Mortgage technology

In recent testing, a single copy of Fiserv's MortgageServ system on a single-image IBM hardware platform successfully processed 10 million loans during a single nightly window, according to Fiserv.Benchmark results of the testing -- conducted by IBM Capacity Planning Services, Cary, N.C., under the direction of BearingPoint Inc. -- indicated that the system would scale beyond that if used in an IBM Sysplex environment, Fiserv said. Sadu Thinakal, president of Fiserv Mortgage Servicing Systems, said the Fiserv system's proven scalability would eliminate the need for mega-servicers to break their portfolios into artificial segments that require multiple company numbers. "MortgageServ has no such technology or architectural limitations, eliminating the unnecessary processing complexities and bottlenecks that stand in the way of growth and profitability," Mr. Thinakal said. Fiserv can be found on the Web at http://www.fiserv.com.

In a move that will further focus Basis100, Toronto, on the U.S. marketplace, the company has agreed to sell its Canadian Lending Solutions division to FiLogix Inc., another Canadian firm.Under the terms of the agreement, FiLogix will acquire all the assets of CLS, including the rights to Basis100’s mortgage technology -- such as MortgageBase, MortgageBase Plus, HomeBase, ConsumerBase, and LenderBase -- for $16.1 million, subject to certain adjustments. The agreement also gives FiLogix exclusive usage rights to BasisXpress in the Canadian market, and Basis100 retains the software rights to all areas outside Canada. "This sale is part of a strategic redefinition of the company, and allows us to focus our attention and our resources on the U.S. marketplace," said Joseph J. Murin, president and chief executive officer at Basis100. "Our goal for this year is to generate 80% of our overall revenue from the U.S. mortgage lending market." The companies can be found on the Internet at http://www.basis100.com and http://www.filogix.com.

Veros Software's VeroValue automated valuation model will become an integrated tool in Synergistic Software Systems' SharperLending online platform, allowing lenders to order an AVM through the Electronic Partner Network.VeroValue currently provides valuations in 40 states and over 600 counties nationwide. Veros, based in Irvine, Calif., said it also generates property fitness analytics, price trend information, and VeroForecast, an analytic tool that estimates future values and market stability. Synergistic, based in Spokane, Wash., said its technology already serves 18,000 lenders nationwide, a growing number of which have access to its new SharperLending system -- a Web-based platform through which lenders can order, store, and manage all the reports they need to close a loan. Veros can be found online at http://www.veros.com, and Synergistic can be found at http://www.sharperlending.com.

Master Financial Inc., Orange, Calif., has announced that a Predatory Lending Profile module has been added to the automated decision engine of its Internet-based loan origination system, 30Second Desk.Without duplicate data entry, loan-specific data are calculated and run against federal Section 32 regulations and applicable state, county, and city guidelines to ensure compliance, the company said. The new module augments compliance profiles that check federal and state requirements regarding lending restrictions, late charges, prepayment penalties, and licensing. Master Financial, a subprime and alternative-A wholesale mortgage banker, can be found online at http://www.mfiloans.com.

Laguna Hills, Calif.-based QuestSoft reports that Integra Software Systems, Franklin, Tenn., has integrated QuestSoft's geocoding and compliance solutions into its Destiny loan origination system.Under the agreement, QuestSoft's geocoding and compliance technology, Instant Geocoder and HMDA RELIEF, will be available through Integra's Destiny software. "Compliance issues are becoming more complicated and challenging," said Tim Bartek, senior vice president at Integra. "We chose to work with QuestSoft to meet the growing demand from our own customers for easy and cost-effective ways to simplify the compliance process." Integra Software's website address is http://www.integra-online.com. QuestSoft can be found on the Web at http://www.questsoft.com.

Financial Industry Computer Systems Inc., Dallas, reports that NASA Federal Credit Union has purchased and successfully implemented both FICS' loan origination solution, Loan Producer, and its servicing system, Mortgage Servicer.In addition, NASA FCU purchased a number of additional software tools from FICS for both the origination and servicing side of its business. NASA FCU serves 7,000 members worldwide and has nearly $600 million in assets. It can be found on the Web at http://www.nasafcu.org. FICS' website address is http://www.loanware.com.

LandSafe Inc., a subsidiary of Countrywide Financial Corp., will provide access to flood determinations through the users of Calyx' Point loan origination software.The Point version 4.1 interface allows originators using the system to request flood information from LandSafe without swapping applications. The request is transmitted through the Internet.

Fidelity National Information Solutions, Santa Barbara, Calif., has unveiled FNIS HQ score, a property valuation tool that evaluates current and future price risk and provides an instantaneous risk score.The FNIS HQ Score offers investors, dealers and lenders a tool to identify and manage collateral risk based upon FNIS' property data resources, and proprietary home price forecast indices and loan attributes, the company said. FNIS is a subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial, located at http://www.fnf.com on the Internet.

GHR Systems Inc., Wayne, Pa., has formed a strategic alliance with ValuAmerica, Pittsburgh, under which it will add ValuAmerica's mortgage settlement services to its Entelligent Lender mortgage origination and transaction processing platform.The new relationship adds comprehensive real estate settlement services, including appraisals, title insurance, flood insurance, and closing agency services to GHR’s Web-based platform. These services will also be available within GHR’s new Entelligent Processor system, scheduled for delivery in December. In addition to settlement services, ValuAmerica also offers technology and management consulting services. GHR's website address is http://www.ghrsystems.com.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has licensed PCi Corp. of Boston, a provider of compliance risk-management systems, to assist HUD in identifying market segments with higher risk of exposure to fair-lending violations and predatory lending practices.PCi said HUD will use its Fair Lending Wiz "to investigate discrimination complaints about lenders by performing in-depth comparative file review and regression analysis to assess lenders’ performance" in fair-lending compliance. HUD plans to roll out Fair Lending Wiz in the second quarter after training staff in Washington and its field investigators in regional offices nationwide.

Oklahoma City-based a la mode inc. and Dynatek Inc., Livonia, Mich., have announced plans for the joint development of a software plug-in that would connect Dynatek lender clients to a la mode's Mercury Network.Real estate appraisers subscribe to the network to connect electronically to more lender clients while using report form-filling software, the companies said. During the design phase, Dynatek and a la mode said they will develop and test technology that allows appraisers to use their favorite form-filling software, regardless of brand, while connecting seamlessly with Dynatek software users. "Addressing these workflow issues is an important part of providing a higher-quality product with shorter turnaround times for our clients," said Craig C. Backus, a business analyst with Dynatek.

XFormic Inc., Burlingame, Calif., has announced the introduction of Direct Credit Solution, a software product that it says "revolutionizes" the way small to medium-size mortgage companies retrieve merged credit reports.DCS allows mortgage companies to bypass existing credit data resellers and purchase data directly from the major credit bureaus, XFormic said. "Going direct allows the mortgage company to avoid reseller markups and save, on average, 40% on data acquisition costs," the company said. ".... Currently, the average reseller charges $12-15 for a tri-merged credit report. With DCS, the cost is $7.88 or less." XFormic can be found online at http://www.xformic.com.

Decade Systems Corp., Jacksonville, Fla., and Equix Financial Services, Menomonee Falls, Wis., have announced an alliance under which they will offer mortgage lenders a "rapid, cost-effective" integration system for leveraging Equix's origination and fulfillment capabilities.Equix recently implemented Decade's Total Enterprise Data Integration technology within its system architecture, and this coincided with the launch of an origination call center designed to support a top mortgage lender, the companies said. The technology includes "an extensive library of reusable integration adapters" to popular mortgage systems, enabling Equix clients to send application information and receive data for their existing systems using data files that comply with standards set by the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, they said. "By partnering with Decade, our lender clients are able to realize the benefits of outsourced origination and fulfillment quickly and efficiently, with minimal impact to their internal resources," said Chris Hayward, chief operating officer of Equix. The companies can be found online at http://www.equix.us and http://www.decadesystems.com.

ACS, Dallas, has announced what it says is the first secure Internet-based exchange connecting organizations and counties to facilitate the electronic recording of land records such as deeds and mortgages.Named eRX, the system allows participants to create, sign, notarize, edit, transmit, and record documents in a paperless environment, said ACS, a provider of business process and information technology outsourcing systems. The system also handles the fees associated with these business-to-government transactions. ACS said eRX is the first implementation of an open exchange that provides a single interface for lender and title company members to reach any county member nationwide. The system also features electronic signature technology provided by Silanis Technology. "Counties reduce the manual processing effort associated with paper processing, and what used to take days or even months now takes minutes or hours, eliminating risks for the title companies and significantly reducing the post-closing costs for lenders," said John Brophy, group president of ACS State and Local Solutions. The company can be found online at http://www.acs-inc.com.

VMP Mortgage Solutions, Fraser, Mich., has released the latest version of a forms design tool boasting features that the company says simplify and speed the process of designing documents.VMP said I-32 Forms Design 6.0, which can be installed as a stand-alone tool or as a transparent addition to client applications, allows users to create complex forms with hundreds of data fields using unique identifiers; to incorporate logos, text, signatures, and data fields without altering the original forms; and to insert check boxes, rules, columns, and graphics. One form, regardless of how many pages it contains, is loaded into one file. (For example, a user has to open only one file to work on a 10-page document instead of opening 10 files, the company said.) VMP released the updated tool at the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's technology conference in Orlando, Fla. The company, a division of CBF Systems Inc., can be found online at http://www.vmpmtg.com.

REsolve Technology, a Boston-based custom programming and financial consulting firm for the commercial real estate industry, has unveiled a new tracking and reporting module for its REquest product.The Partnership Module enables users to track, analyze, and report property and fund information and the returns of various real estate properties owned individually or in a partnership, the company said. Users can now allocate properties to specific funds, link historical contributions and distributions, and create and edit customized reports. "Before implementing the Partnership Module, one of our clients had to track their partnership structures in complicated Excel spreadsheets," said Eric Forman, president of REsolve Technology. "This was prone to error and very time consuming. With this new module, users can now add, delete, or edit real estate properties associated with specific funds, or change ownership percentages of funds in certain properties at the touch of a button." The company can be found online at http://www.resolvetech.com.

ComplianceEase, San Francisco, and Dorado Corp., San Mateo, Calif., have announced the formation of a strategic partnership that they say will accelerate the delivery of automated compliance systems, especially in predatory lending compliance.Under the terms of the partnership, ComplianceEase's flagship product, PredatorAnalyzer, will be integrated with Dorado ChannelMaster as a .MOR Web service. The combination will enable lenders to integrate PredatorAnalyzer with legacy systems simply and cost effectively, the companies said. "The predatory lending audit is a great example of the power and flexibility of the Web services-based approach to origination workflow," said Joseph W. Jennings, president of Dorado. The companies can be found online at http://www.complianceease.com and http://www.dorado.com.

Fannie Mae has announced a new design for Desktop Underwriter as well as new features that include an online help center and consolidated access to DU for wholesale lenders.For the first time, wholesalers will be able to log on to a single application for all their loan processing and underwriting needs while still offering services to their mortgage brokers via Fannie Mae's Desktop Originator, the government-sponsored enterprise said. The online help center recognizes where a lender is in the loan submission process and, through Web and chat features, provides quick online access to a database of information about DU, Fannie Mae said. "Fannie Mae incorporated customer feedback and usability research to develop these important system enhancements to Desktop Underwriter," said Terri Davis, managing director for Fannie Mae/eBusiness. ".... Now both retail and wholesale lenders will not only have the benefits of increased functionality, easier navigation, and a new visual design, but a reliable, secure system with 24/7 availability and a 99.9% uptime performance." Fannie Mae can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com.

The Mortgage Bankers Association of America has launched a new subsidiary corporation to provide documentation and guidelines to accredit and certify Public Key Infrastructure and secure identity providers.The new organization will be called Secure Identity Services Accreditation Corp. The MBA made the announcement at its annual Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference in Orlando, Fla. SISAC is already working with five leading providers of secure identity solutions. The MBA can be found on the Web at http://www.mbaa.org.

Netupdate Inc., Bellevue, Wash., and Ignition Mortgage Technology Solutions Inc., Sausalito, Calif., have announced that Netupdate will add Ignition's LockPoint Xtra pricing and distribution tool to its Originator Pro point-of-sale system.In addition, Ignition announced that its Loan Officer Plus loan origination system is being discontinued, but that users can now migrate to Originator Pro using the new LOP Migration Program from Netupdate that incorporates data migration, software installation, and product training with "minimum impact to a lender's back-office operations." LockPoint Xtra enables lenders to operate on a single technology platform that supports correspondent, wholesale, retail, and consumer-direct lending, the companies said. "LockPoint Xtra eliminates the need to have separate pricing and product systems for the lender's other origination channels," said Diane Holmstrom, Netupdate's chief executive officer. The companies can be found online at http://www.ignitionmts.com and http://www.netupdate.com.