Mortgage technology

VMP Mortgage Forms, St. Cloud, Minn., has announced that it will provide a new identity verification software program to mortgage lenders to help them prevent fraud, money laundering, and financing for terrorists.The program, IDFlag, enables lenders to perform real-time and batch verification of consumer and business application information by checking customer data against many risk-indicating databases, the company said. "The mortgage industry is looking for a comprehensive, yet easy-to-use solution to help curb fraud losses and comply with the requirements of the USA Patriot Act," said Joanne Gaskin, VMP's marketing director. VMP is a Bankers Systems company, which can be found on the Web at http://www.bankerssystems.com.

E-Loan Inc., Dublin, Calif., has introduced Loan Advisor, the latest addition to its family of products offering consumer debt advice.The product helps solve debt-related problems by asking about objectives, credit scores, loan details, and tax information in order to recommend a loan that offers the lowest payments or the lowest after-tax cost, the company said. The recommendation takes into account key parameters such as the loan-to-value ratio, credit, actual closing costs, and available interest rates. "The Loan Advisor helps consumers by weighing all options available to them and providing an unbiased recommendation on the lowest-cost solution for their individual scenario," said Joe Kennedy, president and chief executive officer of E-Loan. "It is, to the best of our knowledge, the most sophisticated debt advice tool ever developed." The company can be found on the Web at http://www.eloan.com.

MERS OnLine, Vienna, Va., has reported the registration of its one millionth loan.MERS OnLine, which was introduced in May 2000, is the Internet-based access point to the MERS System, enabling members to perform all transactions in an online, real-time environment. It was created as an alternative to a client-server based system, eliminating the need to buy proprietary software and licensing agreements when registering loans on the system, MERS said. "One million loans registered on MERS OnLine signifies a growing acceptance by small- to medium-sized lenders of the MERS System," said R.K. Arnold, president and chief executive officer of MERS. MERS can be found on the Internet at http://www.mersinc.org.

Fidelity National Financial Inc., Irvine, Calif., has increased its stake in LendingTree Inc., Charlotte, N.C., by purchasing 1.84 million shares of preferred stock held by a unit of Capital Z Financial Services Partners.This stock can be converted into 2.0 million shares of LendingTree common stock. The price paid was not disclosed. Prior to the deal, FNF held 1.6 million shares of LendingTree common stock. FNF and its affiliates now own 12.4% of the total voting stock in the company. Capital Z remains LendingTree's largest shareholder, owning 15.4% of the voting stock. "We feel that LendingTree is a compelling strategic partner for our comprehensive suite of real estate settlement products and services," said FNF chairman and chief executive William P. Foley II. Capital Z is also a significant shareholder in Aames Financial Corp., the Los Angeles-based subprime lender. LendingTree can be found on the Web at http://www.lendingtree.com.

Finali Corp., Westminster, Colo., has announced an agreement to provide outsourced customer care to First Franklin Financial Corp., a subprime mortgage lender based in San Jose, Calif.The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under the arrangement, Finali's customer care agents will respond to queries and will be complemented by their netSage Virtual Agent on First Franklin's website. The live agents will provide outbound communication to screen applicants and route them to the appropriate loan officers at First Franklin. "Our industry is booming, and we were looking for an innovative way to increase our capacity to handle increased volume without making significant investments in infrastructure," said First Franklin managing director Carole McCormick. "At First Franklin, we believe we've found a unique offering in Finali's combination of customer service experts with its virtual assistants." The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.finali.com and http://www.first-franklin.com.

LION Inc., Seattle, has formed an alliance with Silver Spring, Md.-based LoanRover Decision Systems that will see LoanRover's subprime decision engine distributed to LION's network of mortgage originators and lenders.LION says its network includes over 6,500 mortgage brokers, 250 lenders, and 20,000 limited members, all of whom will now have access to LoanRover's software. The multilender decision engine will allow broker members of LION's network to submit a file and receive instantly priced, conditional loan approvals from subprime lenders. LION said this move would put the company closer to its goal of providing a turnkey mortgage technology system. LION already offers lead generation, websites, loan search services, and loan processing software. The companies can be found online at http://www.lioncorp.net and http://www.loanrover.com.

Factual Data Corp., Loveland, Colo., has been chosen by Bankers Systems Inc., St. Cloud, Minn., to provide credit services to its ARTA Lending Documentation system clients on an exclusive basis.Together, the two firms will offer the ARTA Lending Credit Bureau Access Module, which will allow ARTA users to order merged credit reports from the main credit bureau repositories using their own repository codes. The new module will allow users to complete the credit application, send the request, and receive the credit information without having to exit from ARTA Lending. The companies did not specify when the new module would be ready for the market. Factual Data's website address is http://www.factualdata.com.

Primedia Inc., a media publishing company, has acquired Boston-based Domania Inc., the struggling technology firm that uses Web-based consumer "bait" to help lenders stave portfolio runoff.Domania, provides home price information to consumers and customer retention services to Countrywide, IndyMac and other lenders, but had come dangerously close to running out of cash. Primedia is a leading targeted content and integrated marketing solutions company in both the consumer and business-to-business sectors, with 2001 sales from continuing businesses of $1.6 billion.

TradeWeb LLC has reported that it has set a new record in trading more than $200 billion in to-be-announced mortgage-backed securities during October.The company said it also set a daily trading volume record during the month when more than $19 billion traded in a single day. TradeWeb can be found on the Web at tradeweb.com.

ABN Amro, Ann Arbor, Mich., has reported that changes to its mortgage.com consumer website in September have let to a 90% increase in loan approvals and a 76% jump in rate locks.The revised website now features dynamic questioning to speed the loan application process, immediate access to credit data, instant loan approvals and rate locks, and information for consumers researching home loan options. The dynamic-questioning feature reduced the number of questions asked of mortgage.com's loan applicants by up to 80% from its previous application process, by asking only those questions that are important for that particular customer, the company said. Garth E. Graham, ABN Amro's senior vice president of electronic commerce, said simplifying the loan application process and the company's OneFee program are keys to the company's online success. ABN Amro's consumer website address is http://www.mortgage.com.

GMAC-Residential Funding Corp., Minneapolis, has entered into an agreement to use Toronto-basedBasis100 Inc.'s Solimar Valuation Technology. GMAC-RFC, an equity investor inBasis100, will employ the Solimar technology as one of its automated valuation model vendors to secure automatedproperty valuations for loan purchase decisions and for enhanced appraisal diligence. Solimar Valuation Technologyprovides an estimated value for a specific residential property in real time, via the Internet. The companies'website addresses are http://www.basis100.com and http://www.gmacrfc.com.

Dorado Corp., San Mateo, Calif., says it will provide an online collaborative environment for mortgagebrokers who have been approved by GreenPoint Mortgage, New York, as part of a product and service agreement betweenthe two companies. Dorado, an application service provider, will contribute itsRelationship Commerce Platform and an e-Collaborator portal application that has been configured for wholesalemortgage lending. More than 15,000 approved brokers will be able to access GreenPoint's specialty loan productsusing the service, Dorado said. GreenPoint Mortgage is a subsidiary of GreenPoint Financial Corp. The companies'website addresses are http://www.dorado.com and http://www.greenpoint.com.

Precept, Oakland, Calif., has announced the development of a commercial mortgage origination systemand said it has started accepting deals. Precept is an exchange designed for brokers, mortgage lenders, and borrowers.Both Standard & Poor's and Morgan Stanley have made investments in Precept,the company said. Morgan Stanley has agreed to act as a "market maker," effectively ensuring that therewill be bids on certain types of loans. S&P has approved Precept's underwriting process and agreed to providean independent assessment of underwritten cash flow for loans auctioned on the system. The company's website addressis http://www.preceptmortgage.com.

McCracken Financial Software Inc., the Billerica, Mass.-based subsidiary of GMAC Commercial Holding Corp., said a newly formed subsidiary has purchased substantially all the assets of Univest Financial Services LLC for an undisclosed amount. McCracken's subsidiary will use the Univest name, and the executive staffs at both companies will remain the same. McCracken president Frank McCracken said Univest's O2S browser-based underwriting system "complements our existing suite and is in line with our strategy of offering browser-based, ASP solutions." The companies' website addresses are http://www.mccrackenfs.com, http://www.ufsnet.com, and http://www.gmaccm.com.

Cipher Data Resources, Santa Ana, Calif., and Ellie Mae Inc., Pleasanton, Calif., have entered intoa marketing partnership to provide the Cipher1 tax analysis software program to Ellie Mae's customer base of mortgageindustry professionals. Instant access to Cipher1, the first tax analysis programto be offered through Ellie Mae, is available to mortgage professionals who use the Ellie Mae Business Center viaa direct Cipher Data link, the companies said. The companies maintain that the addition of Cipher1 to Ellie Maetools and resources will save time and minimize work disruption. The companies' website addresses are http://www.cipherdata.com and http://www.elliemae.com.

LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Richmond, Va., has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, LandAmerica OneStop,will acquire Primis Inc., an Atlanta-based provider of online real estate-related services. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. LandAmerica OneStop provides coordinated title and RE-relatedservices to lenders, builders, real estate agents, and Internet aggregators. Charles H. Foster Jr., chairman andchief executive officer of LandAmerica, said Primis's appraisal unit in the past two years "has gained considerablemarket share, providing a full range of electronic services across the country while building one of the largestappraisal databases of geographically dispersed property information." Primis CEO James Schaper will becomeCEO of LandAmerica OneStop after the merger of Primis into its operations, and the company will be based in Primis'sAtlanta headquarters. Major title and closing fulfillment service centers will be located in Richmond, Va.; Dallas;and Orange County, California. The companies' website addresses are http://www.landam.com and http://www.primis.com.

Capital Z Financial Services Fund II, New York, has purchased approximately 1.2 million shares ofLendingTree common stock at $7.98 per share and received warrants to purchase an additional 360,000 shares of commonstock at the same price, for a total investment of $10 million. The investmentincreases Capital Z's position as LendingTree's largest shareholder from 21.2% to 26.2%. Capital Z retains theright to receive additional shares of LendingTree common stock at a lower price if LendingTree raises additionalfunds. LendingTree's website address is http://www.lendingtree.com.

Dorado, San Mateo, Calif., and OnePipeline, Salt Lake City, have announced that they will integrateOnePipeline's third-party automated loan origination compliance system and Dorado's relationship commerce technologyinto Web-based sales and marketing systems for real estate offices. The serviceis designed to enable real estate agents to begin the loan origination process for clients, collaborate via theInternet with a broker's affiliate mortgage company, and receive compensation for the services they provide. Thecompanies said the offering will allow real estate agents to meet all state and federal laws and professional regulationswhile performing loan origination services. The companies' website addresses are http://www.dorado.com and http://www.onepipeline.com .

TradeWeb LLC, New York, has expanded its services to allow institutional investors to trade U.S.agency-issued securities and selected securities of supranational issuers with TradeWeb dealers. The product launch follows a four-month beta test that included live trading between six major bond dealersand more than 50 institutional investors, the company said. Trading volume exceeded $6 billion per month, and involvedsecurities issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Federal Home Loan Banks, the World Bank, the Inter-American DevelopmentBank, and the Asian Development Bank. The six global investment banks that took part in the beta test -- CreditSuisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, and Salomon SmithBarney -- have agreed to act as market makers for the new online agency market. "The U.S. Agency market, with morethan $1.7 trillion of debt outstanding and new, large bond issues coming on a regular basis, is a huge market opportunityfor TradeWeb," said Jim Toffey, president and chief executive officer of TradeWeb.

Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wis., has announced the acquisition of National Flood Services Inc., Kalispell,Mont., a provider of flood policy administration services to the insurance industry. Theterms of the deal were not disclosed. NFS is a third-party administrator for companies participating in the NationalFlood Insurance Program. Fiserv is a provider of information technology to the financial industry. Its websiteaddress is http://www.fiserv.com.