Technology

Experian, Costa Mesa, Calif., has created a suite of "ability to pay" products for use by mortgage lenders and brokers, among other credit grantors. Ability for a borrower to repay the mortgage loan is one of the hot button topics coming out of the mortgage crisis. The first product, Income Insight, provides an estimate of a borrower's individual income utilizing verified income data and proprietary credit bureau attributes. This product complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Experian said. The company targets customers while considering the complete financial picture, it improves risk-management efforts by including modeled debt-to-income ratios and it aims to accurately segment defaulted borrowers to maximize collection processes. Income View is a Web-based tax verification service that provides clients with what it said is reliable IRS 4506-T processing and prompt access to applicants' verified income via the Internal Revenue Service.

Equifax Inc. has acquired Rapid Reporting Verification Co., a privately held fraud detection firm, for $72.5 million in cash. The publicly traded Equifax said having Rapid Reporting in its stable will enhance its ability to provide lenders with "improved products, quality and services to help them better control fraud." RRVC is a specialist in IRS tax transcript information and social security number authentication services. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Rapid Reporting products include IncomeChek, which provides IRS verification of income tax information, and DirectChek, which provides Social Security Administration verification of social security numbers and also meets USA Patriot Act compliance requirements.

Tree Inc., which operates the LendingTree.com website, saw its third quarter revenues fall 17% sequentially but was able to add a $75 million warehouse line of credit. The publicly traded mortgage bank/lead generator lost $7.4 million in the third quarter, compared to a slight profit in 2Q. In the year ago quarter it lost $22.6 million. According to its earnings statement, the company was hurt by what it called "unanticipated items" including $4.2 million in loan loss settlement requests and additional legal costs associated with a lawsuit. Even though the company lost money in the period, revenue at its lending operation — its largest segment by that measure — increased 21% from a year earlier, but fell 34% from the previous quarter to $24.1 million. The company said the decrease was primarily driven by higher interest rates, which led to a 31% drop in loan production, to $620.2 million. Its new warehouse lender is JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Technology provider Lender Processing Services, Inc. plans to give servicers more REO management options through its acquisition of the Chicago-based auction company, Rising Tide Auctions. The move will allow LPS, located in Jacksonville, Fla., to help servicers minimize REO timelines and reduce costs through its new component called LPS Auction Solutions. Buyers and investors will now have the ability to purchase individual or multiple bank-owned properties directly from the nation's leading REO disposition service provider. Servicers working with LPS Auction Solutions will benefit from the company's ability to manage all aspects of the auction process from beginning to end, including data collection, property due diligence, open house showings and the auction event, said Chad Neel, president of LPS Asset Management and Field Services. To help ensure timely REO dispositions, LPS utilizes a broker outreach program to encourage broker participation in the auction events. Web-based technology is used to communicate property details to potential buyers, enables the initiation of pre-emptive sales and allows simultaneous online bidding. Reporting functionality keeps servicers informed by providing access to sales metrics, auction day selling data and post-auction escrow information.

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, Minneapolis has expanded its loss mitigation offering to include state and federal lending compliance consulting services that help servicers avoid discriminatory lending practices when modifying loans. Servicers can use it to ensure they meet all Home Affordable Modification Program fair lending guidelines recently issued by the Treasury Department, according to the company. WKFS said its compliance consultants are available to evaluate existing loan modification policies and procedures and help servicers address fair lending risks, review a sample of completed loan modifications the servicer has completed and denied, and conduct a statistical analysis of all completed modifications to identify modification criteria that might lead the servicer to violate fair lending laws. While modifying loans at risk of default as quickly as possible, servicers also need to make sure everyone is treated fairly and equally in the process, said WKFS senior consultant and statistician Don Morrow. Moreover, regulators are expected to "intensify their scrutiny of servicers' fair lending compliance," he said.

SoundBite Communications, Inc., Bedford, MA, is offering a solution for mortgage servicers participating in the government's Home Affordable Modification Program. The company said its product, the 'SoundBite Making Homes Affordable Accelerator' focuses on four stages in the loan modification process: qualification, processing, trial period and underwriting. The goal is to help mortgage servicers increase the number of modifications started and completed, as well as help improve borrower experience, said Matt Edmunds, vice president of financial services and collections at SoundBite. Multiple channels allow users to collect missing documents, verify information, and send automated reminders about trial modification payments. Proactive communication with qualified borrowers helps lower operating costs by minimizing the need for inbound calls.

UnitedTech Lender Services of California has purchased the assets of LandAmerica OneStop, which includes the company's default services division and a related technology platform called "BackInTheBlack" for an undisclosed sum. The sale comes about a year after LandAmerica Financial Group, the title insurance parent of OneStop, filed for bankruptcy protection in Virginia. Tim Walsh, president of UTLS, said the acquisition would help the company offer integrated default and technology servicing solutions to mortgage bankers. The former LandAmerica business units will be remarketed as UTLS Default Services and UTLS BackInTheBlack.

Kroll Factual Data has released an Independent Verification Solution, which helps lenders comply with the proposed FHA credit policy changes announced on Sept. 18, 2009. Under the proposed guidelines, mortgage brokers will no longer receive independent FHA approval for origination eligibility, but will instead be required to originate through an FHA approved lender. Since FHA approved lenders will carry the liability for broker-originated loans, they need to bolster their verification process to support the additional volume that will come from the correspondent channel, said Loveland, Colo.-based Kroll Factual Data in a prepared statement. Adding to this new strain on scarce underwriting and quality control resources is a new rule for FHA streamlined refinances which requires lender certification of the borrower's capacity to pay at the time of application. Kroll Factual Data will deliver capacity-to-pay verifications. According to Kroll Factual Data, the detailed billing and reporting that is included with the service increases traceability and transparency for Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act compliance. To give lenders an extra measure of protection against the risk of errors, Kroll Factual Data's verifications are backed by representations and warrantees of accuracy. Lenders can customize the solution to include additional types of verifications and risk assessment analytics as required for their specific risk management program.

Specialty servicer Wingspan Portfolio Advisors in Carrollton, Texas, is partnering with National Claims Filing LLC, Irvine, Calif., to automate the handling of claims audits and compliant filings with bankruptcy courts across the country. With bankruptcies rising quickly, the company says lenders and servicers need accuracy in filing the necessary "proof of claim" forms and exhibits in order to protect their rights when borrowers seek bankruptcy protection. Proof of claims are the basic forms used in bankruptcy proceedings that establish the validity of a lender's "standing" in the eyes of the court. Without an accurate and approved POC, a lender's access to proceeds from the sale of their mortgaged property can be denied or delayed, despite the lender's possession of documents signed at the time the loan was originated. National Claims Filing provides an automated POC preparation and risk management system. The system is designed to prepare the POC, attach all supporting documentation, and file the claim with the correct court in accordance with that court's specific filing conventions. Thus far in 2009, Chapter 13 filings rose 10.9% over 2008 levels, while Chapter 7 filings rose by 46.3%. These increases indicate that over two million borrowers will have declared bankruptcy in 2009, potentially representing over $400 billion in mortgage balances, said Wingspan CEO Steve Horne. Prior to this partnership, proofs were mostly done manually at Wingspan, which has 14 clients and specialty services over 7,000 loans at present.

In the latest step in its "green" initiative, Credit Plus Inc., Salisbury, Md., will allow supporting documents for corrections of inaccuracies on credit files to be directly uploaded into its system. In the past, explained Greg Holmes, national director of sales and marketing, this had been more of a manual process, with the documentation faxed or e-mailed in. Now, Credit Plus operates more efficiently, with all the information on one screen. The green initiative started three or four years ago at Credit Plus with e-fax. In June 2008, customers started receiving a one-page invoice with a link to a secure website to review account details. This initiative alone, Credit Plus said, saves 30 reams of paper a month. Mr. Holmes, interviewed at the MBA convention in San Diego, said the company would be rolling out in the next year a new technology that will contribute to a paperless disclosure delivery environment.