Technology

Ocwen Financial Corp., West Palm Beach, Fla., has announced the introduction of 24-hour due diligence services to mortgage-backed securities investors on a loan-by-loan, mini-bulk, bulk, and portfolio basis.Ocwen's due diligence facility receives physical files from mortgage originators and uses high-speed scanners to image all documents. "The combination of Ocwen's 24-hour global workforce, document imaging capabilities, and advanced workflow management technology enables us to complete the due diligence processes in record time with less expense and greater accuracy," said Ocwen president Ron Faris. "This shaves days -- if not weeks -- off the traditional paper due diligence process and raises the bar on customer service." Mr. Faris said Ocwen's imaging capabilities, workflow management, and Six Sigma process design "allow us to multi-task on a single file, eliminating bottlenecks and speeding the entire process."

First American subsidiary Loan Performance has announced SecondLook, a new tool aimed at mortgage lenders and investors worried about undetected second loans and piggy-backs.Backed by the data-collection might of First American, SecondLook offers one-time, monthly, or quarterly monitoring of additional liens to uncover the existence of post-origination second mortgages, the company said. It also makes available a daily update of new liens with alerts to servicing and portfolio managers with the monthly or quarterly monitoring service. SecondLook combines the resources of LoanPerformance's home equity line of credit and second-lien loan database with First American RES's property database, which covers 97% of all real estate transactions in the United States, according to the company. First American's companion product LienWatch provides holders of junior liens with an automated method for monitoring a first lien's delinquency status. The company can be found online at http://www.loanperformance.com.

As Fiserv held its client conference in Las Vegas, the company announced that Fiserv Lending Solutions' CredStar has entered into an alliance with Boston-based PCi Corp. to integrate several of PCi's Wiz systems with WebStar, CredStar's credit services platform.The Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv said the combined offering is expected to streamline processes for wholesalers using CredStar with Fiserv's easyLender and UniFi LOS systems. The alliance also promises to reduce steps for brokers submitting loans to lenders using CredStar. The PCi functionality available to CredStar customers includes: geocoding, edit checks, and validation of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data using FFIEC error-checking logic, flood zone determinations, and identification of high-cost loans before they are funded. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.fiserv.com and http://www.pciwiz.com.

McCracken Financial Software, Billerica, Mass., has announced the acquisition of the DealCentral origination system from Atlanta-based MortgageRamp for an undisclosed amount.McCracken said DealCentral streamlines the origination process for commercial loan packages. The company said it plans to integrate the software with its Strategy commercial loan servicing system, enabling the transfer of underwriting and asset information into Strategy and eliminating the costs of duplicate data entry. "The commercial finance industry has been asking for a robust, single-vendor solution that can manage the entire loan life cycle," said McCracken president Noel Webster. "Now they have one." OfficeTiger, a New York-based professional support services firm, recently announced an agreement to acquire MortgageRamp, which is slated to become the Global Real Estate Division of OfficeTiger. The companies can be found online at http://www.mccrackenfs.com, http://www.mortgageramp.com, and http://www.officetiger.com.

Bill Adamowski, chairman of MortgageHub, will resume the role of president and chief executive officer of the company in conjunction with a new growth strategy for the Des Moines, Iowa-based Web services platform provider.Mr. Adamowski said the company will hire more than 30 technology professionals and open at least four news offices over the next 60 days to help execute the strategy, which will include acquisitions and the introduction of new products. "For the past two years, my team and I have been working on putting together what I feel is the future of mortgage technology," Mr. Adamowski said. "We took a team of the best technologists and completely removed ourselves from the day-to-day work of running a company and invested in the development of this revolutionary new platform." He said the new technologies will be unveiled next month at the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention. The company can be found online at http://www.mortgagehub.com.

The Real Estate Solutions division of Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has announced that it will launch a new application using the new Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 software.The new application integrates Fidelity's Broker BackOffice Pro system, an office management tool designed to automate and streamline small to midsize real estate office processes, with Small Business Accounting to enable customers to manage their real estate and accounting transactions through a single application customized for the real estate industry. The application provides integrated contact and agent management, electronic activity scheduling, sales pipeline reporting, complete listings and sales management tools, real-time access to performance and productivity statistics, as well as a direct access to Small Business Accounting, the company said. Fidelity can be found on the Web at http://www.fnf.com.

Minneapolis-based Dexma has formed a strategic partnership with First American Fulfillment Solutions, Jacksonville, Fla., to offer a point-of-sale application directly to First American Fulfillment Solutions customers.The product is geared toward small and midsize lenders currently using First American Fulfillment Solutions for outsourced processing. Specifically, Dexma has developed a transactional consumer/retail website for First American, which can be offered on a private-label basis to its customers. These sites enable consumers and loan officers to obtain loan approvals from either Fannie Mae's DO/DU or Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector. In addition, the consumer/retail platform is already integrated with the outsource processing platform and fully supported by First American. In 2004, First American acquired LOS Xsequor, now called First American Fulfillment Solutions, to expand its role as a fulfillment outsourcer. The new combination of First American and Dexma was designed to further First American's origination technology offering and broaden Dexma's customer base, according to First American. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.dexma.com and http://www.firstam.com.

Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Newport Beach, Calif., has announced a new "broker-to-banker" transition program that enables qualified brokers to apply for a customized line of credit through Impac's warehouse-lending group.Once approved, brokers can receive same-day fundings and up to 100% financing on alternative-A loans sold to Impac. Once loan packages are approved by Impac's iDASLg2 automated loan underwriting, there is no haircut on the transaction and brokers can close the deal on their own terms, the company said. The broker-to-banker program offers a $3 million start-up LOC, online reporting, bulk and flow delivery, flexible loan solutions down to alt-B, and electronic collateral delivery and tracking, Impac said. The company, a mortgage real estate investment trust, can be found online at http://www.impaccompanies.com.

The Washington Department of Financial Institutions has ordered a non-credit-union mortgage service provider to stop using the term "credit union" in its Internet addresses.Linda Jeckel, director of the DFI's credit union division, told Evergreen Moneysource Mortgage Co., Bellevue, Wash. that state law prohibits any entity from doing business under a name or title containing the words "credit union" or representing itself to be a credit union, unless it has a credit union charter. According to a report in MortgageWire affiliate Credit Union Journal, the company was directed by the DFI to immediately cease using "credit union" in any way on its websites. The company had been using the Web addresses, creditunionhomeloans.com and creditunionhomeloans.mortgagewebcenter.com. The company has complied with the DFI, striking the credit union reference from its Web addresses.

Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has announced the acquisition of DocX LLC, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based provider of outsourced lien release and assignment services to mortgage lenders.The terms of the deal were not disclosed. FNF said DocX also offers a lien release software platform that can be licensed for use in an in-house environment, maintains a national database of county recording office information, and provides recording fee and transfer tax calculators via its patent-pending Feewise calculator. "The acquisition of DocX enhances the scale of our lien release capabilities and provides access to a marquee customer base," said FNF executive vice president Ernest D. Smith. ".... The Feewise calculator is also a great tool that can be used by our title operations in automatically calculating closing fees." FNF can be found online at http://www.fnf.com.