Technology

To further solidify its position in mortgage technology, IBM has announced an agreement to acquire New Jersey-based Palisades Technology Partners, a privately held provider of services and technology to the mortgage lending industry.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to be completed before the end of the year. PTP provides strategic consulting, systems integration, and a comprehensive Web-based multichannel lending platform. The firm's clients include five of the world's top 10 lenders. IBM said the acquisition leverages PTP's place as an established provider of mortgage lending solutions, its industry expertise, and its process know-how to enhance IBM's ability to provide "transformational solutions" for the finance and banking industries. Based on a service-oriented architecture, PTP's Impact Lending Suite operates on an open architecture that offers lenders the flexibility to embed their own business policies and existing technology within a standard processing platform, IBM said. The companies can be found online at http://www.ibm.com and http://www.ptpusa.com.

Del Mar Database, a unit of Fiserv Inc., has announced the introduction of SourceTrac, a customizable consumer-direct lending portal that allows lenders to provide better customer service to borrowers and improve lead generation capabilities.SourceTrac is integrated with DataTrac, Del Mar's flagship product, the company announced at the Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention in Chicago. The company said SourceTrac enables small to medium-size lenders to compete for business against larger, more technologically sophisticated lenders. The portal can be used for online mortgage loan applications and for communicating with borrowers during the loan process. The company can be found online at http://www.delmardb.com.

Fidelity National Information Services, Jacksonville, Fla., introduced its new PropertyTaxDirect online service Oct. 23 at the Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention in Chicago.Eric Swenson, president of Fidelity National's mortgage outsourcing and information services division, said the new product is available to the escrow officer at the point of sale. The closer can get an instantaneous quote guaranteeing the customer receives correct tax district data at closing. This makes for a happy borrower, and that leads to repeat business, Mr. Swenson said. In a statement, FNIS tax services president Bill McCreary said tax service data previously had to be obtained manually. With the new system, information such as "the number of 'escrow months to collect' based on servicing requirements" can be obtained, he said. The information then flows seamlessly into the servicing system. PropertyTaxDirect is in an XML format and can integrate with any stand-alone loan origination system, Fidelity said. FNIS can be found online at http://www.fidelityinfoservices.com.

Experian Group Ltd., Costa Mesa, Calif., has brought its Hunter fraud detection product to the United States, the company announced at the Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention in Chicago.The product has been available in the United Kingdom for the past 10 years. It was originally developed to combat mortgage fraud, but has expanded to other credit applications as well, KC Akerman, senior product manager of Experian Fraud Solutions, told MortgageWire. It has not been introduced in the United States until now because Experian redesigned it from a client-based application, and it is now available as a hosted application. Its primary use is to catch application fraud in the prefunding stage by looking for red flags using a customized rules engine. It can use both shared and third-party data that the user has access to, Ms. Akerman said. In the U.K., she noted, users of Hunter share data findings with each other as part of their fraud prevention efforts.

AllRegs, an online publisher of reference information for the residential mortgage lending industry, has launched AllRegs Academy, an education division that will offer classroom and Web-based courses, audio conferences, and MortgageMentor practical guides.Companies can purchase an annual site subscription to the program except for classroom courses, for which students register individually, the Eaton, Minn.-based company said. AllRegs Academy's offerings include: classroom courses featuring expert instruction, peer interaction, and the use of AllRegs regulatory analyses; distance learning, offering self-study and instructor-led online courses beginning in winter 2007; audio conferences consisting of a 90-minute conference call led by industry experts; and MortgageMentor, searchable online how-to guides on a given topic with direct links to the regulations. The company can be found online at http://www.allregs.com.

TeraVendo, Bellevue, Wash., has announced that its LoanAce LOS software has reached the 1,000-user mark among mortgage originators, less than three months after LoanAce debuted Aug. 1.LoanAce, which leverages the Microsoft .NET development environment, is offered free to users. The revenue model is based on transactions with its loan fulfillment partners. TeraVendo said it has revamped its LoanAce support division by increasing information technology and customer-support staff. The system currently features one-click title ordering and integrated leads. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.teravendo.com.

Vienna, Va.-based VirPack has announced itself the first company to support seamless electronic loan delivery to EMC Mortgage Corp., Lewisville, Texas.With a single click, correspondent lenders can now use the VirPack Direct application to make single and multiple loan deliveries to EMC for underwriting, flow and bulk deliveries, and transmission of trailing documents, according to VirPack. First Guaranty Mortgage Corp., McLean, Va., the first mutual client to perform delivery, pronounced itself "thrilled" with the results. First Guaranty was quoted in the announcement as being "on track to save in excess of $1.5 million in the first year using VirPack." VirPack, which can be installed and in production in as little as four days, boasts savings in excess of $120 per loan for its users. It can be found online at http://www.virpack.com, and EMC can be found at http://www.emcmortgage.com.

Conshohocken, Pa.-based MortgageHub, a mortgage industry Web services platform provider, has hired David Demster as president of its Mortgage Products Division and Mike Whitson as senior partner in its Services Division.Mr. Demster is charged with overseeing and managing the company's mortgage technology products, including its Web-based wholesale, correspondent, and retail lending systems; its product, pricing, and decisioning engines; and its warehouse lending system. Before joining MortgageHub, Mr. Demster served as vice president of the Mortgage Business Unit of Fair Isaac Corp., where he directed all business operations. Mr. Whitson will focus on managing and developing the company's service offerings, with a focus on strategy consulting and contracting services for the mortgage industry. MortgageHub can be found on the Web at http://www.mortgagehub.com.

A nationwide class-action lawsuit has been filed against LendingTree LLC and its wholly owned subsidiary, Home Loan Center Inc., alleging that they have engaged in unfair business practices and false advertising.The suit, filed by the law firm of Teuton, Loewy & Parker LLP in Orange County Superior Court, notes that LendingTree's slogan is: "When banks compete, you win." With this slogan, LendingTree styles itself as an online lending exchange that connects borrowers to a network of lenders that allegedly "compete" for the borrowers' business, the suit says. However, the suit alleges that in thousands of cases there is no such competition and that LendingTree uses its website and false advertising to generate leads for its wholly owned direct-lending division. The lawsuit further alleges that LendingTree secretly diverts many LendingTree.com leads to its subsidiary, where unsuspecting borrowers are sold loans at inflated prices based on the materially false representation that "competition" has occurred among lenders. Rebecca Anderson, a spokeswoman for Lending Tree, said the suit arose out of the termination of a "disgruntled LendingTree employee who was let go after working with the company for nine months."

LeadPoint, an online leads exchange marketplace with offices in Los Angeles and London, has obtained $2 million in series C financing from the European Founders Fund, a venture investment company.LeadPoint said it will use the funding to drive growth in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. "We believe LeadPoint could be the next Ebay or Google in the B2B Internet space," said Oliver Samwer, principal of the European Founders Fund. "What is revolutionary about LeadPoint is that it brings an auction-style model to the lead generation business. Buyers can bid for the specific types of leads they are looking for and lead sellers can reach the broadest possible range of pre-screened buyers in one location, making the entire lead-gen value chain more efficient and profitable for all parties involved." Founded in 2004, LeadPoint is the world's largest online leads exchange marketplace, according to the company, and has traded over 900,000 leads in 2006. It be found online at http://www.leadpoint.com.