Technology

Interthinx has integrated its fraud prevention system with MortgageDashboard's loan origination system. The integration enables MortgageDashboard to offer customers an interface with automatic screening for potential fraudulent activity, according to the Agoura Hills, Calif.-based company. BenchMark Mortgage was recently introduced to MortgageDashboard's expanded loan origination system.

Woodward Asset Capital LLC, Southfield, Mich. has launched OfferSubmission.com, a web-based software program geared toward firms that want to sell assets, including mortgages. Woodward is marketing the program to banks, servicers, GSEs, private equity firms and hedge funds.

Byte Software, Kirkland, Wash., has released the BytePro Loan Modification Edition, designed to help servicers process modifications under the Treasury Department's Home Affordable Modification Program. The BytePro Loan Modification Edition allows servicers to process HMP modifications from initial borrower contact through completion of the modification. The company says the software calculates the interest rate, term, and balance of the modified loan in accordance with Treasury mandates. For loans that do not qualify for the HMP program, the software provides the ability to modify loans according to the lender's own parameters.

Byte Software, Kirkland, Wash., has released the BytePro Loan Modification Edition, designed to help servicers process modifications under the Treasury's Home Affordable Modification Program (HMP). The BytePro Loan Modification Edition allows servicers to process HMP modifications from initial borrower contact through completion of the modification. It automatically calculates the interest rate, term, and balance of the modified loan in accordance with Treasury mandates, and it produces all the documents that must be executed by the borrower and servicer. For loans that do not qualify for the HMP program, the software provides the ability to modify loans according to the lender's own parameters.

Lend America, Melville, N.Y., has launched a new website for institutional investors looking to monetize their distressed residential mortgage portfolios. The company, a Ginnie Mae issuer, has been working to help institutional investors monetize portfolios by using the government's Hope for Homeowners program to handle loans that meet that program's expanding qualifications. The company has been one of the most aggressive in its use of the H4H program and recently said it was one of the first to complete to a "satisfactory" level the Department of Housing and Urban Development's pre-closing review period for direct endorsement of the H4H program. This allows it to underwrite, close and insure H4H deals without prior HUD review. The new website can be found at http://www.refiportfolio.com.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. is recommending daily trade netting for to be announced mortgage-backed securities transactions. The DTCC said the move would cut what have been high costs in processing the trades and increase risk protection for the market. "The idea is to streamline the somewhat complex current `balance order' netting process," said Murray Pozmanter, DTCC's managing director, clearance and settlement/fixed income. "The industry's process today requires trading firms to allocate pools of mortgages against the TBA obligations we establish, and then to settle all those pools with multiple counterparties at different prices." He said the DTCC is recommending this be changed to a process where trades would be netted daily and the DTCC's Fixed Income Clearing Corp. subsidiary would "step in as the allocation and settlement counterparty." Currently, MBS trades are netted only once a month, beginning 72 hours prior to the monthly settlement date established for each kind of TMBA security. Because this forces trading firms to meet a netting cut-off on the "72 hour day," the number of trades incorporated in the current netting process can be limited, according to a DTCC report.

Compliance and risk management vendor ComplianceEase has launched HMDA Analyze and CRA Manager to enable mortgage lenders to manage the analysis and reporting that is required by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and the Community Reinvestment Act. The new offerings are hosted and Web-based HMDA and CRA solutions that therefore do not require in-house IT hardware maintenance and software updates. The new applications will enable the user to edit loan records, conduct dynamic analysis, and generate the Loan Application Register (LAR) and other reports for regulators from anywhere, and in real time given that both applications are completely Web based.

ServiceLink, a provider of origination and default services and the national mortgage services platform of Fidelity National Financial, has begun offering loan modification and refinance services for lenders and servicers offering loan products under the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan. Fidelity has integrated title data into the company's SmartConneXion title decision engine, providing immediate title decisions to clients at significantly reduced costs, said Jeff Coury, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh, Penn.-based ServiceLink. "Packaged with ServiceLink's Web-based closing solution, iClose and its e-signature feature, the unique product offerings maximize both cost and service efficiencies for customers conforming with recent GSE guidelines for such loans, including DU RefiPlus and Refi Plus Refinance programs." ServiceLink's technology, staffing models and customized processes allow each mortgage lender and servicer to integrate its loan fulfillment services with a customer's existing foreclosure prevention processes. The company offers a full suite of title and HVCC-compliant valuation products, signing services that include mail-away, electronic signing, mobile closings, and centralized disbursement and recordation services.

Fair Isaac — the company behind the most commonly used credit scoring system in the nation — has launched a new website that tells consumers if they qualify for a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan modification under the Obama Administration's plan. The website asks the borrower 15 basic questions about their mortgage including the identity of their servicer. The GSEs launched similar initiatives a few weeks ago. The "Making Home Affordable" effort aims to modify or refinance up to 9 million GSE borrowers who are either underwater on their loans or have little in the way of refi options.

Automated compliance vendor Wolters Kluwer Financial Services notes that substantial regulatory changes have already been made, but lawmakers are in the process of debating additional legislation that would help protect consumers even more aggressively. Wolters Kluwer's compliance experts agree that development alone has already changed the mood within the financial services industry. "Regulators are feeling much more empowered than they were during the previous administration," said Edward Kramer, executive vice president for Regulatory Programs at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. "More stringent regulatory exams, a rising number of enforcement actions and the growing number of financial institution closings during the first quarter of this year are evidence of that." Mr. Kramer said he believes the mortgage reform bill Congress debated last week could be the beginning of major financial services regulatory reform. The bill would fundamentally change the mortgage lending market, placing tighter restrictions on nonprime mortgage lending and lender compensation. Perhaps more importantly, it would require lenders establish what the bill calls a "duty of care" in proving borrowers could repay a loan or that refinancing gave them a net tangible benefit. "The proposed mortgage reform bill combined with numerous regulatory changes already scheduled to take effect this year could likely put financial institutions in a significant crunch," added Amy Downey, senior regulatory consultant at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. "These changes are very different from those of previous years that required a simple update to a document or disclosure. Instead, they will require institutions to change the way they do business. Many institutions are just starting to figure this out and scrambling to adapt."