Technology

ISGN Technologies Ltd., a mortgage technology provider based in Bensalem, Pa., has announced a rebranding of MortgageHub and Dynatek as well as all its other subsidiary companies. ISGN said software providers MortgageHub and Dynatek will be known as ISGN; onDemand service provider Inuva and Tradewinds Mortgage Document Preparation Co., a provider of document preparation/fulfillment services, will be known as ISGN Fulfillment Services; and Cocamar, a provider of cost analysis/risk mitigation services, will be known as ISGN Inspection Services. "By design, our company's products and services can offer companies a unified and complete end-to-end solution to dramatically streamline and improve their mortgage processes, which is one of the reasons why we are rebranding all our divisions under one name," said Krishna Srinivasan, chief executive officer at ISGN. All the individual company websites will be redirected to http://www.ISGN.com.

Beanstalk Networks Acquisition LLC, a unit of Beanstalk Networks (doing business as OpenClose), has acquired LION Inc. OpenClose said it will purchase and continue to operate LION's only remaining business segment -- which includes the business related to its Precision family of products and its retail websites business -- for $525,000 in cash. OpenClose will assume all current LION customer agreements. The transaction is subject to shareholder approval and regulatory consent. The deal is part of a strategic initiative to offer OpenClose clients something closer to an end-to-end solution, which now spans from the point of origination to closing as both technology offerings are combined. OpenClose's loan origination system will be integrated with LION's loan pricing engine and Web-enabled tools that offer transactional services designed to allow large lenders to originate, price, and lock loans. David Stedman, president of LION, said in a prepared statement that most LION employees will be retained. The companies can be found online at http://www.openclose.com and http://www.lioninc.com.

Columbia, S.C.-based LOS Avista Solutions has launched a new service in which the company will act as an outsourcer of product and pricing automation on behalf of small and mid-tier lenders. The service, called Avista's Managed Product Service, releases in-house human resources from having to validate program guidelines across multiple investor lines and rate sheets, the vendor said at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference & Expo in Boston. Avista's AMPS service automates pricing and feeds the information directly into lenders' Avista Agile LOS/Avista Advisor systems for immediate retrieval and use. The vendor can be found on the Web at http://www.avistasolutions.com.

Sollen Technologies, a Dallas-based pricing vendor, has integrated with loan origination software vendor Harland Financial Solutions, Lake Mary, Fla., to help lenders get a better handle on loan quality. At the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference & Expo, Sollen said the alliance allows loan originators using Harland's Interlinq E3 loan origination system to find a product and price that meets the needs of their borrower in seconds. Through the use of XML and Web services, Sollen's pricing engine and E3 will exchange data in real time over the Internet. Sollen's services will be fully integrated with the E3 workflow. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.sollen.com and http://www.harlandfinancialsolutions.com.

MRG Document Technologies, Dallas, and Lydian Data Services, Boca Raton, Fla., have formed an alliance to enable lenders to outsource services spanning from origination to post-closing quality control. The alliance enables MRG to extend its Miracle document preparation system to origination fulfillment customers who use Lydian to supplement or replace their own internal processes. At the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference & Expo, the companies said users, through a custom interface, have access to MRG's upfront and interim disclosures and closing documentation through Lydian's Loan Exchange Network. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.mrgdocs.com and http://www.lydian.com.

St. Louis-headquartered Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative, the largest alliance of mortgage bankers in the United States, has implemented a productivity system for members. The system, dubbed LoanMax, includes functionality such as satisfying continuing education requirements, marketing, and data mining. Lender One described the product at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference & Expo as a system "that will promote a pattern of behavior and a utilization of technology to help loan officers close more loans." Lenders One will train members on the system to ensure maximum results. The technology is aimed at enabling members to better automate customer retention and online continuing education, and stock marketing materials will be provided that will include a celebrity endorsement yet to be announced, MortgageWire has learned. Lenders One can be found online at http://www.lendersone.com.

Optimal Blue, Plano, Texas, has formed a joint limited liability company with Secondary Interactive, Denver, to offer mortgage pipeline risk management. At the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference & Expo, the companies touted the partnership as a way of providing bankers secondary-market services such as loan eligibility and pricing, lock desk management, pipeline risk management, and investor relations. They said this marks the first time a vendor has coupled best efforts and mandatory functionality. Historically, lenders have shied away from mandatory functionality because it requires hedging and complex analytics even though it is more profitable overall. This automation will allow more lenders to enter the mandatory world without having to take on the cost of making hedging and other analytic decisions that might make the strategy cost-prohibitive, the companies said. They can be found on the Web at http://www.optimalblue.com and http://www.secondaryinteractive.com.

Overture Technologies, Bethesda, Md., says it believes it has found a way for the industry to return to profitability by extending the role of automated decisioning beyond underwriting. Overture says there is an opportunity to leverage product and pricing eligibility -- as well as rules-managed decisioning in the post-closing, capital markets, loan modifications, and many aspects of loan servicing -- to improve loss mitigation. With the added transparency and consistency provided through automated decisioning, investors can improve upon best execution as well as pooling and securitization efforts, said Linda Simmons, senior vice president of business development for Overture, at the Mortgage Bankers Association National Secondary Market Conference & Expo in Boston. Lenders continually re-decision loans well beyond underwriting, but often have limited data and documents and rarely use an automated decisioning system. Overture says its product offering is one way to help evaluate the growing level of loans requiring review by offering a new approach via its Mozart Decision Engine and Tape Cracker data analysis tool to derive the true market value of such loans. Overture can be found on the Web at http://www.overturetechnologies.com.

Fiserv Inc., a Brookfield, Wis.-based provider of information technology services to the financial industry, has announced the acquisition of rights to Portellus Inc.'s loan origination system technology. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Fiserv said the acquisition is part of a strategy to bring a common LOS to market that will allow lenders to originate their mortgage, consumer, and commercial loans on one platform. The technology contains a sophisticated, highly scalable rules engine that allows lenders to identify, define, control, and execute specific business processes, the company said. "This technology allows us to offer LOS products to additional market niches, backed by the support of a Fortune 500 company," said Kevin Collins, president of Fiserv Loan Origination Products. Fiserv can be found online at http://www.fiserv.com.

Mortgage Consumer Advocates Inc., a Houston-based nonprofit organization, has unveiled a mortgage consumer advocacy website aimed at educating consumers on the mortgage industry and home loan finance. The website, MortgageChampions.org, will help borrowers evaluate major loan products by offering a list of pros and cons and qualifying guidelines for each product, MCA said. The group also offers the MCA Consumer Protection Plan, under which consumers supply MCA with their initial loan disclosure documents for review by a representative to check for signs of fraud or "gross overcharging," MCA said. The new website can be found at http://www.mortgagechampions.org.