Mortgage technology

Sacramento-based CoreLogic has adapted its HistoryPro application to help speed up insurance claims posted by victims of Katrina and Rita.In recent months, Gulf Coast homeowners have filed some 239,000 flood insurance claims from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the estimated $23 billion that is to be paid through the National Flood Insurance Program greatly exceeds its yearly premium collections of $2 billion. Faced with this situation, mortgage lenders needed a unified approach to gathering data to access their loan reserves and respond to the Housing Policy Council’s need for data. In response, CoreLogic, a provider of mortgage risk assessment and fraud prevention solutions, has developed a program that analyzes the appropriate data and displays it visually utilizing geographic information systems. Lenders provide property address information for potentially impacted properties, which is then run through CoreLogic’s HistoryPro collateral evaluation tool. The data stream is geographically coded from there to create an exact location on a map and overlay any known boundary condition such as FEMA disaster zones, flood levels, storm surge, etc. and is returned by CoreLogic to the lender and the HPC. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.corelogic.com.

The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association, has released its first data standard for the commercial/multifamily mortgage industry.The release of version 1.0 of the Commercial Servicing Transfer Standard is the first of many planned for the industry, MISMO said. It was chosen to be MISMO's first commercial standard "because it answers the industry's need for a standardized way to move large amounts of data and improve what is currently a labor-intensive process," the organization said. MISMO said its data standards will ultimately "reduce costs, streamline processes, improve accuracy, increase data transparency, and boost investor confidence in mortgages as an asset class." MISMO can be found online at http://www.mismo.org.

Fannie Mae and Thomson TradeWeb, a fixed-income trading network based in Orlando, Fla., have announced the introduction of technology that will enable institutional investors to directly access and trade Fannie Mae's Discount Notes online through authorized dealers.Robert Dolecki, director of short-term funding at Fannie Mae, said the move offers investors a "significantly easier" way to view and trade the government-sponsored enterprise's Discount Notes. "Additionally, the technology will increase the liquidity and transparency of our short-term securities," Mr. Dolecki said. The companies can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com and http://www.tradeweb.com.

Arlington Capital Mortgage Corp., Bensalem, Pa., has picked Archive Systems' ASPEN 360 Software-as-a-Service system to create a central repository to give its branches online access to loan documents.The SaaS system means Arlington will require no software, hardware, or infrastructure to use the system. Arlington Capital personnel will scan and upload loan documents via ASPEN 360's Scanning Gateway technology. Arlington will also use the system to provide direct access to investors looking to purchase loans. Fairfield, N.J.-based Archive Systems provides DPO (document process outsourcing) services. The companies can be found online at http://www.thinkarlington.com/ac and http://www.archivesystems.com.

ANTs Software Inc., Burlingame, Calif., has announced the launch of the SFG Bancorp system, which offers to reduce a one- to three-day loan application process to a single 22-minute phone call.SFG, a real estate brokerage and direct mortgage lender based in Pleasanton, Calif., has adopted the ANTs data server to create an integrated mortgage lending system the company touts as slashing the total cost of ownership by 90% compared with that of competing systems. The ANTs Data Server 3.4 serves as the central repository for all customer data. ANTs partnered with sfaFinity Inc., San Jose, Calif., to integrate its customer relationship management capabilities with the ANTs Data Server. SFG Bancorp's resulting SWEEP system is projected to support 1,200 simultaneous users (local or remote via the Internet) and 90 million database records by the end of 2006. The companies can be found online at http://www.ants.com, http://www.sfgbancorp.com/content.aspx, and http://www.sfafinity.com.

Valuation technology company eAppraiseIT LLC, Poway, Calif., has announced the acquisition of Network Appraisal Services, Kalamazoo, Mich.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. NAS manages appraiser networks for national and regional lenders and develops online systems that help them comply with regulations by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to prevent directed appraisals. NAS executives will remain with the company, which will retain its name and operate as an independent subsidiary of eAppraiseIT, the company said. "NAS expands the range of services that we are able to deliver to the lending community," said Anthony Merlo, president of eAppraiseIT. "It allows us to better serve retail-focused lenders who maintain their own network of appraisers, and it will also help our other clients implement safeguards that help remove bias from the appraiser selection process." The company can be found on the Internet at http://www.eappraiseit.com.

Flagstar Bank, Troy, Mich., has announced the integration of its Digital Document Transfer platform with BeesPath Inc.'s RecordsDirect to create what it calls the first system to extend image delivery services to closing agents in the mortgage industry.The two products work together to provide "virtually immediate delivery and processing" of closed loan documents and to enable closing agents to share the benefits enjoyed by lenders and investors, Flagstar said. "Today, unsigned loan documents are being delivered electronically to closing agent before a loan closes," said Todd Hougaard, president of Richmond, Utah-based BeesPath. "This integration allows signed documents to be delivered electronically post-closing." The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.flagstar.com and http://www.beespath.com.

Joseph McCartin, chief information officer at National City, recently told a crowd at the 9th Annual SourceMedia Technology Conference that his institution is implementing technology so that live people only have to touch a loan in exceptional cases.The goal is to eliminate redundant tasks and develop a system that electronically processes a loan without human intervention unless a problem arises. The goal is to make loan officers experts in mortgage lending instead of just paper pushers. The answer, according to Mr. McCartin, is for the lender to isolate each part of the lending process as a service that can be called up automatically with a business rule. Implementing service-oriented architecture was a big trend at the Miami Beach conference, and was identified by all the lender speakers as the future of mortgage technology and a high priority at their lending institutions.

GMAC Commercial Mortgage, Horsham, Pa., is touting its strategy to use technology as an enabler for outsourcing at the 9th Annual SourceMedia Mortgage Technology Conference in Miami Beach, Fla.Galen Hain, vice president of software development at GMACCM, noted that outsourcing goes by several names and is a politically charged topic. Nevertheless, outsourcing is a necessity, he said. GMACCM has avoided huge layoffs by using technology to create a model that upper management owns and manages. The lender has repositioned staff into other areas of the business, transitioning its technology coders to technology architects, for example. Mr. Hain said these employees are now more important to GMACCM, given their expertise in creating a service-oriented platform to make outsourcing more seamless for the lender.

NetBank Inc., an Atlanta-based online bank, has reported a mortgage-related net loss of $180,000 ($0.00 per share) for 2005, compared with net income of $4.2 million ($0.09 per share) in 2004, although the company did record a profitable fourth quarter.Net income for the fourth quarter totaled $895,000 ($0.02 per share), compared with a net loss of $17.7 million ($0.38 per share) a year earlier, NetBank reported. The production of conforming mortgages totaled $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter, a decline of 14.7% from that of the third quarter, and the production of nonconforming mortgages totaled $807 million, a decline of 8.6%, the company reported. "As we had reported throughout the year, our mortgage operations were under pressure due to a highly competitive pricing environment," said Douglas K. Freeman, NetBank's chairman and chief executive officer. "This pressure, although not surprising, was simply more irrational than anticipated, particularly within the nonconforming business where our revenue margins dropped an average of 64 basis points during the year. Our mortgage operations went from a positive pretax contribution of $21.1 million a year ago to a pretax loss of $17.7 million this year." The company can be found online at http://www.netbank.com.

"What's out there that we can buy right now?" was the question Freddie Mac's Ed Albrigo threw out to attendees in his keynote address opening the 9th Annual Mortgage Technology Conference in Miami.Mr. Albrigo, vice president in charge of Freddie Mac's enterprise planning office, said the government-sponsored enterprise was prepared to purchase out-of-the-box technology solutions that minimize needed customization. He said Freddie Mac, like the mortgage lenders it serves, needs to come quickly to market with new products at a time when the capital markets are awash in funds. That means, he said, that Freddie Mac no longer has the luxury of involving itself in lengthy projects requiring a high degree of customization. He said the mortgage industry as a whole is governed today by three realities: consolidation, fierce competition, and compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulatory pressures. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

David Barkley of Freddie Mac has been re-elected to chair the Governance Committee of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, and Adam Hall of IndyMac Bank and Lisa Bolelli of First American Real Estate Information Services have been re-elected vice-chairs.The committee also elected Chip Register of NetBank Inc. to membership on the panel, and re-elected the following members: Dave Bodi of Midland Loan Services, Joanne Denver of Babson Capital Management, Paul Wills of Equifax Information Services, Todd Luhtanen of Dynatek, Craig Foote of Fidelity Information Services, and Tim Anderson of Dexma. The Governance Committee consists of 20 MISMO subscriber organizations that serve two-year terms, with half the seats up for election each year. MISMO, which was established by the Mortgage Bankers Association, develops electronic commerce standards for the mortgage industry. Its Governance Committee provides oversight for the organization's administration and policy development. The organization can be found online at http://www.mismo.org.

Minneapolis-based Prime Alliance Solutions Inc., a partnership between technology vendor Dexma and Boeing Employees' Credit Union, has reported handling over 140,000 loans (about $25 billion in loan volume) last year, a 34% increase from the previous year's level.The Prime Alliance technology system now extends to more than 1,300 credit unions that are part of the Prime Alliance consortium. According to the Fannie Mae Mortgage Focus 2005 study, the average cost per closed loan among low-cost/high-productivity credit unions within Prime Alliance stood at $469 -- nearly one-third the average origination cost ($1,206) in other retail credit unions and less than one-fifth of the average cost ($2,703) in the typical retail lender. Dexma can be found on the Web at http://www.dexma.com.

Empire Equity Group Inc., Montvale, N.J., has embraced Web-based technology by licensing Dublin, Calif.-based Ellie Mae's Encompass Anywhere product for its origination needs.When the deployment is complete by the end of the first quarter, all Empire branches will have switched to Encompass Anywhere from their current loan origination systems, the company said. The Web-enabled mortgage automation system allows Empire branches to view, manage, and distribute loan data electronically via any Internet connection. The company is seeking to simplify compliance oversight with the product as well. Ellie Mae can be found on the Web at http://www.elliemae.com.

LoanCity, San Jose, Calif., has announced that it took just 48 hours to deploy the Xactly Incent sales compensation management system for its nationwide network of 200 sales professionals.San Jose, Calif.-based Xactly Corp. offers the Web-based on-demand system as a tool for motivating a sales force to increase sales because its real-time visibility offers them a transparent way of seeing how their efforts directly correlate with compensation. LoanCity, founded in 1987, was a Web pioneer for the mortgage industry. Offering independent mortgage brokers the full spectrum of loan programs through 15 regional processing centers, with all pricing and underwriting done through its proprietary automated underwriting system, LoanCity funded $7 billion in 2005. The companies can be found online at http://www.loancity.com and http://www.xactlycorp.com.

Countrywide Financial Corp. has chosen San Diego-based Akonix Systems Inc. to provide automated reporting and industry and corporate compliance for the instant messaging system it uses for real-time communications between its employees.The selection was prompted by various government and lending institution mandates. Akonix L7 Enterprise IM management gateway offers detailed, flexible usage polices, provides active filtering for inappropriate content and confidential information, and offers advanced logging, reporting, and compliance monitoring capabilities. Akonix touts L7 Enterprise as the first real-time security system for public and enterprise IM systems. The company offers a security center to provide real-time information about worms, viruses, and other vulnerabilities that target IM and P2P networks. Countrywide, based in Calabasas, Calif., uses the IBM Lotus Sametime IM system. The companies can be found online at http://www.akonix.com and http://www.countrywide.com.

LoanPerformance, a subsidiary of First American Real Estate Solutions, has announced the release of a new high-speed version of TrueStandings Securities Web-based service, which offers access to its mortgage- and asset-backed securities databases.The company said "dramatic improvements" have been made to the system's processing times and performance by implementing the Sybase IQ analytics server, which it said is designed to deliver "ultra-high-speed" business intelligence and reporting. The new version of TrueStandings Securities runs analyses and reports up to 100 times faster than previous versions, the company said. "This isn't just a case of a few show-stopping improvements," said Dan Feshbach, chief executive officer of LoanPerformance. "This is an across-the-board upgrade that provides a whole new, entirely different experience for users -- especially power users." The company can be found online at http://www.loanperformance.com.

Visionet Systems, Cranbury, N.J., has announced the opening of a new business process outsourcing center in Bangalore, India.The new BPO center focuses on loan review, underwriting verifications, lien release, default management, and investor accounting to mortgage lending and servicing organizations. "With seven of the top 10 banks using our solutions to drive outsourcing, Visionet Systems is focused on delivering mortgage-specific technology products that bring visibility to the outsourcing process," said Arshad Masood, president of Visionet Systems. Visionet also owns and operates BPO centers in Lahore and Karachi, Pakistan.

RealEC Technologies, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based provider of supply chain technology to the mortgage industry, has announced the release of a new software system designed to manage mortgage insurance ordering.The software includes a set of Provider Qualification Tools that enable lenders to designate which mortgage insurance company provides the optimal coverage (for the specific loan program or loan criteria) and ensures them that they will have access to mortgage insurance products even if one MI company is unavailable. RealEC said the automated tools can automatically re-route orders to ensure maximum availability. In addition, the company's Opportunity Cost Allocation Models allow the lender to further designate the allocation of MI orders based on the opportunity to receive an order instead of the acceptance of an order. "RealEC's newest set of decision tools provides a higher degree of automation, efficiency, and accuracy in the mortgage insurance process than is possible with other solutions," said Jason Nadeau, president of RealEC Technologies. The company can be found online at http://www.realec.com.

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Des Moines, Iowa, has announced the sale of an electronic mortgage to Freddie Mac that represents the first time a third-party custodian has been involved in an e-mortgage transaction on the MERS eRegistry.Wells Fargo said it was the first of several e-mortgages that it will process over the next several months with the aid of Greenlight Financial Services, Irvine, Calif., and a group of technology companies. The process began Dec. 14 with Greenlight's electronic origination of a single-family mortgage using Freddie's Loan Prospector.com, Wells Fargo said. Veri-docs.com, the settlement agent, used Fiserv Lending Solutions' e-lending platform to close the mortgage using the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization's SMART Doc category 1 electronic note (developed by VMP Mortgage Solutions). Fiserv Lending Solutions, the electronic vault vendor, provided the connection to the MERS eRegistry, and Wells Fargo Document Custody is the custodian of record, Wells Fargo reported.