Mortgage technology

MERS has announced the launch of a new service to transport electronic documents from one party to the next.MERS's announcement at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference and Expo in Chicago indicated that eDelivery was designed to help aggregators integrate their electronic mortgage technologies with those of their partners. The goal is that every party in the industry will integrate once to MERS and be able to electronically deliver documents to other parties without interfacing to several systems. MERS can be found on the Web at http://www.mersinc.org.

With 17 years of mortgage technology experience to his credit, Jordan Brown has formed MarketWise Advisors, a consulting firm based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.The new company was launched at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference and Expo in Chicago. The practice will focus on technology selection and implementation for the mortgage space, broker-to-banker conversions, and prepayment scoring and reporting, and will have a special division for technology mergers and acquisitions. "[T]here is a need in the marketplace for key secondary talent to streamline operational processes, benchmark performance, and create the process necessary to sustain a competitive edge," Mr. Brown said. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.marketwiseadvisors.com.

Vienna, Va.-based VirPack has announced the enhancement of its VirPack Direct electronic-image loan delivery system to support correspondent delivery to Minneapolis-based GMAC Residential Funding Corp.Correspondents can use the tool to deliver fully indexed loan files to GMAC Residential Funding for purchase review. Loans identified for delivery to GMAC Residential Funding are immediately retrieved from the VirPack system and electronically delivered in a secure fashion. VirPack Direct, offered free to VirPack customers, offers to significantly reduce shipping costs, shorten cycle times, and improve overall process efficiency. The VirPack core technology is an electronic envelope that uses scan capture and barcoding to provide a standard way to package, manage, and electronically deliver all data, electronic documents, and images. The company can be found online at http://www.virpack.com.

Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., Ocala, Fla., has announced a joint venture with 24/7 Call Capture Inc. that it says will allow loan officers and real estate agents to "capture and control the purchase, builder, and for-sale-by-owner markets."Taylor Bean said its chairman, Lee Farkas, discovered 24/7 Call Capture on a business trip and engaged the call-capture technology company to create a customized call-capture system for community bank originators. That system, which Taylor Bean termed "a revolutionary software technology tool," has been added to the company's CommunityBanksOnline platform. The call-capture tech company can be found online at http://www.247callcapture.com.

DocuTech Corp., an Idaho Falls, Idaho-based provider of compliance services and documentation technology, has announced an alliance with Advantage Credit designed to offer an added layer of security for mortgage closing documents.Under the arrangement, Advantage Credit's LoanShield is embedded in ConformX, a Web-based DocuTech system that accelerates the closing process through document management. This enables users to use LoanShield while running their closing documents, DocuTech said. "This alliance can potentially save ConformX customers millions of dollars that could be lost to fraud," said Ron Litt, president of Pensacola, Fla.-based Advantage Credit. "LoanShield pinpoints fraud among borrowers, properties, and even insiders." The companies can be found online at http://www.docutechcorp.com and http://www.advantagecredit.com.

Interthinx, a Calabasas, Calif.-based provider of automated fraud protection and decision support tools for the mortgage industry, has integrated its DISSCO tool with the Beanstalk Networks' OpenClose MTG platform."Interthinx offers methodology for intercepting mortgage fraud before it permeates the secondary marketplace -- and that's vital," said Jason Regalbuto, president and chief technology officer of Beanstalk Networks. The OpenClose MTG tool offers tailored configurations for lenders and brokers that can be used for origination, processing, and managing digital loan folders while providing tools for prequalification, product/price locking, automated underwriting, and back-office mortgage banking. The integration will enable loans to be instantly and seamlessly submitted to DISSCO for automatic screening for potential mortgage fraud. Interthinx can be found on the Web at http://www.interthinx.com.

Visionet Systems, Cranbury, N.J., has announced the launch of version 3.0 of VisiLoanReview, a Web-based program providing electronic quality control reviews and automated underwriting to the investor community.The announcement, which came at the MBA National Secondary Market Conference and Expo in Chicago, said the new version of VisiLoanReview offers electronic delivery of files, customized underwriting review, quality control review, automated follow-up and response management, repurchase demand management, and loan presentation. The system allows investors to reduce processing costs while improving quality and reporting, Visionet said. In addition, the product provides seller scoring mechanisms to automatically manage the scope and depth of loan file reviews. VisiLoanReview includes workload distribution and monitoring capabilities as well. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.visionetsystems.com.

Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc, a mortgage real estate investment trust based in Newport Beach, Calif., has launched iMAP (Impac Market Analysis Platform), a Web-based market research tool that provides mortgage brokers and correspondent lenders with analysis of a state or metropolitan market.The new product, unveiled at the MBA National Secondary Market Conference & Expo in Chicago, collates and analyzes a variety of delinquency and macroeconomic data that contribute to loan market performance, including the House Price Index, the Median Home Price Index, the unemployment rate, household income, quarterly mortgage origination data, and housing price appreciation. The Impac Risk Index then summarizes the information for a chosen state or metro area and assigns it a grade-point average score based on its overall market potential, the REIT said. Impac will update the index on a quarterly basis, based upon new economic and market data. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.impaccompanies.com.

Fiserv Lending Solutions - Portfolio Services, Boulder, Colo., and San Francisco-based ComplianceEase have announced an alliance under which FLS-PS will use ComplianceEase's automated compliance system, ComplianceAnalyzer, as the exclusive compliance component of its due-diligence service offering for the capital markets.ComplianceAnalyzer enables FLS-PS professionals to obtain instant compliance audits that address federal, state, and local anti-predatory-lending legislation, as well as state license-based consumer credit laws and regulations, the companies said. FLS-PS is a professional services firm specializing in the assessment and mitigation of risk inherent in the acquisition of residential mortgage assets. The companies can be found online at http://www.fiserv.com and http://www.complianceease.com.

Dallas-based Sollen Technologies, an Internet-based application services provider of product, pricing, and best execution capabilities for the mortgage industry, has announced the completion of phase 1 and phase 2 upgrades to its distributed pricing engine.The upgrades will enable the engine to support many new investors, the company said. "We currently have 40 investors, most of which are major players in the industry, and are aggressively pursuing new ones based on requests from our clients," said Andrew Marsanick, Sollen's executive account manager, at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference & Expo in Chicago. "Sollen can help build a client base for any investor when tapping into our database of tens of thousands of users." Mr. Marsanick added that a good working relationship between Sollen and an investor can lead to improved information accuracy, resulting in more locked loans through the receipt of timely data. The company can be found online at http://www.sollen.com.

Sacramento, Calif.-based CoreLogic, a provider of mortgage risk assessment and fraud prevention systems, has developed IdentityPro to help clients better manage borrower fraud by modeling borrower transactions and other relevant data to more precisely determine borrower risk.The product, which CoreLogic demonstrated at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference & Expo in Chicago, assesses a borrower's likelihood to commit the type of mortgage fraud most likely to cause financial loss by using behavioral analysis that reveals suspicious patterns. In addition, IdentityPro includes compliance and misrepresentation capabilities to spot identity theft, straw borrowers, and owner-occupancy misrepresentation. CoreLogic can be found on the Web at http://www.corelogic.com.

Sunset Mortgage Co., Chadds Ford, Pa., has licensed the PushMX productivity software produced by PushMX Software, San Jose Calif.PushMX works in concert with the Calyx Point loan origination software to enable brokers, managers, loan officers, and processors to track and manage their entire loan pipeline from a single screen, according to PushMX Software. It also allows them to view an instant summary of the status of all loans, including critical task deadlines and all related details. PushMX Software said its technology will allow Sunset Mortgage personnel to layer additional workflow and business management features on top of Point so they do not need to learn a new loan origination tool or change the way they originate and process loans.

Following its February release of e-Point 3.2, GreenPoint Mortgage, Novato, Calif., is poised to launch a commercial lending version that will enable brokers to originate small commercial loans in the $500,000 to $5 million range.Originally built using Dorado's Wholesale ChannelMaster and PriceMaster products, e-Point will be slimmed down to offer a smaller set of commercial loan options. Beginning in July, GreenPoint's approved brokers will be able to go to GreenPoint's wholesale site and be guided through the commercial loan application from point of sale to close, the company said. GreenPoint can be found on the Internet at http://www.greenpointmortgage.com.

Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has sent a proposal to two majority-owned firms -- Fidelity National Information Services Inc. and Fidelity National Title Inc. -- that would result in the creation of two independent public companies.Under the proposal, FNF would totally divest itself of FNIS through a series of transactions. These include the sale of Sedgwich CMS Inc. to FNT in exchange for stock in FNT; the spinoff of FNF's ownership position in FNT to FNF shareholders, leaving FNF's ownership stake in FNIS as its only asset; merging FNF and FNIS, with FNIS as the surviving entity; and finally, renaming FNT as FNF and trading under that ticker symbol. "While we were hopeful that the holding company structure, with FNF having ownership stakes in public and private operating subsidiaries, would allow for a simpler valuation of the pieces of FNF, that simply has not proven to be the case, as the market has meaningfully discounted the value of FNF in relation to the sum of its parts," said William P. Foley, chairman and chief executive of FNF and chairman of FNIS and FNT. Mr. Foley said FNF's majority stake in the other two companies "limits the public float for each company, which may be significantly shrinking the universe of eligible shareholders" for FNT and FNIS and "limiting the trading liquidity, and thus the valuation" of the companies' stock.

IndyMac Bancorp Inc., Pasadena, Calif., has reported earnings of $80 million ($1.18 per share) for the first quarter, up 26% from $63 million ($0.98 per share) a year earlier, and record mortgage volume of $20 billion.IndyMac touted the record loan production, which was up 72% from the level of a year earlier, and said it had doubled its market share to 3.89%. "In the first quarter, we deployed a total of $509 million of our capital in our mortgage production divisions, an 83% increase over last year," said Michael W. Perry, IndyMac's chairman and chief executive officer. "However, given mortgage industry margin pressures and our lower-margin conduit operations comprising a higher percentage of our production volume, the [return on equity] on this capital declined from 97% last year to 51% this quarter, still a strong return on our capital." The mortgage pipeline totaled a record $10.4 billion as of March 31, up 39% from that of a year earlier, the company said. IndyMac, the holding company for IndyMac Bank FSB, can be found online at http://www.indymacbank.com.

In its latest effort to regain market share from piggyback mortgages, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., Walnut Creek, Calif., has introduced a mortgage calculator that will take a first mortgage, along with some mortgage insurance options, and compare it with a first mortgage combined with a second.The new tool, the eCompare Calculator, is Web-based for use by mortgage brokers and Realtors. Piggyback mortgages, also known as 80-10-10 mortgages, have made inroads as an alternative to mortgage insurance. "The eCompare Calculator shows us that market economics are changing," said David Katkov, executive vice president of sales, field operations, and product development at PMI. "In 2004 and 2005, we were in a unique economic environment, with record low interest rates and very high home price appreciation. In that environment, a piggyback, interest-only loan or option ARM may have offered a lower payment than a fixed-rate loan with mortgage insurance. Today, with interest rates going up and home price appreciation slowing, mortgage insurance is almost always competitive and is often the better deal for the consumer." PMI can be found on the Web at http://www.pmigroup.com.

Atlanta-based ebank Financial Services Inc., a thrift holding company and the parent of ebank, has announced an agreement with Madison Mortgage Corp. to establish ebank Mortgage LLC, an Internet-based mortgage lender.The new lending operation plans to originate first and second mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit via the Internet beginning on or around June 1, ebank Financial said. "By launching ebank Mortgage LLC, we'll have the opportunity to leverage ebank's Internet banking technology and federal charter by combining it with Madison Mortgage Corp.'s processing and servicing infrastructure to become a highly competitive mortgage lender across the entire country," said Lou Barrette, president of ebank Mortgage. The new company is 51% owned by ebank and 49% owned by Madison Mortgage. The parent company can be found online at http://www.ebank.com.

Fiserv Lending Solutions, Brookfield, Wis., has implemented its UniFi PRO loan operating system at Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage Corp.Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage will be integrating the UniFi PRO operating system into its BearDirect.net online platform to produce subprime, alternative-A, and piggy-back loans, Fiserv reported. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Bear Stearns Cos., Bear Stearns Residential is based in Scottsdale, Ariz., and originates loans in 29 states. During the implementation process, UniFi PRO's PowerTools and Automated Task Engine were used to customize screens and workflows, as well as write business rules to minimize human intervention throughout the loan process and minimize data entry. Fiserv can be found on the Web at http://www.fiserv.com.

In May, WMC Mortgage, now a GE company, will launch a pre-qualification program that loan officers can access on their BlackBerrys and other hand-held devices.Already launched internally for use by WMC account executives, pre-quals will soon be offered to its approved brokers. The Woodland Hills, Calif.-based subprime wholesaler will start tracking conversions from pre-quals to actual submissions and funded loans once it is pushed out to the loan officers. For a test ride, go to http://www.wmcmortgage.com/prequalm. (If the screen looks strange, that's because it was designed for a personal digital assistant instead of a personal computer.) WMC Mortgage can be found online at http://www.wmcdirect.com.

United Communications Group, Rockville, Md., a provider of business information, tools and guidance, has formed a strategic partnership with Westlake Village, Calif.-based LoanToolbox, a provider of educational and marketing tools for mortgage originators.LoanToolbox said the transaction will enable it to leverage UCG's 28 years of experience in product design and development, direct marketing, content creation, software, and other areas in order to expand its core business. UCG delivers products to mortgage bankers and brokers, as well as to business professionals in other areas of finance, health care, technology, and other industries. LoanToolbox's online community offers an Internet-based application that combines interactive content aligned with the business needs and objectives of originators, loan officers, and real estate financing consultants. LoanToolbox can be found on the Web at http://www.loantoolbox.com.