Technology

Countrywide has begun work on its implementation of a business rules management system by Pittsburgh-based Haley Systems Inc. to support the company's loan servicing systems.Haley has been selected by the loan servicing division of Countrywide Home Loans Inc., the principal subsidiary of Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif. Among Countrywide's key criteria in looking for the system, according to Haley, were: rules-authoring functionality decoupled from software development, so that business logic can be externalized from applications; a natural language interface that enables business decision-makers to manage business logic themselves using plain English rather than programming code; platform-independent high performance; and a platform-independent rules language. In addition, Haley's application will support Countrywide's heterogeneous platforms (including, for example, MS Windows, IBM AIX, and IBM AS/400). The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.countrywide.com and http://www.haley.com.

The Financial Services Technology Consortium, New York, has initiated a new project designed to authenticate financial institutions to consumers.The project will create one or more use cases and threat analyses that can be used to evaluate a set of technology solutions currently being developed by the IT and communications industries. Also, the project will define and create a test bed with a supporting test plan and evaluation criteria for testing and evaluating financial institutions authentication solutions against use cases defined by the project team. At present, FSTC is assembling the team for this project and is soliciting membership from across financial services, IT and communications industries. The organization can be found on the Web at http://www.fstc.org.

The home mortgage division of Chase is rolling out a new wholesale loan origination system, ChaseLoanCenter, which gives users access to the entire Chase loan process.Accessed with one password, the system gives users new functionality as well as replaces brokers' separate access to Advanced ChaseLock and ZiPPY. ChaseLoanCenter is being piloted currently with a small group of brokers and scheduled for deployment nationwide to all Chase Wholesale Lending brokers starting this fall. With ChaseLoanCenter, brokers can register and lock loans, submit loans for automated underwriting, deliver loans electronically, perform rate locks and extensions, and track loan progress. Enhanced features include rate relocks and extension online, access to closing calendars and retrieval of closing documents. ChaseLoanCenter will also replace the system used by Chase employees streamlining the operations and enabling real-time status, decisioning, and service ordering. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.jpmorganchase.com.

First American Real Estate Solutions has entered into a strategic alliance with, and purchased a 38% interest in, Australia/New Zealand property information provider RP Data Ltd. "Through this relationship, RP Data will be among the first companies to introduce automated valuation models in Australia and New Zealand," said George Livermore, president of FARES' corporate parent, The First American Corp. The First American Corp. can be found online at http://www.firstam.com, FARES can be found on the Web at http://www.firstamres.com and RP Data can be found online at http://www.rpdata.com.au.

A good six months earlier than many mortgage technology pundits predicted, Fidelity National Information Services Inc. has launched the .NET version of its Empower loan origination system.The move follows beta testing with National City Mortgage prior to implementation in that lender's correspondent division. Fidelity said the system, which includes smart-client and Web-client presentation layers, is fully functional and immediately operable. National City partnered with Fidelity on the project with the strategic objective of enabling straight-through processing of loans that require little human touch. Empower for .NET also leverages the Windows Workflow Foundation to automate workflow. According to the announcement, FIS is offering a "First Adopters" purchase and implementation program targeting top retail and wholesale lenders. Fidelity will continue to support and enhance the client-server version of Empower as well.

Ellie Mae, Dublin, Calif., has partnered with CCMC, Altamonte Springs, Fla., a provider of financial services industry platform interfaces, to deliver timesaving and error-reducing interface services to Ellie Mae's Encompass Mortgage Automation System clients.CCMC's Bridge technology eliminates duplicate data entry by providing automated interfaces for Encompass. The end result is a workflow that reduces errors for mortgage companies, banks and credit unions that choose to interface disparate systems. As a result of the partnership agreement, customers will now be provided with an interface with which to move information in and out of Encompass. Ellie Mae can be found on the Web at http://www.EllieMae.com.

Wolters Kluwer Corporate & Financial Services, Minneapolis, has acquired GulfPak Corp., a provider of automated lending and account origination technology to U.S. financial organizations.GulfPak, Jackson, Miss., provides its compliance-based technology to more than 700 financial organizations. Recently, GulfPak implemented a series of product enhancements to its automated systems including mortgage origination, imaging and e-signature functionality. GulfPak will become part of the Financial Services business unit of Wolters Kluwer, whose product brands include Bankers Systems, PCi and VMP Mortgage Solutions. Jay Tindall, president and chief executive officer of GulfPak, will join the Wolters Kluwer Financial Services management team and will continue to provide leadership for the Jackson operation where GulfPak has approximately 37 employees. Terms of the purchase agreement were not released. The acquisition is subject to GulfPak shareholder approval. Wolters Kluwer Financial Services can be found on the Web at http://www.wolterskluwerfs.com.

LynxBanc Mortgage Corp., Boca Raton, Fla., has added to its offerings the ability to arrange multicurrency mortgage facilities for international buyers purchasing homes in South Florida by working with the United Kingdom-based Lloyds TSB Bank."Florida has the highest share of real estate buyers from overseas of any state, 15[%] on average," said Stephen Parnell, chief executive officer of LynxBanc. "This new mortgage facility offers the overseas buyer the opportunity to switch between eligible international currencies easily and inexpensively up to four times a year." LynxBanc can be found on the Web at http://www.lynxbanc.com

New York State has the highest mortgage closing costs in the nation, followed by Texas and Hawaii, according to Bankrate Inc.'s 2006 National Closing Cost Survey.The survey found average closing costs of $3,887 in New York, $3,578 in Texas, and $3,407 in Hawaii, compared with $2,713 in Missouri, which had the lowest closing fees among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. In conjunction with the survey, Bankrate commissioned a national poll by Roper asking 1,005 homeowners about their closing costs. Of those surveyed, 13% said they paid more than their lender's estimate, 8% said they paid less, and 60% said their closing costs were about the same as the estimate. "No matter where you live, it pays to shop around," said Daniel P. Ray, editor in chief of Bankrate.com. "Our closing cost estimates, teamed with our mortgage rate table data, provide consumers the knowledge and confidence needed during the home purchasing process." Bankrate's Closing Cost Survey was conducted by obtaining eight to 10 good-faith estimates in each state from the websites of online lenders. To view the survey, go to http://www.bankrate.com/closing.

Bankrate Inc., New York, has announced an agreement to acquire three websites from East West Mortgage Inc. for $4.4 million in cash.The websites are Mortgage-calc.com, Mortgagecalc.com, and Mortgagemath.com. "We intend to leverage the consumer traffic generated by these websites into the Bankrate.com offering within the next week," said Thomas R. Evans, president and chief executive officer of Bankrate Inc. Bankrate can be found on the Web at http://www.bankrate.com.