Technology

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Silver Spring, Md., has announced the launch of a Spanish-language version of its recently unveiled Homeowner Crisis Resource Center website to assist borrowers who are not fluent in English.The Homeowner Crisis Resource Center provides direct access to certified housing counselors and homeowner information and financial tools. The center can be found at http://www.housinghelpnow.org, and the Spanish-language version can be found at http://www.nopierdastuhogar.org.

Foreclosure.com, Boca Raton, Fla., has announced the formation of a partnership with IndyMac Bank to market and facilitate the sale of thousands of real-estate-owned properties via the Internet.Foreclosure.com said it maintains a nationwide database of more than 1.2 million listings that includes foreclosures, preforeclosures, bankruptcies, for-sale-by-owner homes, and tax liens. Potential homeowners can view the REO listings and foreclosed properties owned by IndyMac Bank online and set appointments with listing agents/brokers to view the properties. "Our research indicates that only 17% of a traditional real estate marketing budget is spent online," said Brad Geisen, Foreclosure.com's founder, president, and chief executive officer. "That means sellers are spending 83% of their marketing dollars chasing only 20% of the buyers. Put simply, times are changing, and the practices of lenders and others involved in the sale of real estate need to change along with it." The companies can be found online at http://www.foreclosure.com and http://www.indymacbank.com.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc., a Jacksonville, Fla.-based provider of technology services to financial institutions, has announced a plan to spin off its Lender Processing Services division as a publicly traded company.The plan, recently approved by the company's board of directors, contemplates that FNIS will contribute the assets of the division to a newly formed subsidiary in exchange for 100% of the new company's common stock and approximately $1.6 billion of its debt securities. If approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission and favored with a tax-free ruling by the Internal Revenue Service, FNIS would distribute 100% of the new company's common stock to FNIS shareholders in a tax-free spinoff, the company said. William P. Foley II, executive chairman of FNIS, said the reason for the spinoff is that the company's Transaction Processing Services and Lender Processing Services divisions are "distinct and unique businesses that serve different customers, operate in different markets, and attract different investors." The company can be found online at http://www.fidelityinfoservices.com.

Stewart Lender Services Inc., Houston, has announced the introduction of the Pre-Foreclosure Report, which is designed to help attorneys and lenders determine the condition of a property title when the borrowers are in financial distress.The new report provides a quick "snapshot" of the subject residential property, including a two-owner search, vesting information, open liens, judgments, pending lawsuits, tax information, and other data, the company said. Stewart Lender Services, a subsidiary of Stewart Information Services Corp., can be found on the Web at http://www.stewart.com.

The Bank on Real Estate, Lexington, Mass., has announced that E-Loan has become the first lender customer using a co-branded website that attracts purchase borrowers by offering easy MapQuest access to homes for sale in selected major markets across the country.The BoRE announcement calls this "the first MLS-compliant IDX listing architecture that can be co-branded by lenders." The bank said that after visitors use the site, BoRE accepts their volunteered information, incubates their home search, calls out to test their readiness to buy and borrow, and then delivers the prospects to participating lenders and real estate brokers who have pledged not to poach the lender's referrals. Widely considered a refinance specialist since it first launched, online pioneer E-Loan is using its BoRE site to expand purchase loan business. The co-branded website can be found online at http://eloan.bankonrealestate.net.

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Silver Spring, Md., has announced the launch of the Mortgage Reality Check to help homeowners determine whether they are at risk of losing their homes.Developed by housing experts, the "easy-to-take quiz" is designed to help homeowners understand their situation, identify problems, and provide guidance about options and where to turn for help, the foundation said. "Even if foreclosure seems inevitable, there may be options that can help in certain circumstances," the NFCC said. The Mortgage Reality Check is located within the NFCC's Homeowner Crisis Resource Center, which also provides direct access to certified housing counselors and homeowner information and financial tools. The center can be found at http://www.housinghelpnow.org.

Fairway Independent Mortgage Co., a mortgage broker/banker with over 100 branches nationwide, has announced a transition from operating as an FHA nonsupervised loan correspondent to a Department of Housing and Urban Development direct endorsement lender.Fairway said the transition enables it to originate and underwrite its own loans, and to increase its Federal Housing Administration originations and get more control of the underwriting process. Fairway had been operating as an FHA nonsupervised loan correspondent, and has been originating FHA loans since its inception in 1996, but until now did not have the power to underwrite these loans. Fairway said it has had a strong quality-control plan in place for the last several years. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.fairwayindependentmc.com.

Redwood Trust, a real estate investment trust specializing in residential and commercial trusts, has deployed Overture's Mozart Tape Cracking 2.0, a software program that enables secondary-market investors to automatically convert complex bulk loan data submitted by primary market lenders into their own formats."We're now able to receive and audit bulk loans from lenders more efficiently and accurately than ever before," said Gary Moore, vice president of information technology for Redwood Trust. "Tape Cracking 2.0 automates a lot of the processes that surround the conversion of nonstandardized data into an investor's own format, making it faster, easier, and more efficient for us to move forward with the evaluation processes." Among the enhancements that distinguish Tape Cracking 2.0 from the original product are an improved ability to manage multiple templates and outputs; a better auditing trail; improved ability to incorporate non-input data; enhanced data mapping capabilities; enhanced cleaning of data errors; and improved error logging.

Lenders First Choice, Simi Valley, Calif., has formed an alliance with Guardian Mortgage Documents, Lakewood, Colo., to offer integrated, one-stop access to LFC's title, closing, appraisal, flood, and credit services and Guardian's mortgage document products and services.The integration will provide access to Guardian's document solutions from within the LFC settlement services platform and enable users to add Guardian documents to any LFC order with one click, the companies said. "Because LFC provides a paperless environment accompanied by workflow management, the integration will not add any processing time, will result in more timely deliveries of all items related to a transaction, and will eliminate training issues when introducing a customer to the [Guardian] solution," the companies said. They can be found online at http://www.lendersfirstchoice.com and http://www.gmd.com.

DRI Management Systems Inc., a provider of default management software based in Newport Beach, Calif., and Artemis Enterprises LLC, Chicago, announced an alliance at the Mortgage Bankers Association convention that offers single-source access to process and information management technology.Mutual clients will gain "substantial cost saving benefits" through time efficiencies and reduction in the risk associated with untimely and inaccurate communication errors, the companies said. "The combination of process and cross-enterprise contact and content data management has never been offered in this industry before," said Mary Hunter, president and chief executive officer of Artemis. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.dridefault.com and http://www.artemisinfo.com.