Mortgage technology

Netupdate Inc., Bellevue, Wash., has announced the addition of five features to Originator Pro, its flagship point-of-sale system for mortgage professionals.The enhancements include Good Faith Estimate and Truth-in-Lending disclosure documents; Express Pre-Approval Application, powered by Fannie Mae; enhanced loan file export functionality; loan program database and closing cost templates; and simplified pipeline management. "This new version places the must-have sales tools into a single interface enabling loan officers to reduce the time to approval," said Diane Holmstrom, Netupdate's chief executive officer. Express Pre-Approval Application, an optional module, enables the loan officer or borrower to enter limited financial information, obtain a pre-approval decision from the lender online, and if pre-approved, print out the pre-approval letter in minutes, the company said. The company can be found online at http://www.netupdate.com.

Freddie Mac has reported that its Loan Prospector automated underwriting service evaluated its 25 millionth loan in 2002, one of some 8.2 million loans run through the system in that period.The service debuted in 1995 and has set eight consecutive volume records since that time. In 1995, the system evaluated more than 38,000 loans. In 2001 it reached the 10 million mark, and 18 months later, in June of last year, it reached the 20 million mark, the government-sponsored enterprise said. The 25 millionth loan was evaluated on Dec. 18. Freddie’s website address is http://www.freddiemac.com.

features to Originator Pro, its flagship point-of-sale system for mortgage professionals.The enhancements include Good Faith Estimate and Truth-in-Lending disclosure documents; Express Pre-Approval Application, powered by Fannie Mae; enhanced loan file export functionality; loan program database and closing cost templates; and simplified pipeline management. "This new version places the must-have sales tools into a single interface enabling loan officers to reduce the time to approval," said Diane Holmstrom, Netupdate's chief executive officer. Express Pre-Approval Application, an optional module, enables the loan officer or borrower to enter limited financial information, obtain a pre-approval decision from the lender online, and if pre-approved, print out the pre-approval letter in minutes, the company said. The company can be found online at http://www.netupdate.com.

Marshall & Swift Inc., Los Angeles, a provider of residential and commercial real estate cost data and appraisal technologies, has purchased LoopNet’s Internet-based subscription service, AppraiserLoop.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal will give LoopNet, a San Francisco-based commercial real estate information services provider, more time to focus on its online commercial listing service, while it gives Marshall & Swift a tool that combines a variety of data sources and management tools in one comprehensive package. The tool will be re-launched as M&Sconnect, which Marshall & Swift hopes will tap the largely undeveloped networking possibilities in the appraisal industry. LoopNet will remain a data exchange partner with Marshall & Swift. Also included in the sale is the long-term contract with the Appraisal Institute, a professional organization of real estate appraisers, to develop and operate the Web-based data cooperative Appraisal Institute Commercial Database. The companies can be found online at http://www.marshallswift.com and http://www.loopnet.com.

The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization eMortgage Workgroup has released eMortgage Guidelines and Recommendations, version 1.0.The release comprises specifications and supporting documents that provide a framework for implementing paperless mortgages with electronic signatures. The framework is built around a Securable, Manageable, Archivable, Retrievable, Transferable (SMART) Document, which binds data, presentation, and signatures into a single electronic file. Specifications and guidelines are also provided for what MISMO calls ePackaging, eMessaging, and eVaulting. The first allows multiple electronic documents, or even hierarchical electronic packages, to be bundled together, while eMessaging leverages MISMO’s XML Request/Response architecture and eVaulting provides for the storage and retrieval of electronic notes and other supporting documents. The eMortgage guidelines and specifications may be freely downloaded from the MISMO website at http://www.mismo.org.

Minneapolis-based Dexma, creator of the Transaction Director technology platform, reports that the volume of mortgage business traveling across its system tripled in 2002.In the fourth quarter, the company reported that nearly 500,000 unique loans traveled over its software, totaling approximately $80 billion in loan transactions. “Nearly one in every eight loans currently is transacted over a Dexma-built platform,” said Steve Mase, president of Dexma. During 2002, the company added or re-deployed nearly 40 Web servers. Dexma now hosts over 100 servers for more than 50 clients. As a Fannie Mae technology partner, Dexma developed the government-sponsored enterprise’s Web-based versions of Desktop Originator and Desktop Underwriter. Dexma can be found on the Web at http://www.dexma.com.

Michel Van Hee has been named chief executive officer of Sollen Technologies, a Dallas-based application services provider for the mortgage industry.Before joining Sollen, Mr. Van Hee spent two years as vice president of business development at Rose Research, an intellectual property company, and three years as vice president of U.S. Operations at Velleman Inc. Mr. Van Hee said Sollen now has 70 customers across the country, and predicted that the customer base will more than triple by the end of the year. Sollen can be found on the Web at http://www.sollen.com.

E-mail messages promoting mortgages and other loans are second only to pornography spam in the number of recipients who find them annoying, according to a recent Harris Poll.The survey found that 80% of respondents who use the Internet find spamming "very annoying," up from 49% two-and-a-half years ago, and that 74% favor banning such mass e-mailings. Topping the list of annoying kinds of spam were pornography, cited by 91%, and mortgages and other loans, cited by 79%, Harris Interactive reported. Investment spam ranked third, at 68%, and real estate fourth, at 61%. Harris can be found online at http://www.harrisinteractive.com and http://www.harrispollonline.com.

Info1 Holding Co. Inc., Atlanta, a national provider of credit information for the mortgage industry, has formed an alliance with Transamerica Flood Hazard Certification that will allow Info1 to resell Transamerica's flood determination services.Info1 is the only credit reporting firm licensed to resell TFHC products, the company said, including its new eFlood product, an Internet-based flood system with account management functions that allows users to access flood zone determination information over the Web. Info1 will also offer other Transamerica Flood services, including audits of the flood hazard status for portfolios of existing loans. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.info1credit.com and http://www.transamericafinance.com/tfhc.

London Bridge Group has completed a data integration tool developed for its LenStar default management attorney referral system designed to provide a bi-directional interface between a customer’s servicing or case management system and the Internet version of LenStar.The LenStar Black Box is designed to eliminate the data collection screen scraping process by connecting to any database supported by the Microsoft ADO data access technology, or by processing XML messages. The data transfers occur in a real-time environment via the Internet. In addition, intelligent integration is built in, using the data to close cases, establish holds, send messages, and more, London Bridge said. The product is being beta-tested with the case management systems of a number of law firms. London Bridge said it is working with other technology vendors to ensure that other leading default management products integrate with LenStar via the Black Box. London Bridge's website address is http://www.london-bridge.com.

Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wis., has acquired Lenders Financial Services, Agoura Hills, Calif., a nationally recognized provider of default mortgage management products and services.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Fiserv said it expects the acquisition to add about $8 million to 2003 revenues. LFS provides tools to value, maintain, and dispose of properties -- most of which are abandoned, in default, or classified as other real estate owned. Through a nationwide network of approximately 20,000 appraisers and real estate agents, LFS's 24 employees process about 7,000 appraisals and broker price opinions monthly. Fiserv is an independent, full-service provider of integrated data processing and information management systems to the financial industry. It can be found online at http://www.fiserv.com.

The electronic partnership platform technology under development by BCE Emergis for use on Freddie Mac's loanprospector.com website will use technology developed by General American Corp., Pittsburgh.After a two-year collaboration with Freddie Mac, GAC announced that Freddie will use a customized version of GAC’s Gators Web-enabled software package as a foundation for the mortgage services it provides through its portal. The platform offers mortgage processing and closing tools that use the Internet to provide cheaper, more efficient access to third-party services needed to process, close, and fund mortgage loans, GAC said. BCE Emergis, an e-commerce services company based in Quebec, Canada, acquired the online technology tools from Freddie Mac and will manage their development, implementation and operation. GAC can be found on the Web at http://www.gatorsystems.com.

Fidelity National Information Solutions Inc., Santa Barbara, Calif., has signed a multiyear outsourcing and software application services agreement with HomeServices of America Inc., a Minneapolis-based residential real estate brokerage firm that offers mortgage originations and title services.Under the agreement, FNIS said it will acquire HomeServices' proprietary TRIO software system and Web-based platform, which provides broker websites catering to consumers and Multiple Listing Services data aggregation, among other services. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.fnis.com and http://www.homeservices.com.

In a move that chief executive officer Joe Murin says will focus the company, Basis100 has agreed to sell certain assets of EFA Software Services Ltd. and EFA Cyprus Ltd. to Computershare Ltd., a global technology provider to the securities industry, for $6.25 million Canadian.The acquisition is expected to close by the end of January. The company had bought the capital markets trading platform with an eye toward serving a global marketplace. "With the economy in the U.S. collapsing in the last few years, it just didn't pan out to be the right business to be in," Mr. Murin said. The company maintains a trading platform it built in conjunction with a Canadian banking consortium. Basis100's website address is http://www.basis100.com.

New Century Financial Corp., Irvine, Calif., and its subsidiary, New Century Mortgage Corp., have introduced a proprietary Web-based loan underwriting engine designed to provide registered users with loan approvals in less than 12 seconds."We believe FastQual represents the fastest automated loan underwriting system in the nonprime market, and it's a tool which gives brokers a wide range of options to fully automate typically complex nonprime transactions," said Greg Schroeder, senior vice president of marketing at New Century Mortgage. Information from brokers' loan origination systems is automatically uploaded to FastQual with the click of a mouse, and the FastQual engine evaluates it and replies within 12 seconds with a list of all loan products the borrower qualifies for, the company said. The new version of the company's broker website enables brokers to prequalify borrowers, submit loans, pull credit at no cost, auto-underwrite, obtain pricing, and track loans. New Century Mortgage, including FastQual, can be found online at http://www.newcentury.com.

Gabe Minton has been promoted to vice president of industry technology by the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.Mr. Minton, whose previous title was senior director of industry technology, is responsible for overseeing the MBA’s leading role in establishing technology standards for the residential real estate finance industry. He manages the activities of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization and the industry’s residential electronic mortgage standardization efforts. The MBA also announced the promotions of Laura Armstrong to vice president of public affairs and Elaine Howard to vice president of meetings and conferences. The association can be found online at http://www.mbaa.org.

Principal Residential Mortgage Inc., a multibillion-dollar national lender and servicer based in Des Moines, Iowa, has selected Fiserv unit Case Shiller Weiss, Cambridge, Mass., to implement a customized collateral risk assessment system.The system will be built around CSW's CASA automated valuation model and will be one of the first to see AVMs employed in the first-lien business. The lender will use the CASA scoring system in its prefunding stage to assess collateral valuation risks associated with first-lien mortgage loan applications. Terry Loebs, vice president of sales, marketing, and services for CSW, said the agreement is "a milestone" for the AVM business. The companies can be found online at http://www.principal.com/mortgage.htm and http://www.cswv.com.

Paul Ciarfello has been named vice president and chief credit officer at Home123 Loans Direct!, Ponte Verde Beach, Fla.Mr. Ciarfello, a 23-year veteran of the subprime mortgage industry, was most recently vice president and deputy chief credit officer for Alliance Funding. Home123 said Mr. Ciarfello's chief duties will include overseeing the company's underwriting operations, building investor relations through secondary marketing efforts, and managing appraisal review. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.home123.com.

There are ways that lenders can speed the adoption of Internet-based lending, widely viewed as the least expensive origination channel, according to Emmanuel Obiorah, Bank of America's online channel executive for consumer real estate.Mr. Obiorah made his statements at Thomson's fourth annual Mortgage EC Conference in Las Vegas. “To improve adoption you have to streamline the process,” he told the audience. The one-click refinance that BofA is working on is an example, he said. In addition, he urged lenders to get specialty products that appeal to ethnic borrowers online, make the transition from online to off-line operations smooth, and hire bilingual employees to complement foreign language websites.

Ken Beyer, chief technology officer of MortgageRamp, has been named chief executive officer of the company.The Atlanta-based MortgageRamp, which provides technology for the commercial real estate industry, said current CEO Mike Greco will continue to be involved with the company as a member of the MortgageRamp Investor Operating Committee. Mr. Beyer was chief technology officer of Cornerstone Concepts before joining MortgageRamp. The company can be found online at http://www.mortgageramp.com.