Technology

The Mortgage Bankers Association on Monday laid off about 16% of its workforce - about 20 full-timers - including four of its vice presidents. A spokeswoman for the trade group said the layoffs "were across the board" affecting all of its departments, including communications, government, marketing and research. Since last year MBA has lost about 30% of its staff. After the cutbacks the organization will employ about 110. Recently, mortgage technology vendors said MBA would eliminate its annual technology trade show to save money, but the spokeswoman shot down such talk in part. It is unlikely the MBA will hold a standalone technology show, but rather fold technology into its other shows or do smaller regional technology shows. Its membership ranks have been hurt by the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression, resulting in hundreds of non-banks and depositories closing their doors over the past 18 months. The trade group has been criticized by members and past employees for two large, somewhat recent blunders: building a new $100 million headquarters in Washington and then struggling to lease out its empty floors. It also merged with a subprime lending trade group, most of whose lending members have failed. Discussing the office building, one former MBA executive said, "They basically traded paying the rent for bodies." The executive, requesting anonymity, said the staff cuts "will impact a lot of long-term projects they have."

The price gap between homes that sell as REO and the rest of the market is widening, according to a new study by Lender Processing Services. Prior to 2007 the difference in prices was slim, said LPS, a mortgage software company based in Jacksonville, Fla. Using a home price index that it developed, LPS conducted a study of changes in regional home prices between 2007 and 2008 in the nation's top housing markets. "In general, markets that experienced sharp drops in home prices in 2008 also saw deeper REO discounts," said LPS senior vice president Nima Nattagh. The largest drop in prices of REO sales were found in Riverside County, Calif. In 2008 home prices fell 28% there compared to 2007. However, when REO sales are factored in, prices fell by 34%. Home prices declined by 29% during 2008 in Phoenix where analysts cite significant overbuilding. When REO sales were excluded from the analysis, though, the price decline was less severe at 19% year over year. The gap between home prices with and without REO sales was smallest in Seattle, New York and Cambridge, Mass. While the Western states and Michigan and Florida saw double-digit declines in home prices, other regions have fared much better. But further deterioration in the housing market will most likely deepen the REO discount levels in these markets, LPS said.

The Treasury Department has explained how to use a new website that allows homeowners to learn about Obama administration's new housing plan and whether they can qualify for a loan modification.The new MakingHomeAffordable.gov website has a calculator that allows homeowners to estimate how they could benefit from a modification. "Be sure to check out the calculator that allows homeowners to estimate the reduction to their monthly mortgage that they might get under the plan," a White House blog says. Meanwhile, agency officials are working on a net present value (NPV) test that servicers will use to determine if a loan should be modified. They plan to roll out a standard NPV model soon that provides some flexibility for servicers. For example, a servicer with a low re-default rate would not have to use the national rate.

SigniaDocs and World Wide Notary have integrated their platforms to support e-signatures and e-notarizations for any mortgage document or document set. The integration of data, from the loan origination systems through MERS registration, aims to eliminate errors that otherwise might result from fragmented paper-based systems. The resulting blend of capabilities allows lenders essentially to avoid printing mortgage documents requiring signatures by borrowers, so mortgage transactions can remain electronic from start to finish. At the MBA Technology Conference in Las Vegas, SigniaDocs said that by using SigniaDocs' eVault, all documents that are traditionally "papered out" and reviewed during the closing process are now available in advance of closing. Borrowers can review and click-to-sign the majority of documents at their leisure and then the few that need to be e-notarized or witnessed by a notary are passed to World Wide Notary's DigaSign system to complete the documents through this partnership.

Kroll Factual Data and MIAC Analytics formed an alliance at the MBA Technology Conference in Las Vegas to provide whole loan collateral risk assessment to mortgage investors and risk managers. The alliance provides real-time risk metrics to help MIAC's clients measure fundamental risks, said Paul Van Valkenburg, principal at MIAC. He said it also provides customers with current loan value and borrower credit information that allows them to manage portfolio risk accurately and in a timely manner. Specifically, the alliance can deliver information within hours that once took days or weeks, Mr. Van Valkenburg said. Kroll Factual Data assesses consumer data to help clients evaluate loan characteristics and transfer risk. MIAC Analytics' software products assist with deriving loan loss reserve calculations, pricing and valuation of mortgage-based assets and other-than-temporary impairment for securities.

Lenders delivering loans to the Federal Housing Administration can now manage the process online through Xerox Corp.'s BlitzDocs electronic collaboration tool. A big problem for lenders that are paperless or want to become paperless is that FHA has 20% to 40% market share and they don't have e-mortgage standards. So, at the MBA Technology Conference in Las Vegas, BlitzDocs launched an FHA connector. BlitzDocs helps lenders and investors reduce document-related costs by capturing and managing image-based loan documents. There is now a connector in BlitzDocs to FHA that will allow lenders to either go or remain paperless when dealing with FHA. BlitzDocs will do the conversion required to deliver an acceptable loan to FHA.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac officials are expressing concerns that the American Securitization Forum's efforts to draft consensus secondary market standards could potentially create another mortgage identification standard outside of the MERS Mortgage Identification Number and cause confusion in the industry. ASF has been seeking comment on delivery standards that are still under construction and may or may not include the MERS MIN. The ASF declined to comment on the issue. Each loan registered on MERS is given a unique MIN that identifies that loan. At present, the MIN and registering the e-note on MERS is mandated by both GSEs if they will accept an e-mortgage from any lender. Speaking at the Mortgage Bankers Association's Technology Conference in Las Vegas, Ted Adams of Freddie Mac stressed, "The MIN works and we're using it. The introduction of another loan identification number as purposed by ASF would be confusing." To combat the potential of the MIN being rendered obsolete by anything the ASF creates, R.K. Arnold, president and CEO at MERS, urged lenders to adopt e-processes and use the MIN, arguing that if usage is mainstream, the ASF will have to recognize the validity of the current MIN.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac officials are expressing concerns that the American Securitization Forum's efforts to draft consensus secondary market standards could potentially create another mortgage identification standard outside of the MERS Mortgage Identification Number and cause confusion in the industry. ASF has been seeking comment on delivery standards that are still under construction and may or may not include the MERS MIN. The ASF declined to comment on the issue. Each loan registered on MERS is given a unique MIN that identifies that loan. At present, the MIN and registering the e-note on MERS is mandated by both GSEs if they will accept an e-mortgage from any lender. Speaking at the Mortgage Bankers Association's Technology Conference in Las Vegas, Ted Adams of Freddie Mac stressed that, "The MIN works and we're using it. The introduction of another loan identification number as purposed by ASF would be confusing." To combat the potential of the MIN being rendered obsolete by anything the ASF creates, R.K. Arnold, president and CEO at MERS, urged lenders to adopt e-processes and use the MIN, arguing that if usage is mainstream, the ASF will have to recognize the validity of the current MIN.

With foreclosures on the rise, the share of Internet inquiries that include the keyword "foreclosure" has jumped in recent weeks, according to HitWise, an online measurement company. The week of Feb. 2 had the highest share, probably because of increased media coverage of the top foreclosure cities, said HitWise research director Heather Dougherty. But queries also jumped in the weeks ending Feb. 28 and March 7 to their second and third highest levels, respectively, in the last three years. Searches for "free foreclosure listings" and "foreclosure listings" topped the list of terms containing the word "foreclosure" for the four weeks ending March 7, which Ms. Dougherty said, "confirms" that many potential buyers are seeking bargains. The downstream sites visited following a keyword search uncovered a number of what HitWise labels as "uncategorized" sites that offer databases. Sites under that label are either too new or too small to be tracked, the Experian subsidiary says. But they nevertheless bear watching as they grow and compete for traffic.

BB&T Corp. has opted to embrace electronic signatures on disclosures and pre-closing documents.The company has chosen the Secure Lending solution from Fiserv for its e-lending purposes. Using the Fiserv solution will enable Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T, the nation's 11th largest financial holding company, to manage workflow with compliance best practices by tracking and retaining all versions of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act three-day disclosures and other pre-closing documents sent to borrowers. The Secure Lending solution electronically streamlines and manages the sharing of upfront loan disclosures with borrowers.