Technology

Encomia, a Houston-based provider of electronic mortgage technology, and Mortgage Banking Services Direct, a management consulting company based in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, have announced a partnership aimed at offering lenders greater access to e-mortgage software and consulting services."This partnership brings value and scalability to both MBSD and Encomia's customers through technology that will help them be ahead of the curve in the mortgage industry," said David Lykken, founder and president of MBSD. "For competitive lenders, our partnership provides a system for evaluating the most effective online technology and utilizing it to maximum profitability." The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.encomia.com and http://www.mbsdgroup.com.

Turkey's AkBank has become the first lender on the European continent to deploy Fair Isaac's Falcon ID anti-fraud tool, according to the Minneapolis-based company.With Turkey now an aggressive adopter of technology, AkBank takes applications over mobile phones and is initially using the solution to protect its credit card portfolios before using Falcon ID with mortgage loan applications, a Fair Isaac representative said. Falcon ID combines predictive analytics, a sophisticated authentication interview process, and multiple sources of data for validating identities. AkBank will be able to separate applications into three buckets: those that need no review for identity theft, those that have a high risk of fraud, and those that need further review. All U.S. users of Falcon ID are covered by nondisclosure agreements, the Fair Isaac representative said. The company can be found online at http://www.fairisaac.com.

RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties, has announced a redesign of Yahoo! Real Estate Foreclosure Center that integrates three key functions: foreclosure searches, trend analysis, and education about buying properties in foreclosure.In the current slowing real estate environment, potential buyers can realize substantial discounts on homes that are in foreclosure while helping out homeowners in default and cutting costs for foreclosing lenders, RealtyTrac said. The redesign "incorporates some of the most advanced tools and analytical features from RealtyTrac, and is a major leap forward in providing millions of consumers who access Yahoo! Real Estate with data on foreclosures," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. The company can be found online at http://www.realtytrac.com, and the Yahoo foreclosure center can be found at http://realestate.yahoo.com/foreclosures.

Sollen Technologies, an Internet-based application services provider of product, pricing, and best-execution capabilities, has announced improvements to its rate acquisition procedure and processing performance that are designed to improve the time to market for its customers' rate sheets and online pricing."Rate acquisition has definitely improved over what it was in the past," said Sollen client Jason Knapp, secondary manager for Dallas/Fort Worth-based Premier Nationwide Lending at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference in Tampa, Fla. "I used to build my rate sheets at 10:00 or 10:30 in the morning. Now, I’m done by 9:30." Based in Dallas, Sollen helps to enhance the relationship between originators and lenders. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.sollen.com.

Advectis Inc., Alpharetta, Ga., has updated its BlitzDocs tool to include new features that enable enhanced password management, configuration, and additional investor delivery options.The company touted the update at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference in Tampa, Fla., reporting that the enhanced capabilities streamline loan processing from capture and submission through the sharing and delivery of electronic loan documents through the BlitzDocs collaborative document network. The BlitzDocs patented technology provides an electronic loan folder that mirrors the paper loan folder. Advectis can be found on the Web at http://www.advectis.com.

HomeTeam, creator of the nationally syndicated "cause" television program of the same name, has added real estate and mortgage partners to its first-time homebuyer online portal beta, www.hometeam.com.The company pointed out at the Mortgage Bankers Association's 2007 National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference and Expo, Tampa, Fla., that homebuyers can search HomeTeam's database of real estate and mortgage partners by zip code. Additionally, homebuyers will have access to extensive mortgage information and education, networking capabilities, as well as real estate agent and loan officer searches. HomeTeam's real estate and mortgage partners will now receive leads via e-mail when a homebuyer makes a service request. They choose to receive scheduled or periodic reports on the leads sent to them. Partners currently live on the HomeTeam beta portal include Century 21 United, Real Estate One, Prudential Fox and Roach, Prudential California and Keller Williams - The Alaska Group, among others. The Seattle-headquartered HomeTeam can be found on the Web at http://www.hometeam.com.

Financial Industry Computer Systems Inc., a mortgage technology vendor that provides in-house residential origination and servicing technology and commercial servicing technology to the mortgage industry, has enhanced the architecture of its iNetAp product.FICS reported at the Mortgage Banking Association's National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference & Expo, Tampa, Fla., that iNetAp's new architecture provides lenders with faster page loading, increased branding options and loan officer access. New customization functionality is now available giving lenders the ability to configure their own mortgage loan application, including: fields, tabs, navigation and branding. The new architecture extends iNetAp to multiple origination channels through the use of the Loan Officer Pipeline with a real-time connection to Loan Producer, the central database of record. The Dallas-based company can be found on the Web at http://www.loanware.com.

Lender Support Systems Inc., a provider of origination and loan servicing technology solutions, has released LSSIConnect, an Internet connection point for ordering any LSSI product, service and specific third-party partner service sold through LSSI.It was unveiled at the MBA National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference & Expo, Tampa, Fla. LSSIConnect serves as a stand-alone or integrated application directing users to a number of Web service interfaces to create a marketplace of origination services for lenders. Products and services accessed through LSSIConnect include Docs3D, WebDocs, DocWin, LSSI E-Disclosure services, LSSI flood certificates and access to ComplianceEase products. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.lendersupport.com.

CoreLogic, a Sacramento, Calif.-based provider of mortgage risk assessment and fraud prevention solutions, said at the MBA's National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference and Expo, Tampa, Fla., that loan defaults are on the rise and a large number of lending institutions are left to foot the bill.According to a recent FBI report, the first half of 2006 saw 600,000 borrowers go into foreclosure. In many cases, the lender had been misled about the borrower's ability to repay the loan and the resulting foreclosure created a financial burden for lenders with consequences reverberating throughout the mortgage economy. In an effort to combat this problem, technology is available to evaluate the borrower's ability to pay through the life of the loan, the company said. CoreLogic recently released a new product, IncomePro, which helps lenders validate a person's income using multiple sources, without needing borrower documentation or approval. IncomePro also uses the borrower's current residence and previous addresses to derive an affordability progression by using income composition at the neighborhood level. CoreLogic can be found on the Web at http://www.corelogic.com.

Default management vendor DRI Management Systems, Newport Beach, California, has deployed a Web services portal for its flagship software, The Default Solution.Through this portal, The Default Solution now features additional connectivity to third party services providers via the Internet, the company said at the MBA Technology Show, Tampa, Fla. The portal¹s secured hosted environment will allow current DRI clients the opportunity to request and receive specific information from their third party vendors right from within The Default Solution. The types of services incorporated into this Web portal offering are credit, appraisals, automated valuations, title reports, broker price opinions, flood certification and insurance, skip tracing, and second lien analysis. The Web services portal is active today and ready for expansion to add even more third-party services. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.DRIdefault.com .