AllRegs LoanLibrary, which features 2,600 products, will now be available to all users of Optimal Blue's product eligibility and pricing engine. Optimal Blue maintains and delivers mortgage product content through an automated secondary-marketing platform. The data from the AllRegs application will be integrated into Optimal Blue's PPE through its Web service, the companies said. "By combining our resources, loan officers will have access to a product that enables them to better manage their loan products, search them in seconds, and view all the investor guidelines they need to choose the appropriate products for their customers," said Dan Thoms, AllRegs senior vice president. AllRegs, can be found online at http://www.allregs.com and http://www.optimalblue.com.

The National Association of Realtors has announced the launch of a Federal Housing Administration Toolkit aimed at enabling Realtors to help buyers obtain safe and affordable FHA-backed mortgages. The toolkit includes a video on frequently asked questions and a flash-media presentation of FHA programs, as well as brochures, other reference guides, and links to useful resources. "FHA offers a safe alternative to many of the subprime and exotic loans that caused much of today's market turmoil, and the program is easier to use than ever before," said Pat V. Combs, immediate past president of the NAR. The association can be found on the Web at http://www.realtor.org.

Interthinx, a provider of risk mitigation and regulatory compliance tools based in Agoura Hills, Calif., is touting the loan-level identity component of its FraudGuard tool to help mortgage lenders comply with so-called red-flag rules that take effect Nov. 1. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act requires banks to develop policies (consistent with Customer Information Program rules) to identify potential identity theft. FraudGuard uses public and proprietary data to generate more than 45 alerts that help lenders comply with the red-flag rules, the company said. "Creditors and financial institutions are obligated to implement a written program that would satisfy the requirements to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft," said Kevin Coop, president of Interthinx. "FraudGuard provides a multitude of critical alerts to support compliance in areas such as Social Security numbers issued prior to date of birth of borrower, invalid phone numbers, and inconsistent personal identification information." The company can be found online at http://www.interthinx.com.

Informative Research, a provider of mortgage credit information based in Garden Grove, Calif., has announced the release of new Portfolio Credit Review analytic tools aimed at offering mortgage investors and servicers greater insight into future loan performance. The tools provide in-depth credit data and analytics to assess payment risk, mitigate losses, or increase loan retention, the company said. Clients can submit large-batch credit data requests to get results in as few as three business days. Before submission, Informative Research said it works with each client to ensure that the data are optimized. "Investors must be focused on individual loans in their portfolio," said Tony D'Eccliss, senior vice president of sales for Informative Research. "Gone are the days when portfolio risk was measured in broad brushstrokes." The company can be found online at http://www.informativeresearch.com.

Two former Ditech.com executives have announced the launch of Lendability.com, an online mortgage lender based in Scottsdale, Ariz., that aims to be "the leader in both cost and transparency." Paulo La Greca, the new venture's chief executive officer, said the company plans to be in all 50 states by the summer of 2009. Brent Kirk, its chief operating officer, said other online lenders "got carried away with their businesses" by getting heavily involved in subprime mortgages. He said "everything is upfront" at Lendability.com, including rates, fees, and consumer options. Several other former executives at Ditech.com, Costa Mesa, Calif., have joined the company and will remain in Southern California to head up Lendability.com's satellite operations there. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.lendability.com.

First American Subordinate Lien Outsourcing, Dallas, has announced the debut of its Tool for Reserve Underwriting Scoring Model, which defines the potential loss, predicted recovery, and velocity of recovery on a monthly timeline for a subordinate loan pool. Created to address the risk management needs of Wall Street and hedge fund clients, the TRU Scoring Model delivers gross recovery cash-flow projections on a 24- to 36-month basis for a pool of performing or nonperforming subordinate lien assets, the company said. It projects recovery based on internal collection experience with similar types of collateral derived from delinquency and collateral characteristics. "It has been an invaluable solution in managing performance expectations in relation to market servicing benchmarks for the 100,000 distressed junior lien assets that we monitor in our operation," said Brett Benson, director of analytics at First American Subordinate Lien Outsourcing. "In addition, the use of our data products and analytic scores provide a powerful complementary set of metrics for assessing potential losses related to subordinate liens and home equity lines of credit." The company can be found online at http://www.firstam.com.

Denver-based idBusiness, a provider of information security systems for small to medium-size businesses, has announced the launch of the Red Flag Compliance Module. The module is designed to enable mortgage companies to meet the requirements of the so-called red-flag rules under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, idBusiness said. "A mortgage banker or broker is facing about 20 serious challenges to his business every day, one of which is red-flag compliance," said idBusiness chief executive Scott Brooks, himself a mortgage professional. "With the Compliance Module, we created a simple tool that achieves compliance first, but second, gives you a tool to build your business in a tough market." The module goes beyond the 26 identity theft "red flags" outlined by the legislation, providing customers with 37 potential signs of identity theft and integrating them into the day-to-day functions of a mortgage company's employees, idBusiness said. The company can be found online at http://www.idbusiness.com.

Financial Crossing, Palo Alto, Calif., has launched a technology-enabled program that expands the professional capacity of financial advisors, mortgage originators and other industry professionals. The Independent Advisor Program allows these professionals to function as personal liability managers, providing mortgage and liability analysis, planning, monitoring, and execution in real time and on an ethical and objective basis through FC's Liability Manager software. The software incorporates patent-pending analytics, market data, and leverages real-time pricing and eligibility from NYLX for thousands of loan programs from multiple lenders; offers seamless mortgage fulfillment services through integration with Lydian Data Services; and has execution and origination of loans and plans in all 50 states through an integrated partnership with Citizens Community Bank of New Jersey, a commercial bank and correspondent. FC can be found on the Web at http://www.financialcrossing.com.

LenderLive Network Inc., a Denver-based provider of business process outsourcing and technology, has announced the purchase of the assets of Guardian Mortgage Documents. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. "This acquisition takes our long-standing relationship with Guardian management and its staff to the next level, allowing us to capitalize on the tremendous synergies that are already in place," said Rick Seehausen, president of LenderLive. Guardian, which had been the exclusive provider of document preparation services to LenderLive for 10 years, will retain its management, and its operations will continue from its Lakewood, Colo., location, LenderLive said. LenderLive can be found on the Web at http://www.lenderlive.com.