Mortgage technology

ABN Amro Mortgage Group, Ann Arbor, Mich., has announced that its Affinity Lending Group is offering discounted mortgage closing costs and a private-label version of Mortgage.com to AT&T employees.AT&T employees can now get access to information through the company's intranet on a variety of AAMG's mortgage products and services, such as its Guaranteed OneFee Mortgage, and receive a $300 discount on the mortgage closing costs, according to AAMG. In addition, AT&T employees have access to interest rate quotes and mortgage calculators, can submit mortgage applications online, and can use a dedicated 800 number to contact AAMG customer service representatives. The companies can be found online at http://www.abnamro.com and http://att.mortgage.com.

First American Real Estate Solutions, Anaheim, Calif., a provider of property information and services, has formed a strategic alliance with -- and purchased a minority interest in -- ComplianceEase, a provider of regulatory compliance and risk management technology based in Burlingame, Calif.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. As part of the strategic partnership, ComplianceEase's flagship product, ComplianceAnalyzer, will be tightly integrated into First American's mortgage technology platforms to provide lenders and investors with an automated compliance system, First American said. ComplianceAnalyzer automatically performs critical checks and calculations necessary to ensure compliance on every loan that is originated or purchased. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.firstamres.com and http://www.complianceease.com.

Harbourton Mortgage Investment Corp., Santa Rosa, Calif., has selected the Portellus Broker Portal to serve its broker network at the point of sale.The system has been customized to HMIC's specific program offerings, and will be private-labeled as HELPS (Harbourton Electronic Loan Processing Solution). HMIC will also be using the Portellus loan origination, business rules management, and automated underwriting systems. The portal, scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter, will give brokers real-time access to pricing, pre-qualifications, credit/debt management, and automated credit approvals at the point of sale. According to HMIC, the system includes automated best-fit product and pricing determination, the ability to pull/re-pull credit, debt management and deal structuring, up-to-date pipeline loan status, rate-lock capability, and AU approvals complete with pricing, underwriting conditions, and exceptions. Portellus Inc.. Irvine, Calif., bills itself as a leader in the application of Service Oriented Architecture for the mortgage banking and insurance industries. The companies can be found online at http://www.hmic.com and http://www.portellus.com.

The volume of online wholesale mortgage lending exceeded that of online retail lending by nearly three to one in 2004, according to TowerGroup, a financial services research and consulting firm based in Needham, Mass.Online wholesale lending grew from 15.0% of total mortgage origination in 2001 to 20.5% last year, while retail online lending rose from 3.5% to 7.3% during the same period, TowerGroup said. The systems that support online wholesale lending -- such as website hosting, loan product and price management, and third-party settlement services -- "have become mission-critical for virtually all wholesale lenders, regardless of size," the company said. A new report by TowerGroup, "Wholesale Mortgage Lending: Online Lending Adoption, Lender Segments and Technology," looks at the growth of online lending and analyzes wholesale lending segments by lender size and product type. The company can be found online at http://www.towergroup.com.

Spectrum Equity Investors has announced the completion of an $84 million recapitalization of Mortgagebot, Cedarburg, Wis., that will give Spectrum a majority stake in the mortgage technology company.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Michael Kennealy and Benjamin Spero of Spectrum will join Mortgagebot's board of directors as a result of the recapitalization. "Mortgagebot is a perfect fit for Spectrum, given our firm's focus on recapitalization of profitable software and information services companies with strong growth potential and recurring-revenue business models," said Mr. Kennealy, a Spectrum managing director. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.spectrumequity.com and http://www.mortgagebot.com.

Three companies from the credit reporting sector -- Bixby Consulting, Fair Isaac Corp., and Gallagher Financial Systems Inc. -- have completed the compliance certification process under the recently launched MISMO XML Compliance for credit reporting, according to the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization.MISMO said MXCompliance allows implementers of its Internet-based XML standards to reference requirements and take steps toward becoming officially compliant, as well as validate their XML. There are three types of MXCompliance services: verification, import, and export. Verification is a service for businesses interested in purchasing certified products and services from organizations that are certified as MISMO-compliant. For a nominal fee, the verification service ensures that vendor products and services have maintained compliance with the products that were MXCompliance-certified. The import and export services are used by applicants seeking certification of their product or service interfaces under MISMO standards. MISMO is a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In using mortgage keywords to get high search-engine ratings, Internet specialists like E-Loan and LendingTree continue to make a strong showing against big banks like Wells, Chase, and Citi, according to Novato, Calif.-based SEMphonic, a search engine analytics firm.For the top 50 mortgage-relevant keywords on both Yahoo and Google, SEMphonic's MarketScan tool showed E-Loan and LendingTree ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. The top 10 companies were: eloan.com, lendingtree.com, bankrate.com, lowermybills.com, quickenloans.com, nextag.com, mortgage101.com, comparefreequotes.com, homestore.com, and interest.com. These top 10 companies made up 38% of all paid and unpaid mortgage keyword listings showing up on Yahoo and Google. Countrywide and Bank of America ranked No. 13 and No. 14, respectively.

RealEC Technologies, a Houston-based electronic exchange for mortgage fulfillment transactions, has announced that its business recovery preparations are expected to ensure minimal, if any, interruption in service if Hurricane Rita makes landfall near its main data center in Houston.RealEC said it has fully engaged its established business continuation plan, including the deployment of several teams to Dallas, Austin, Texas, and Santa Ana, Calif. "These teams have been organized to respond immediately should the data center operations need to be redirected to RealEC's redundant data center in Austin, Texas," the company said. RealEC added, however, that such a redirection is not expected because its Houston facility includes an on-site generator, flood controls, and redundant Internet connections. The company can be found online at http://www.realec.com.

To serve its 5,000 loan officers in 600 offices nationwide, Houston-based Allied Home Mortgage has picked Seattle-based Entellium's Pro-Activity customer relationship management product over Salesforce and other leading CRM products.An Allied spokesperson cited ease of use and low cost of ownership as reasons for picking Entellium. Pro-Activity automates user-selected reports and instantly sends pre-formatted and merged documents, such as contracts, proposals, invoices, and follow-up materials, to designated contacts. Entellium says the product is the most user-centric CRM system on the market, backed by 43,000 hours of usability research. Allied, the nation's largest privately held mortgage company, handles as many as 12,000 loans per month.

Fidelity National Information Services' Hansen Quality, a division of Fidelity National Financial Inc. based in Jacksonville, Fla., has launched HQ FraudID report, an automated fraud screening tool with a focus on identity fraud.HQ FraudID report searches over 70 potential risk indicators to determine the level of risk associated with each potential borrower. This includes multiple verifications of the borrower's name, address, Social Security number, and phone number, as well as other pertinent information. The results of the verifications are summarized and assigned an Identity Fraud Score, which indicates the severity of risk factors detected for identity theft, intentional misrepresentation, fraud, or elevated credit risks. The Fidelity family of companies can be found on the Web at http://www.fnf.com.

Buffalo, N.Y.-based Appraisal.com and ACI, Palm Coast, Fla., have worked together to develop what they say is a seamless bridge between ACI's appraisal desktop software and the Appraisal.com National Appraisal Network.Real estate appraisers who use ACI or Lighthouse-enabled appraisal software can now process, retrieve, and provide status updates on appraisal orders from Appraisal.com's Nationwide Appraisal Network without leaving their desktop, the companies said. Appraisers using this new technology can prepare and process reports and upload completed appraisals with both a traditional portable document format (PDF) and a full Extensible Markup Language (XML) data stream directly into the Nationwide Appraisal Network for delivery and storage. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.appraisal.com and http://www.aci.com.

Ocwen Financial Corp., West Palm Beach, Fla., has announced the introduction of 24-hour due diligence services to mortgage-backed securities investors on a loan-by-loan, mini-bulk, bulk, and portfolio basis.Ocwen's due diligence facility receives physical files from mortgage originators and uses high-speed scanners to image all documents. "The combination of Ocwen's 24-hour global workforce, document imaging capabilities, and advanced workflow management technology enables us to complete the due diligence processes in record time with less expense and greater accuracy," said Ocwen president Ron Faris. "This shaves days -- if not weeks -- off the traditional paper due diligence process and raises the bar on customer service." Mr. Faris said Ocwen's imaging capabilities, workflow management, and Six Sigma process design "allow us to multi-task on a single file, eliminating bottlenecks and speeding the entire process."

First American subsidiary Loan Performance has announced SecondLook, a new tool aimed at mortgage lenders and investors worried about undetected second loans and piggy-backs.Backed by the data-collection might of First American, SecondLook offers one-time, monthly, or quarterly monitoring of additional liens to uncover the existence of post-origination second mortgages, the company said. It also makes available a daily update of new liens with alerts to servicing and portfolio managers with the monthly or quarterly monitoring service. SecondLook combines the resources of LoanPerformance's home equity line of credit and second-lien loan database with First American RES's property database, which covers 97% of all real estate transactions in the United States, according to the company. First American's companion product LienWatch provides holders of junior liens with an automated method for monitoring a first lien's delinquency status. The company can be found online at http://www.loanperformance.com.

As Fiserv held its client conference in Las Vegas, the company announced that Fiserv Lending Solutions' CredStar has entered into an alliance with Boston-based PCi Corp. to integrate several of PCi's Wiz systems with WebStar, CredStar's credit services platform.The Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv said the combined offering is expected to streamline processes for wholesalers using CredStar with Fiserv's easyLender and UniFi LOS systems. The alliance also promises to reduce steps for brokers submitting loans to lenders using CredStar. The PCi functionality available to CredStar customers includes: geocoding, edit checks, and validation of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data using FFIEC error-checking logic, flood zone determinations, and identification of high-cost loans before they are funded. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.fiserv.com and http://www.pciwiz.com.

McCracken Financial Software, Billerica, Mass., has announced the acquisition of the DealCentral origination system from Atlanta-based MortgageRamp for an undisclosed amount.McCracken said DealCentral streamlines the origination process for commercial loan packages. The company said it plans to integrate the software with its Strategy commercial loan servicing system, enabling the transfer of underwriting and asset information into Strategy and eliminating the costs of duplicate data entry. "The commercial finance industry has been asking for a robust, single-vendor solution that can manage the entire loan life cycle," said McCracken president Noel Webster. "Now they have one." OfficeTiger, a New York-based professional support services firm, recently announced an agreement to acquire MortgageRamp, which is slated to become the Global Real Estate Division of OfficeTiger. The companies can be found online at http://www.mccrackenfs.com, http://www.mortgageramp.com, and http://www.officetiger.com.

Bill Adamowski, chairman of MortgageHub, will resume the role of president and chief executive officer of the company in conjunction with a new growth strategy for the Des Moines, Iowa-based Web services platform provider.Mr. Adamowski said the company will hire more than 30 technology professionals and open at least four news offices over the next 60 days to help execute the strategy, which will include acquisitions and the introduction of new products. "For the past two years, my team and I have been working on putting together what I feel is the future of mortgage technology," Mr. Adamowski said. "We took a team of the best technologists and completely removed ourselves from the day-to-day work of running a company and invested in the development of this revolutionary new platform." He said the new technologies will be unveiled next month at the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention. The company can be found online at http://www.mortgagehub.com.

The Real Estate Solutions division of Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has announced that it will launch a new application using the new Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 software.The new application integrates Fidelity's Broker BackOffice Pro system, an office management tool designed to automate and streamline small to midsize real estate office processes, with Small Business Accounting to enable customers to manage their real estate and accounting transactions through a single application customized for the real estate industry. The application provides integrated contact and agent management, electronic activity scheduling, sales pipeline reporting, complete listings and sales management tools, real-time access to performance and productivity statistics, as well as a direct access to Small Business Accounting, the company said. Fidelity can be found on the Web at http://www.fnf.com.

Minneapolis-based Dexma has formed a strategic partnership with First American Fulfillment Solutions, Jacksonville, Fla., to offer a point-of-sale application directly to First American Fulfillment Solutions customers.The product is geared toward small and midsize lenders currently using First American Fulfillment Solutions for outsourced processing. Specifically, Dexma has developed a transactional consumer/retail website for First American, which can be offered on a private-label basis to its customers. These sites enable consumers and loan officers to obtain loan approvals from either Fannie Mae's DO/DU or Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector. In addition, the consumer/retail platform is already integrated with the outsource processing platform and fully supported by First American. In 2004, First American acquired LOS Xsequor, now called First American Fulfillment Solutions, to expand its role as a fulfillment outsourcer. The new combination of First American and Dexma was designed to further First American's origination technology offering and broaden Dexma's customer base, according to First American. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.dexma.com and http://www.firstam.com.

Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Newport Beach, Calif., has announced a new "broker-to-banker" transition program that enables qualified brokers to apply for a customized line of credit through Impac's warehouse-lending group.Once approved, brokers can receive same-day fundings and up to 100% financing on alternative-A loans sold to Impac. Once loan packages are approved by Impac's iDASLg2 automated loan underwriting, there is no haircut on the transaction and brokers can close the deal on their own terms, the company said. The broker-to-banker program offers a $3 million start-up LOC, online reporting, bulk and flow delivery, flexible loan solutions down to alt-B, and electronic collateral delivery and tracking, Impac said. The company, a mortgage real estate investment trust, can be found online at http://www.impaccompanies.com.

The Washington Department of Financial Institutions has ordered a non-credit-union mortgage service provider to stop using the term "credit union" in its Internet addresses.Linda Jeckel, director of the DFI's credit union division, told Evergreen Moneysource Mortgage Co., Bellevue, Wash. that state law prohibits any entity from doing business under a name or title containing the words "credit union" or representing itself to be a credit union, unless it has a credit union charter. According to a report in MortgageWire affiliate Credit Union Journal, the company was directed by the DFI to immediately cease using "credit union" in any way on its websites. The company had been using the Web addresses, creditunionhomeloans.com and creditunionhomeloans.mortgagewebcenter.com. The company has complied with the DFI, striking the credit union reference from its Web addresses.