Technology

Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv Inc. has enhanced capabilities to its Home Retention Solutions offering that enable financial institutions to identify and contact troubled borrowers with customized repayment solutions to try to keep them out of foreclosure. In addition, Fiserv is supporting programs such as Fannie Mae's Home Saver Advance Program, which provides an advance to cover past-due mortgage payments in exchange for a separate, unsecured loan, and the newly introduced Streamlined Modification Program, in which borrowers receive reduced interest rates or longer loan terms to make their payments more affordable. Among the enhancements developed since the initial launch of Home Retention Solutions in June 2008 are "one-touch" customer contact and advanced loss mitigation workflow tools that more fully automate the loan modification process, including secure electronic delivery of modification documents to borrowers with an electronic signature option when available. One-touch contact and the electronic fulfillment of the documents dramatically accelerate the completion of the modification process, even enabling the process to be completed in one phone call with the borrower.

Fiserv, Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire i_Tech Corp., a provider of outsourced account and payment processing services, from First Interstate BancSystem Inc., a multi-state, $6 billion banking organization headquartered in Billings, Montana. The purchase price is $40 million, with an expected closing date of December 31, 2008. i_Tech provides outsourced account processing services as a licensee and reseller of the Fiserv ITI Premier core banking system to financial institutions located primarily in the northern Midwest and West. In addition to account processing services, i_Tech provides its clients with a variety of complementary services including EFT processing and check processing.

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services and MortgageDashboard have integrated Wolters Kluwer Financial Services' Document Services Platform with MortgageDashboard's loan origination system. As a result, lenders using MortgageDashboard's LOS will have access to Wolters Kluwer Financial Services' VMP Mortgage Solutions compliance documents from within the system. The new integration will enable MortgageDashboard users to generate standard and customized closing and initial disclosure documents through Wolters Kluwer Financial Services' Document Services Platform, and then electronically deliver them to borrowers for e-consent and e-signature. The platform also gives lenders the option of completely and securely outsourcing the printing and mailing of paper disclosures when needed or requested by the borrower through Wolters Kluwer Financial Services' SAS 70-certified mail fulfillment center.

Lenders using the LoanQuest loan origination system from MortgageFlex Systems now have easy interface to a broad selection of mortgage insurance providers with an enhancement of the LOS. The ability to exchange "standardized" data promotes a more competitive atmosphere so lending systems are not locked into a single MI vendor and lenders can use their MI company of choice. Lenders utilizing LoanQuest now can select the following mortgage insurers in the loan origination process: Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., United Guaranty Insurance Co., Republic Mortgage Insurance Co., and PMI Mortgage Insurance Co.

Loan Score Decisioning Systems, Irvine, Calif., has launched CommissionPro, a Web-based commission tracking and payout application designed for loan officers, mortgage brokers, sales force management and accounting personnel. CommissionPro automates the administration of commission management - from accounting payout to tracking, forecasting, performance guidance, reporting and the payment of compensation plans. The company says that CommissionPro streamlines processes that are done manually by using Microsoft Excel and internal resources.

Santa Ana, Calif-based First American Document Solutions, realizing the industry need for better post closing due diligence, has launched a new online portal designed to help lenders and servicers reduce their post-closing document management costs and improve investor compliance. The portal, dubbed ePostClosing.com, is a new platform that enables lenders and servicers to handle all of their document retrieval, trailing document, lien release and assignment tasks through a single online system. The platform offers customers instant access to the nation's largest property database, which includes more than 4 billion imaged records and access to a nationwide network of abstractors and field researchers. The services that are available online through ePostClosing.com include nationwide document retrieval, trailing documents and title policy retrieval, lien release services, assignment services, data solution and electronic vaulting.

VirPack has launched a new e-collaboration platform designed to help lenders transition from paper, to paperless, to electronic. The platform is a Web-based system built using C-Sharp programming language on Microsoft's .NET framework. The platform, dubbed Enterprise Center, was designed from the ground up with the particular needs of the correspondent and wholesale lender in mind. New features include multilayered security at user, loan and document levels, Web-based query, viewing, editing and central administration, and a suite of Web-based upload tools for documents and files from remote users, branches, business partners, brokers and even borrowers. Enterprise Center supports a hybrid document environment to ease the transition from paper-based processes to an e-document world. A new scan application allows remote capture with indexing and the new virtual print driver allows users to add content from any application.

OpenClose Solutions has partnered with Costa Mesa, Calif.-based MeridianLink to interface the company's MortgageCreditLink with OpenClose's loan origination software. MeridianLink and OpenClose will enable brokers and wholesale lenders to request and access credit information from any Internet connection and deliver merged credit reports from more than 50 credit reporting agencies. The move allows wholesale lenders and brokers to access to the same credit data. Lenders and brokers using OpenClose's LOS can then directly import the credit information directly into the software, eliminating duplicate data entry.

In response to federal regulators encouraging lenders and servicers to participate in the Federal Housing Administration's HOPE for Homeowners program (H4H), Wolters Kluwer Financial Services has begun to develop a suite of solutions to help financial institutions comply with the program's requirements. The H4H program was created by Congress to help borrowers at risk of default and foreclosure refinance into more affordable and sustainable loans. For borrowers who refinance under H4H, lenders are required to write down the mortgage to the Department of Housing and Urban Development-provided maximum loan-to-value ratio based upon the home's new appraised value. In many instances, lenders will determine that such a reduction in principal allows them to avoid a costly foreclosure, while helping borrowers stay in their homes with an FHA-backed mortgage. Wolters Kluwer Financial Services says it is developing the documents necessary for lenders and servicers to comply with the H4H program's new consumer disclosures and closing package requirements. The documents will be available in electronic or print formats and through the company's document preparation platform. The documents are expected to be available by the end of 2008.

Data-Vision Inc. has signed a non-binding letter of intent to purchase all or substantially all of the operating assets of Netupdate Inc., a Web-based point-of-sale technology provider. No sale price was disclosed. Netupdate is a wholly owned subsidiary of Most Home Corp., a national provider of online customer service solutions for the mortgage and real estate industries. The acquisition of Netupdate http://www.netupdate.com will strategically advance the accessibility and quality of Data-Vision's integrated Internet lending technologies. Data-Vision's goal is to come to market with a suite of Web portal and e-lending solutions, complete with capabilities such as online origination, point-of-sale, lead capture, instant decisioning, product selection, initial disclosures and secure electronic document delivery. Data-Vision can be found on the Web at http://www.d-vision.com.