Mortgage technology

SourceCorp Inc., a Dallas-based consultant and provider of business process outsourcing systems, has announced an expansion of its mortgage offerings.The new module, Electronic Loan Exchange, enables the secure electronic transfer of loan files between brokers, correspondents, servicers, and investors, the company said. It also employs an "electronic loan review room" where loans can be reviewed for due diligence before acquisition or electronic transfer to a buyer. The module represents the latest development of Fastrieve, SourceCorp's proprietary digital image repository. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.sourcecorp.com.

Countrywide has begun work on its implementation of a business rules management system by Pittsburgh-based Haley Systems Inc. to support the company's loan servicing systems.Haley has been selected by the loan servicing division of Countrywide Home Loans Inc., the principal subsidiary of Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif. Among Countrywide's key criteria in looking for the system, according to Haley, were: rules-authoring functionality decoupled from software development, so that business logic can be externalized from applications; a natural language interface that enables business decision-makers to manage business logic themselves using plain English rather than programming code; platform-independent high performance; and a platform-independent rules language. In addition, Haley's application will support Countrywide's heterogeneous platforms (including, for example, MS Windows, IBM AIX, and IBM AS/400). The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.countrywide.com and http://www.haley.com.

The Financial Services Technology Consortium, New York, has initiated a new project designed to authenticate financial institutions to consumers.The project will create one or more use cases and threat analyses that can be used to evaluate a set of technology solutions currently being developed by the IT and communications industries. Also, the project will define and create a test bed with a supporting test plan and evaluation criteria for testing and evaluating financial institutions authentication solutions against use cases defined by the project team. At present, FSTC is assembling the team for this project and is soliciting membership from across financial services, IT and communications industries. The organization can be found on the Web at http://www.fstc.org.

The home mortgage division of Chase is rolling out a new wholesale loan origination system, ChaseLoanCenter, which gives users access to the entire Chase loan process.Accessed with one password, the system gives users new functionality as well as replaces brokers' separate access to Advanced ChaseLock and ZiPPY. ChaseLoanCenter is being piloted currently with a small group of brokers and scheduled for deployment nationwide to all Chase Wholesale Lending brokers starting this fall. With ChaseLoanCenter, brokers can register and lock loans, submit loans for automated underwriting, deliver loans electronically, perform rate locks and extensions, and track loan progress. Enhanced features include rate relocks and extension online, access to closing calendars and retrieval of closing documents. ChaseLoanCenter will also replace the system used by Chase employees streamlining the operations and enabling real-time status, decisioning, and service ordering. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.jpmorganchase.com.

First American Real Estate Solutions has entered into a strategic alliance with, and purchased a 38% interest in, Australia/New Zealand property information provider RP Data Ltd. "Through this relationship, RP Data will be among the first companies to introduce automated valuation models in Australia and New Zealand," said George Livermore, president of FARES' corporate parent, The First American Corp. The First American Corp. can be found online at http://www.firstam.com, FARES can be found on the Web at http://www.firstamres.com and RP Data can be found online at http://www.rpdata.com.au.

A good six months earlier than many mortgage technology pundits predicted, Fidelity National Information Services Inc. has launched the .NET version of its Empower loan origination system.The move follows beta testing with National City Mortgage prior to implementation in that lender's correspondent division. Fidelity said the system, which includes smart-client and Web-client presentation layers, is fully functional and immediately operable. National City partnered with Fidelity on the project with the strategic objective of enabling straight-through processing of loans that require little human touch. Empower for .NET also leverages the Windows Workflow Foundation to automate workflow. According to the announcement, FIS is offering a "First Adopters" purchase and implementation program targeting top retail and wholesale lenders. Fidelity will continue to support and enhance the client-server version of Empower as well.

Ellie Mae, Dublin, Calif., has partnered with CCMC, Altamonte Springs, Fla., a provider of financial services industry platform interfaces, to deliver timesaving and error-reducing interface services to Ellie Mae's Encompass Mortgage Automation System clients.CCMC's Bridge technology eliminates duplicate data entry by providing automated interfaces for Encompass. The end result is a workflow that reduces errors for mortgage companies, banks and credit unions that choose to interface disparate systems. As a result of the partnership agreement, customers will now be provided with an interface with which to move information in and out of Encompass. Ellie Mae can be found on the Web at http://www.EllieMae.com.

Wolters Kluwer Corporate & Financial Services, Minneapolis, has acquired GulfPak Corp., a provider of automated lending and account origination technology to U.S. financial organizations.GulfPak, Jackson, Miss., provides its compliance-based technology to more than 700 financial organizations. Recently, GulfPak implemented a series of product enhancements to its automated systems including mortgage origination, imaging and e-signature functionality. GulfPak will become part of the Financial Services business unit of Wolters Kluwer, whose product brands include Bankers Systems, PCi and VMP Mortgage Solutions. Jay Tindall, president and chief executive officer of GulfPak, will join the Wolters Kluwer Financial Services management team and will continue to provide leadership for the Jackson operation where GulfPak has approximately 37 employees. Terms of the purchase agreement were not released. The acquisition is subject to GulfPak shareholder approval. Wolters Kluwer Financial Services can be found on the Web at http://www.wolterskluwerfs.com.

LynxBanc Mortgage Corp., Boca Raton, Fla., has added to its offerings the ability to arrange multicurrency mortgage facilities for international buyers purchasing homes in South Florida by working with the United Kingdom-based Lloyds TSB Bank."Florida has the highest share of real estate buyers from overseas of any state, 15[%] on average," said Stephen Parnell, chief executive officer of LynxBanc. "This new mortgage facility offers the overseas buyer the opportunity to switch between eligible international currencies easily and inexpensively up to four times a year." LynxBanc can be found on the Web at http://www.lynxbanc.com

New York State has the highest mortgage closing costs in the nation, followed by Texas and Hawaii, according to Bankrate Inc.'s 2006 National Closing Cost Survey.The survey found average closing costs of $3,887 in New York, $3,578 in Texas, and $3,407 in Hawaii, compared with $2,713 in Missouri, which had the lowest closing fees among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. In conjunction with the survey, Bankrate commissioned a national poll by Roper asking 1,005 homeowners about their closing costs. Of those surveyed, 13% said they paid more than their lender's estimate, 8% said they paid less, and 60% said their closing costs were about the same as the estimate. "No matter where you live, it pays to shop around," said Daniel P. Ray, editor in chief of Bankrate.com. "Our closing cost estimates, teamed with our mortgage rate table data, provide consumers the knowledge and confidence needed during the home purchasing process." Bankrate's Closing Cost Survey was conducted by obtaining eight to 10 good-faith estimates in each state from the websites of online lenders. To view the survey, go to http://www.bankrate.com/closing.

Bankrate Inc., New York, has announced an agreement to acquire three websites from East West Mortgage Inc. for $4.4 million in cash.The websites are Mortgage-calc.com, Mortgagecalc.com, and Mortgagemath.com. "We intend to leverage the consumer traffic generated by these websites into the Bankrate.com offering within the next week," said Thomas R. Evans, president and chief executive officer of Bankrate Inc. Bankrate can be found on the Web at http://www.bankrate.com.

Seattle-based HomeTeam, which created a syndicated television program of the same name to place first-time homeowners into homes, has now developed a platform that directly links the show with an education program and an online consumer portal.HomeTeam said it is collaborating with First American Corp., Fiserv, InCharge Institute of America Inc., and NeighborhoodScout.com, among others, to ensure that the necessary products and services are available to consumers through its portal. The goal is to help industry professionals drive branding, lead generation, and awareness into the marketplace at the regional and national levels, the company said. HomeTeam has also created HomeTeam University, which offers homeownership mentoring, home-buying fairs, education, and counseling. The portal offers point-to-point networking capabilities, neighborhood searches, real estate agent and loan officer searches, and access to extensive mortgage information. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.hometeam.com.

Lead generation was the marquee topic at the Internet Mortgage Marketing Summit July 26, held by Real Estate Connect at San Francisco's Palace Hotel.Back-to-back mortgage sessions took up search engine and portal marketing, pay-per-call, lead validation, going beyond online loan applications, how to work Internet leads, and best practices for Internet lead providers. As mortgage originators deal with a declining market, lead generation becomes more critical, and several mortgage company executives and loan officers took the opportunity to publicly upbraid their vendors for sending them poor leads. Several panelists reminded mortgage professionals that Internet borrowers value speedy service and that the shelf life of Internet leads can be minutes rather than hours, much less days.

Veros, Santa Ana, Calif., has released the results of its quarterly forecasting of the nation's real estate markets, predicting the 10 hottest and coldest markets for the next 12 months.According to Veros, the 10 markets in its coverage area that will see the greatest home price appreciation over the next 12 months are: Seattle, with an 11% rate; San Bernardino County, Calif., 9%; Jacksonville, Fla., 9%; Raleigh/Durham, N.C., 8%; Tampa, Fla., 8%; Tucson, Ariz., 7%; Riverside County, Calif., 7%; Oakland, Calif., 7%; Los Angeles, 7%; and Nashville, Tenn., 7%. Among the markets expected to show the least home price appreciation over the next 12 months are: Sacramento, Calif., minus-2%; Memphis, minus-1%; Boston, 0%; Cleveland, 0%; and Detroit, 0%. Veros also released performance statistics for its forecasts for each of the previous three years, indicating that its automated home valuation analytics are highly accurate. Veros, a risk management and collateral valuation services vendor, can be found on the Web at http://www.verovalue.com.

E-Loan, an online consumer-direct lender based in Pleasanton, Calif., has introduced BuilderFocus, a program that it says provides homebuilders a streamlined and flexible loan process from application to funding.The program allows homebuilders to work with dedicated account managers and provides noncommissioned loan consultants, guaranteed on-time closings, and verified pre-approvals, E-Loan said. In addition, BuilderFocus offers competitive rates and extended lock programs with a one-time, 30-day "float down," as well as a promise of no lender fees and no hidden costs, the company said. More information on the program can be found online at http://www.eloan.com/builderfocus.

MindBox, Greenbrae, Calif., has launched MindBox Power Portal, a customizable website technology for electronic commerce transactions that allows lending institutions to quickly launch private branded websites for automating the underwriting and approval of mortgage loan applications.With MindBox Power Portal, brokers, loan officers, and other originators can submit specific borrower and loan information to a website for automatic analysis. For every loan submitted, multiple loan scenarios are automatically generated by MindBox's deal-structuring capabilities and displayed by the Power Portal. Power Portal supports multiple channels of business -- including wholesale, correspondent, retail, and affinity -- and can be implemented as a stand-alone e-commerce site or integrated into an existing website. The product features, among other things, user authentication for secure, authorized transactions; pipeline management that allows users to view the status of their loans; credit interface and analysis for real-time, accurate scoring; and electronic integration into the lender's back office. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.mindbox.com.

Freddie Mac has announced the selection of JPMorgan Worldwide Securities Services to provide transaction processing and recordkeeping services for its approximately $700 billion portfolio of mortgage-backed securities and short-term assets.Freddie Mac said the decision to outsource the functions is part of an effort to upgrade its technological capabilities and streamline its operating infrastructure. JPMorgan Worldwide will provide administrative and settlement services for Freddie's estimated $700 billion retained portfolio of longer-term assets (chiefly Freddie Mac-issued MBS) and an estimated $70 billion liquidity and contingency portfolio of short-term assets, the government-sponsored enterprise said. Freddie senior vice president Joseph Rossi said the move would simplify the company's operating environment and enable it to manage its investment assets at the Federal Reserve Bank and the Depository Trust Co. more efficiently. He praised JPMorgan's "state-of-the-art systems," scalable infrastructure, and technology management experience with governments and central banks. The companies can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com and http://www.jpmorgan.com.

The eMortgage Workgroup of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization has unanimously passed a motion to develop implementation guidance for creating electronically signed PDF documents using the Adobe PDF 1.6 specification.The announcement is a follow-up to MISMO's May 3 statement on e-mortgage activities as they relate to the possible formal adoption of the Adobe PDF format. A motion to include data mapping guidance as well as e-signature guidelines was voted down. A MISMO spokesman told MortgageWire that the motion was defeated because if it had passed, classic PDF would be a competitor to the category-one SMART Doc, and historically MISMO has never endorsed proprietary technology as part of its open standards. MISMO deferred judgment on Intelligent PDF until Adobe posts a worldwide patent license letter on the product. MISMO can be found on the Web at http://www.mismo.org.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based e4e, a provider of "on tap" mortgage business services, has announced a "captive-plus" system that allows midsize lenders to choose from a variety of acquisition, processing, customer care, and servicing capabilities.The system will "substantially improve" profitability, reduce risk, and create a variable-cost environment, providing a "sustainable competitive advantage" that will enable midsize lenders to compete on a level playing field with large lenders, the company said. "Since 2000, e4e has been managing processing operations that support captive offshore centers of large lenders," said Vaibhav Tewari, e4e's president of financial services. "As the business environment continues to change, we've seen the growing need to allow mid-tier lenders the benefits of a captive environment without the resource costs necessary to set up an offshore captive operation." The company can be found online at http://www.e4e.com.

JSSmith Mortgage, a six-month-old mortgage company in Scottsdale, Ariz., is forming a joint venture with West USA real estate offices in the greater Phoenix area.Smith Mortgage and West USA will be partners in the new venture, to be called TLC Mortgage, which will originate loans on behalf of the realty firm's clients. With more than 2,000 agents in Arizona -- and five branches in the Phoenix metro area -- West USA is considered the state's largest brokerage firm and ranked sixth in size nationally. "We chose to team up with JSSmith Mortgage because of that company's deep expertise in creating mortgage joint ventures," said Caly Fouts, president and founder of West USA. Jeffrey Smith, who founded the company bearing his name in January, has helped create more than 100 mortgage joint ventures around the country and is considered a national expert on the matter. "Having a mortgage solution on site will only enhance [the realty firm's] customer service," Smith said.