Mortgage technology

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.

Englewood, Colo.-based TeleTech Holdings Inc. and LenderLive, a Glendale, Colo.-based mortgage fulfillment provider, have entered into an exclusive partnership that brings a global delivery network to LenderLive's operations.LenderLive and TeleTech, a business process outsourcing provider of customer management and transaction-based processing systems, offer their combined services to retail and wholesale channels and mortgage conduits, allowing lenders to increase the speed and efficiency of their current processing services and converting lenders' fixed costs to variable costs. The multiyear partnership agreement includes mortgage origination, fulfillment, processing, and portfolio protection. LenderLive and TeleTech also generate integrated sales reports that span from original lead generation to close of sale. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.teletech.com and http://www.lenderlive.com.

ComplianceEase, a San Francisco-based provider of automated compliance and risk-management systems, has been selected by ICBA Mortgage, a subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America, as the Premier Value Provider for anti-predatory/high-cost lending compliance solutions.As a designated ICBA SmartLender Services Premier Value Provider, ComplianceEase offers member community banks the opportunity to automate their compliance needs by using the company’s ComplianceAnalyzer, an automated mortgage compliance application. Specifically, ComplianceAnalyzer automates regulatory compliance procedures, allowing community banks to comply with all federal, state, and municipal legislation.

Minneapolis-based Dexma has forged a new relationship with information and services provider LexisNexis U.S. that Dexma says will help its customers and those of Prime Alliance Solutions fight fraud.Through a reseller agreement with LexisNexis, Dexma and Prime Alliance will offer anti-fraud products such as InstantID and InstantID Q&A. InstantID helps lenders verify the identity of mortgage applicants and others seeking credit approval. By conducting a proprietary search against over 1,400 independent data sources and nearly four billion consumer records, the tool verifies that each data element (name, address, Social Security #, birth date, phone #, driver's license #) is authentic and associated with the individual applicant, Dexma said. It also identifies high-risk addresses such as prisons or campgrounds, disconnected phone numbers, Social Security numbers of deceased persons, anyone on a government terrorist list, and discrepancies in data elements. If the applicant fails the InstantID or triggers other "red flags," lenders can use InstantID Q&A to authenticate identity by leveraging the database of publicly available data, the company said. Dexma can be found on the Web at http://www.dexma.com.

Visionet Systems, Cranbury, N.J., has launched VisiHCLAS, a high-cost predatory-lending analysis and remediation tool for lenders and servicers.VisiHCLAS helps mortgage companies manage and monitor situations where a high-risk loan warrants additional charges. The system allows users to evaluate fees and interest rates against the statutory limits set by high-cost loan regulations by focusing on three types of rules: channel/broker/area-specific rules, corporate guidelines and interpretation of statutory rules, and base/HOEPA/section 32 and state rules. VisiHCLAS works on an exception-management-based workflow system and allows the user to customize and select rules without IT's involvement. VisiHCLAS also enables users to specify loan numbers to be set up for review within VisiHCLAS, and the system in return pulls in the loan data and fee information from VisiHCLAS for the specified loans and sets up the loan analysis tasks in the system. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.visionetsystems.com.

San Jose, Calif.-based wholesaler LoanCity is poised to announce the release of AU 2.0, a proprietary automated underwriting system that delivers recommendations and stipulations in the same format and time frame as Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter.The benefit Loan City claims for brokers is that they can underwrite everything but hardcore subprime loans without exiting one AU system to run loans through another. The company calls AU 2.0 "the next generation of automated decisioning," because it lets mortgage brokers upload files in three clicks and receive firm decisions "almost instantly." The company offers group loan programs in seven broad product bands: conforming, jumbo, expanded, alternative-A, alternative-B, FHA/VA, and seconds. Within each band, there are wide ranges of credit, property, underwriting, and documentation options. The company can be found online at http://www.loancity.com.

Fannie Mae has loosened its mortgage approval standards for lower-income borrowers as it strives to meet its government-mandated affordable housing goals.Starting April 23, Fannie's automated underwriting system will approve more home purchase loans for borrowers with incomes of 100% (or less) of the area median income. This enhancement to Desktop Underwriter applies to most single-family loans, including Fannie's expanded approval loans. "It is important to note that DU will apply the same risk assessment as it does today (we are not changing the way DU analyzes risk for these loans); instead, we are changing (improving) the underwriting recommendation when the loan is identified by DU as meeting criteria for our regulatory housing goals to serve low- and moderate-income borrowers," Fannie says in a note to lenders. Fannie and Freddie Mac face incrementally higher affordable housing goals through 2008, and the Department Housing and Urban Development has made the goals more challenging by creating home purchase subgoals. Fannie has disclosed that it fell short in meeting two of the three subgoals in 2005.

Loan origination vendor Dynatek Inc., Livonia, Mich., has been certified for automated underwriting systems by the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization.The AUS certification is only weeks old, and Dynatek is the first company to receive AUS certification under the MISMO MXCompliance Program. Specifically, Dynatek's MORvision was certified for AUS version 2.3.1. Since launching the MISMO eXtensible Markup Language Compliance program (dubbed MXCompliance) for the credit reporting transaction last spring, MISMO has rolled out requirements for mortgage insurance application transactions and now AUS transactions. Dynatek was one of the first to earn certification for credit in October 2005, followed by MI in January 2006. Dynatek can be found on the Web at http://www.dynatek.com.