Mortgage technology

BridgeSpan Inc., a title company and online closing specialist that recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has announced that Larry Walker will resign as president and chief executive officer next month.The Frisco, Texas-based BridgeSpan said Mr. Walker had been recruited in late 2002 in the hope that his expertise would help the company attract "early adopters" for its straight-through processing of electronic mortgages. "However, mortgage lenders were awash in refinance volume and reluctant to take on the complex changes to their internal operations that e-mortgages required," the company said. BridgeSpan can be found online at http://www.bridgespan.com.

Document Systems Inc., Carson, Calif., has released a new home equity product line of its DocMagic software, which the company will make available to its users.The new software provides a system for producing and delivering customized closing loan documents and can be tailored by DSI lawyers to the specifications of customer and investor needs, the company said. In addition, the software package for variable-rate interest-only loans and home equity lines of credit includes basic templates for each jurisdiction in the United States, which can also be adjusted to fit the needs of all users. Document Systems can be found on the Web at http://www.docmagic.com.

Dexma Inc., Edina, Minn., has hired Tim Anderson away from DocuTech, where he held the title of executive vice president.As Dexma's EVP for business solutions, Mr. Anderson will focus on new business initiatives. "This is a huge win for Dexma, because Tim is very well-respected and connected in the mortgage industry," said Dexma's Steve Mase. Mr. Anderson recently received Mortgage Technology magazine's prestigious Steve Fraser award for his work in building the eMortgage Alliance, which brings together companies that support the standards put forth by MISMO (the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, established by the Mortgage Bankers Association). Dexma is a member of MISMO. Mr. Anderson has held executive management positions with a number of companies in the industry, including Ignition Mortgage Technology Solutions, Home Advisor Technologies, HomeSide Lending, Cybertek Systems, and Alltel Information Management Services. He has served on the advisory boards of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Microsoft and has also served as a member of the MBA's Residential and Technology Committee and MISMO.

BridgeSpan has not ceased all operations, as MortgageWire erroneously reported, and the BridgeSpan website has relaunched after being taken down in the wake of the closure of BridgeSpan Title.The BridgeSpan homepage had been replaced earlier by a notice directing visitors to an eMortgageAxis Web page. BridgeSpan said about 150 employees were laid off as a result of the shutdown of BridgeSpan Title, not 200-plus as previously reported in The Title Report and cited by MW. A news release on the relaunched BridgeSpan homepage quotes BridgeSpan CEO Larry Walker as saying, "While BridgeSpan's innovative technology may have once been ahead of its time, it looks like its time may be just arriving." MortgageWire regrets the error.

While technology is a vital concern to mortgage lenders, it may make more sense to partner with others to get it, even if they are competitors, according to Kevin Shannon, president of consumer real estate for Bank of America.Mr. Shannon made his comments at Thomson Media's 7th Annual Mortgage Technology Conference in Miami. "Technology is not a differentiator," Mr. Shannon said. Branding and distribution are the keys to long-term success, he said. BoA says a key objective is to share technology costs with other firms to leverage that expense over a larger base of business. He admitted that "finding common ground when you're competing head to head is challenging." Last year, BoA bought Tarrytown, N.Y.-based Framework, developer of the LendWare loan origination and processing system, one of the technologies BoA hopes to leverage in the future.

Achieving paperless loans is the path to serving minorities and underserved markets, Fannie Mae's David Flaxman told Thomson Media's 7th Annual Mortgage Technology Conference in Miami in Wednesday's keynote address.Mr. Flaxman, Fannie Mae's chief of electronic solutions technology, said driving cost out of the mortgage process enables lenders to offer lower-cost mortgages to minorities, immigrants, and credit-impaired borrowers. He said mortgage lenders need to take note that emerging markets are "surging, not just emerging," citing statistics showing that even Midwestern cities like Des Moines, Iowa, and Wichita, Kan., have shown 100% growth in their Hispanic communities in recent years. He said deploying automated underwriting at the point of sale has increased hit rates for conventional loans to minority borrowers, preventing them from being shunted into subprime loans.

Advantage Credit, Pensacola, Fla., has begun providing credit score and credit correction information to mortgage brokers who subscribe to a recently launched website linking Spanish-speaking U.S. residents to Spanish-speaking brokers and lenders.The Web portal, MiCasaPrestamos.com, is a "'one-stop' Hispanic homebuying resource" that offers tools and credit information for new Hispanic immigrants and third-generation Hispanic Americans seeking to understand credit reports and their effects on obtaining a home loan, Advantage said. "Advantage's work with MiCasaPrestamos.com and other Hispanic efforts is the start of a much larger strategy in serving minority homebuyers in many language groups," said Advantage president Mark Simms. The company can be found online at http://www.advantagecredit.com, and the portal can be found at http://www.micasaprestamos.com.

Parasoft, a software provider based in Monrovia, Calif., has announced that the Servicing Systems Development Division of Countrywide has adopted its Jtest system to address software quality.Jtest enables Countrywide to automate unit testing and coding standard enforcement throughout an entire department, Parasoft said. The software company quoted Countrywide as saying that Jtest helps ensure the consistent application of standards and best practices, especially as they relate to leveraging outside development resources and monitoring software reuse efforts to maximize the value of investments in information technology. Jtest also works to reduce vulnerability to virus attacks and bugs, Parasoft said. Parasoft can be found online at http://www.parasoft.com.

InterFirst Wholesale Mortgage Lending, Ann Arbor, Mich., has announced the introduction of OneFee "Pricing Tool Only," which is designed to help mortgage brokers create their own guaranteed mortgage packages.The tool, an expansion of InterFirst's guaranteed OneFee mortgage package program, allows brokers to create their own unique guaranteed mortgage packages using local settlement service providers. The broker picks his or her own provider and negotiates the associated settlement service cost. Previously, the broker was subject to third-party service providers and costs negotiated by InterFirst. Mortgage loan costs are based on InterFirst's wholesale mortgage products and interest rates, and they incorporate the lender-related costs in the price quote. By using the tool, the broker assumes the risk that may be associated with guaranteeing the mortgage costs quoted to consumers at the time of application. InterFirst is a division of ABN Amro Mortgage Group, which can be found online at http://www.mortgage.com.

Golden West Financial/World Savings scored highest among savings institutions in the Winter 2004 Online Customer Respect Study, just ahead of Washington Mutual.The study examined how 76 of the largest financial services firms treat online customers. In measuring the time in which thrifts responded to inquiries from Web borrowers, the study showed that only 50% of websites deployed by thrifts use autoresponder technology to automate the sending of e-mails confirming receipt of a user's inquiry. The study identified response time as a critical factor in attracting new customers on the Web. Customer Respect Group, a research and consulting firm based in Bellevue, Wash., classifies more than 60 website attributes as indicators of simplicity, privacy, attitude (the customer focus of the site), transparency, responsiveness, and principles (respect for customer data). The company can be found online at http://www.customerrespect.com.

Patrick F. Stone, until recently the chief executive officer of Fidelity National Information Solutions, has resigned from the board of directors of Fidelity National Financial Inc., the parent company of FNIS.The Jacksonville, Fla.-based FNF said Mr. Stone has signed a five-year noncompetition agreement and will remain a consultant to the company. FNF can be found on the Web at http://www.fnf.com.

Secure Identity Services Accreditation Corp., a nonprofit subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association, has announced the accreditation of VeriSign Inc. as a credential service provider for the mortgage industry.VeriSign becomes the first credential provider to receive a SISAC accreditation. "Security is more important than ever in this day of online transactions, e-mortgages, and consumer data protection," said Regina M. Lowrie, the MBA's vice chairwoman and the chair of SISAC. "VeriSign is a world leader in certificate management, and we are happy to have them on board." Mariano Buitrago, principal technologist at Fannie Mae eBusiness, lauded the development as "the culmination of four years of collaborative work that will make it easier for industry partners to conduct electronic transactions with the high security levels expected in today's marketplace." SISAC develops and promotes minimum ID management standards (such as insurance and liability limits) by accrediting credential service providers that meet mortgage industry requirements. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.

Rumors that LendingTree has acquired Domania have proven to be premature, MortgageWire has learned.Contrary to recent reports that LendingTree has acquired both RealEstate.com and Domania from Primedia, sources say the Domania deal has yet to close. If LendingTree -- which has operated solely in the business-to-consumer channel to date, funneling Internet leads to lenders -- does acquire Domania, it would represent an advance into the business-to-business space helping lenders retain borrowers as well as acquire new ones, a major shift in LendingTree's business model. Just as the recent acquisition of GetSmart.com solidified LendingTree's position as a lead generator for lenders, the RealEstate.com acquisition solidifies LendingTree's more recent entry into the real estate space. LendingTree can be found on the Web at http://www.lendingtree.com.

New York-based XBRL International has announced that version 2.1 of its XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) technical specification will enhance the ability of financial service firms to use the Internet for business reporting by fostering greater interoperability between XML software applications.XBRL International said the first exchange to implement the system was the listing department of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. In August 2003, an XBRL software vendor survey showed that two-thirds of accounting software vendors surveyed have either already XBRL-enabled at least one of their accounting software packages or will do so by December 2004. The company can be found online at http://www.xbrl.org.

Oklahoma City-based a la mode has announced that it is the only appraisal software vendor to offer every AI Ready-compliant form appraisers can use to do business with the AI Residential Database and AppraisalPort.The company's WinTotal software, used by more than half of U.S. appraisers, shares the Appraisal Institute's 2.5 (highest) compliance-level rating, but a la mode said it is the only firm that offers the complete list of forms, above and beyond the level required for the 2.5 rating. The interface used by AI Ready provides appraisal document software companies a common application programming interface for translation of their data into the standard format. The company's Mercury Network servers delivered more than 15 million electronic appraisals in the past 12 months, a volume the company says gives it undisputed leadership in paperless real estate transactions. Vendor compliance and form availability information is available through the AI Ready website at http://www.aiready.com/vendormatrix.asp.

WWW.MortgageExpressLoan.com, Miami, has announced the launch of free online mortgage loan applications that it will send in "real time" to three lenders who specialize in what is deemed the most appropriate loan program for the loan applicant.The application takes about 30 seconds to fill out, and will receive "top priority attention, because there are over 600 lenders in our system," the company said. The "real time" guarantee means the application will be e-mailed or faxed to the appropriate lenders as soon as it is received, WWW.MortgageExpressLoan.com said. It can be found on the Web at http://www.mortgageexpressloan.com.

LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. has given three of its executives new titles, two of which affect positions at the company's online title and closing services unit for mortgage lenders.Cheryl Cox -- previously vice president, national closing operations -- has been promoted to president of the aforementioned title and closing unit, LandAmerica OneStop; Melissa Hill, previously president of LandAmerica OneStop, has been promoted to the newly created position of executive vice president, production and process improvement; and Bruce Wood -- who was previously vice president, planning and analysis -- has been named senior vice president, financial planning. LandAmerica can be found on the Web at http://www.landam.com.

LendingTree, Inc. has purchased certain assets of RealEstate.com from Primedia Inc.The online lender paid an undisclosed price for the real estate website's brand, uniform resource locator and other assets it felt complemented its business model. LendingTree can be found on the Web at http://www.lendingtree.com.

DST Technologies Inc., Kansas City, Mo., has announced that it will integrate its business process management system with Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter automated underwriting engine to enable lenders to move toward straight-through processing of mortgage loans.The system will allow mortgage lenders using DU to automate the processing of mortgage loans based on DU findings and other lender-provided specifications. The company said the Automated Work Distributor BPM technology supports all aspects of the lending process, provides a secure and accurate audit trail, eliminates the need to transfer or access paper files, and allows individuals in different states and time zones to participate in a single integrated workflow. The DST system can be found online at http://www.dstawd.com.

Secure Identity Services Accreditation Corp., a nonprofit subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association, has announced the accreditation of KPMG LLP as auditor for identity management compliance of mortgage industry standards.KPMG becomes the first auditor to receive a SISAC accreditation. SISAC said it develops and promotes minimum ID management standards, such as insurance and liability limits, by accrediting credential service providers that meet mortgage industry requirements. "With these accreditations we are now one step closer to the establishment of single sign-on for users, electronically automated processes, and embedded security that provides real assurance of privacy, integrity, and nonrepudiation of electronic records and transactions," said Jim Anderson, Freddie Mac's director of information systems and co-chair of the MBA's Security Workgroup. SISAC board member Bill R. Frazer, chief financial officer of L.J. Melody & Co., said the accreditation of KPMG "tells the mortgage industry -- both residential and commercial -- that digital transactions are moving into the mainstream."