Technology

eLynx, Cincinnati, has launched an electronic closing network (eCN) service that lenders can integrate into their closing process to increase loan quality and provide more control in order to meet the government's new demands for more accurate closings. The launch, which came at the annual MBA show, is designed to help lenders ensure that borrowers and settlement agents have a better experience at the closing table. The technology firm said a top five U.S. lender/servicer is now using the eCN but did not name the company.

Global DMS, Lansdale, Pa., has unveiled a new technology tool that allows lenders to transfer and receive Home Valuation Code of Conduct compliant appraisals. Announced at the Mortgage Bankers Association convention in San Diego, the tool, AppraisalTransfer.com, is an online portal that hopes to solve the "portability issue" of appraisals, said Global DMS chief operations officer Matt McHale. While it is permissible to transfer appraisals, lenders are reluctant to do so, he said. Even if there is portability it is usually just a transfer between users of the same appraisal management company. With AppraisalTransfer.com the goal, said Mr. McHale, is to allow any lender to have access to the appraisal. (There is no charge to the lender.)

Pointing to a significant rise in income fraud, Rapid Reporting has launched AccountChek, an electronic verification of deposit service that helps lenders, brokers and servicers detect financial account misrepresentations. Unveiled at the MBA show, AccountChek leverages direct access to more than 10,000 financial institutions, including insurance and investment firms, to confirm the accuracy of borrower-provided account information. The company says AccountChek automatically analyzes each account for suspicious activities that could indicate potential mortgage fraud.

The MBA put out a 'request for proposal' to build a national fraud database only to later shelve the idea, but MERSCORP Inc. and Interthinx have moved ahead, deciding the issue is too important to ignore. At the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention the pair launched a national fraud prevention database that will allow lenders to seek, identify, and share suspected fraudulent activity on loan applications from the point of origination. The companies said MERS FraudALERT will help identify and prevent fraud through the sharing and reporting of key data among the more than 62 million loans currently registered on the MERS system. Lenders can submit loan application data and incident reports with suspected or confirmed fraudulent activity to a centralized database. The system will then notify other lenders who have connections to the loans, alerting them of possible problems.

Freddie Mac will now accept MISMO Version 3.0 standards around appraisal and loan delivery, joining Fannie Mae, which it said it would earlier this year. Specifically, Freddie has started the planning process for adopting MISMO Version 3.0 for loan delivery. Freddie said it is "exploring a fourth-quarter 2010 implementation date and will communicate additional details about our plans in the near future." The GSE called the migration to an industry-wide data standard "key to supporting a more consistent and efficient mortgage lending process, including streamlining the exchange of loan data among all industry participants." During the transition process Freddie will continue to support the current loan delivery format to provide lenders with time to adopt the new standard. MISMO Version 3.0 is schema-based and offers greater transparency and visibility in every aspect of a given loan.

Griff Straw, a veteran of 30 years in the mortgage banking industry, has joined appraisal management company Solidifi U.S., Chicago, as the company's president. Most recently he was a regional vice president for United Guaranty and prior to joining that company worked for Freddie Mac where he held management roles on several technology-related initiatives. In his new job, Mr. Straw will lead Solidifi as it looks to expand on its valuation services offerings in this country. Solidifi U.S.'s parent company is headquartered in Toronto and has been in business since 2004; in October 2008 it entered the U.S. market.

REOTrans, Los Angeles, is changing its name to Equator in order to facilitate the expansion of its technology solution, which automates and connects the residential default servicing industry. The transition is slated to take place at yearend, according to Chris Saitta, the company's CEO. "The company chose the name to represent its scope and purpose," he said. "The Equator is comprehensive yet precise and a point of change." The technology platform includes a configurable workstation, a marketplace, transactional web site, and a borrower self-service portal. Users of the system currently include 15,000 default vendors and 625,000 real estate agents to manage more than 150,000 transactions daily.

First American CoreLogic, Santa Ana, Calif., is offering current and potential clients a "2X mortgage fraud guarantee." The guarantee claims users will identify twice the level of potential fraud using First American CoreLogic's fraud detection technology than when using technology from any other fraud solutions vendor, or the trial period will be free. The guarantee states lenders will save twice as much in fraud losses and that the savings will be at least twice as much as the cost of the solution. First American CoreLogic will work with clients to develop either a production trial or retrospective testing program for measuring its patented pattern-recognition anti-fraud technology. If the fraud-detection technology doesn't identify a minimum of twice the loss savings over products from its competitors and deliver a 200% return on investment during the measurement time period, the cost of scoring the loans will not be charged.

Vital Financial has named long-time mortgage technologist Cy Brinn as a principal. Previously, he was the president of Metavante Lending Solutions. Going forward, using Mr. Brinn's market knowledge, Vital will find, analyze and structure private equity and venture capital investments in areas including mortgage technology. Mr. Brinn is also a finalist for the 2009 Mortgage Technology magazine Steve Fraser Visionary Award, which goes to a technology visionary and evangelizer. The award ceremony is scheduled for Oct. 11, at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association being held San Diego.

Nations REO Inc., a division of Foreclosure Management Co., located in Overland Park, Kan., has chosen to use DepotPoint Inc.'s TrackPoint platform to power its REO workflow and property management operations. The TrackPoint platform allows Nations REO to scale on demand, improve its operational efficiency and lower its total cost of managing properties for its clients, the company said. The REO application is one of a set of default management applications offered by DepotPoint. The applications are used for short sales, foreclosure and loan modification. Large mortgage lenders, servicers and private equity firms work with Nations REO to scale their businesses to dispose of the growing number of bank-owned foreclosure properties.