Technology

Tree.com Inc. has entered into a limited extension of its $50 million mortgage warehouse line at its LendingTree Loans operation in Irvine, Calif. One of its warehouse line providers, PNC Bank, had previously said it was exiting the warehouse business and existing lines would expire at the end of their current terms. The Tree.com facility had an original term running through Dec. 29, 2009 and is now available for funding newly originated agency and FHA loans through March 31, 2010. Matt Packey, Tree.com's CFO, stated, "This brief extension, coupled with our two other warehouse lines, enables us to maintain flexibility as we evaluate our longer-term needs and options with respect to our warehouse capacity requirements."

The volume of requests for conforming loans submitted online to Zillow's Mortgage Marketplace last week dropped 26% from the prior week. Last week 63% of requests were for purchase loans, 35% were for refinances and 2% were for home equity loans, according to Zillow. The week previous to last Zillow said 55% of requests were for purchase loans, 43% of requests were for refis and 2% were for home equity product.

Document preparation vendor DocuTech has partnered with LOS Wipro Gallagher Solutions to more tightly integrate compliant documents into the lender's origination platform. The integration enables lenders to generate compliant documents and disclosures from any Web connection. NetOxygen Cirrus is WGS' Web-based LOS that enables lenders to take advantage of a streamlined service to enter, monitor and maintain loans through a scalable platform hosted by WGS. The integration with DocuTech's ConformX allows for the streamlined deployment of a more end-to end, enterprise wide LOS. This integration also provides users with internal compliance and document services, including support for disclosures.

International Document Services Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, expects state mandated high-cost audits to become a more time-consuming concern for mortgage lenders in 2010. State-specific high-cost regulations should be a source of concern for lenders, according to IDS president Curt Doman. The company is advising lenders to test their ability to provide evidence that meets and satisfies state-specific requirements.

The closure of ISGN Solutions Inc.'s acquisition of Fiserv Inc.'s loan fulfillment services business is helping the former company move forward with its larger plans to reorganize, according to an ISGN spokeswoman. The deal, slated to close in November, took slightly longer simply because of holiday season delays, the spokeswoman told NMN. The company's larger reorganization refocuses servicing and origination functions for marketing purposes, she said. This was done to mirror the organization structure of the lending industry, the company serves, according to the spokeswoman.

Origination vendor Ellie Mae has acquired compliance provider Mavent for an undisclosed sum, National Mortgage News has learned. "In terms of what's going on in the industry, it was an opportunity that came along and fits strategically with what we think our clients need," Jonathan Corr, chief strategy officer at Ellie Mae told NMN. Employees from both companies will be merged. Mavent president Lou Pizante initially will stay to oversee the transition, but his future with the company is not decided, said Mr. Corr. "We're integrating the two organizations. Lou will work through the transition." Mavent analyzes electronic mortgage loan data to determine whether a mortgage transaction complies with over 330 federal and state consumer protection laws related to mortgage lending.

Automated underwriting and pricing engine provider PriceMyLoan and advisory firm Mortgage Capital Trading are introducing an interface that links their technologies and allows for pipeline hedging. The Automated Loan Pipeline Hedges and Analysis interface feeds loan pricing data from the former's AU and pricing engine into the latter's proprietary hedging model. The interface is designed to automatically update the hedging model when a lender locks in a rate.

Fannie Mae is raising its minimum credit score to 620 from 580 and lowering its maximum debt-to-income ratio to 45% to reduce future defaults. These underwriting changes go into effect the weekend of Dec. 12 as part of an update to Desktop Underwriter - Fannie's automated underwriting system. "The adjustments reflect careful analysis of a borrower's ability to repay their mortgage obligation over the life of the loan," said Fannie spokesman Brian Faith. Fannie claims that borrowers with credit scores below 620 are generally nine times more likely to become seriously delinquent than other borrowers. In modifying loans, "we have seen too many borrowers where their other consumer debt has jeopardized their success at homeownership," Mr. Faith said. He noted that none of these changes apply to Fannie's Refi Plus program, which provides a streamlined refinancing option for existing Fannie borrowers that have loan-to-value ratios greater than 80% and up to 125%.

Phoenix-based CCG Catalyst now offers contract negotiation services to financial institutions for vendors such as loan origination systems, servicing and online banking providers. As banks seek ways to cut costs, many are looking to contract negotiations with their existing vendors as a way to streamline operating expenses. In the case of contracts that were signed during prosperous times in the industry, institutions are looking at renewals in regards to their decreased budgets and investigating whether they are receiving enough value from their investment. CCG Catalyst has found significant savings for institutions that enter into early renewal talks with their vendors. The service also helps to assess if an organization has gone too far with concession requests so a vendor no longer views the business as profitable.

CredStar, a credit information provider for credit unions and the mortgage lenders, has been cleared to sell to its customer base the Encore report from First American Credco. Encore, CredStar said, is a consumer reporting solution that delivers Fair Credit Reporting Act-compliant risk analysis for critical elements of the mortgage application and servicing processes. CredStar is also part of the First American family. Encore gives users a "decisionable" view of the consumer and lending transaction, including applicant credit risk, identity verification, applicant income and employment verification, subject property and market data. Encore searches public, private and proprietary data sources covering 99% of the population, over 100 million active loans and more than 600 million consumer data records. A customizable rules-based analysis of the data is provided, along with recommended actions.