Technology

Melville, N.Y.-based American Brokers Conduit has launched a website that offers mortgage brokers a new set of tools and resources that allow them to manage the loan process online from locking to pipeline status.In addition, marketing materials can be individually customized for brokers to use for customer retention purposes, the company said. ABC, the wholesale division of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., a mortgage real estate investment trust, is the 13th-largest mortgage wholesaler lender in the nation. At the end of the first quarter, ABC had a network of over 8,000 wholesale brokers, an increase of over 40% since the end of the fourth quarter and up from 2,839 brokers at the beginning of 2004. The new website can be found at http://www.abconduit.com.

Chicago-based TransUnion Settlement Solutions has released Pre-Decision Qualifier, which offers a value range for a property before a full appraisal has been ordered.PDQ delivers property characteristics for up to 15 recent neighborhood sales, a notation indicating irregular sales history, and recent transaction history, the company said. The product is designed to be used by lenders to determine whether there is a need for a full appraisal before investing in a local appraiser. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.transunionssi.com.

Mavent Inc., Irvine, Calif., has launched Mavent Compliance Console (MC2), a Web-based portal that allows lenders, loan purchasers and other mortgage-related businesses to submit loan data for a complete compliance review.With MC2, mortgage professionals can submit loan data on a manual, batch, or combined basis to the Mavent Expert System, Mavent's flagship automated compliance software that collects and processes electronic loan data against a legal rules repository. In addition, MC2 offers several proprietary features and workflow methodologies that enable users with limited or no access to electronic loan data to input information for a review, Mavent said. MC2 also includes a reporting tool that provides mortgage businesses with detailed information on both a loan-level and aggregate pipeline or pool basis. Mavent can be found on the Web at http://www.mavent.com.

South Florida-based Homekeys has announced the introduction of ValueSearch, a patent-pending online tool that enables homebuyers and real estate investors to identify potentially undervalued properties.This will give real estate investors the same ability that stock investors have had for years, the company said. "ValueSearch is the first application that extends automated valuation model technology from a single property to a set of search results," said Manuel Iraola, Homekeys' president and chief executive officer. "Most real estate sites enable you to find properties by location and features such as number of bedrooms and baths. ValueSearch enables you to refine search results by displaying properties that are potentially a good value, where the asking price is near or below the estimated value." Homekeys can be found online at http://www.homekeys.net.

The First American Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., has announced the promotion of Roger Hull, the company's chief information officer, to executive vice president.The company said the promotion came in recognition of "the key role [Mr. Hull] has played in developing and integrating First American's technology and business strategies," specifically the First American Web Services offering that now provides the backbone for delivering First American's products, services, and processes. Before joining First American, Mr. Hull's 25 years of information technology experience included serving as senior technology officer for Coldwell Banker from 1992 to 1998, when he took on that same role for First American Title Insurance Co. Mr. Hull was the subject of a feature interview in the January/February 2005 issue of Mortgage Technology magazine, a MortgageWire affiliate.

To expand its wholesale lending initiative and help its originators price loans more efficiently, Chicago-based Guaranteed Rate has picked MortgageHub's LoanFactory decisioning, product, and pricing engine and Wholesale Internet Lending applications.Conshohocken, Pa.-based MortgageHub offers a Web services platform to deliver Internet-based systems for wholesale, retail, and servicing functions. Guaranteed Rate will use the wholesale system to start serving 100 brokers immediately, with the intention of expanding to 500 by year-end, the company said. The MortgageHub wholesale system offers to eliminate costly paper, fax and phone communications between wholesaler and broker. Guaranteed Rate can be found online at http://www.guaranteedrate.com.

Myers Internet, San Jose, Calif., has released the latest version of its online loan application."Customers that visit our client websites can now not only complete an application online, but also print the application and disclosure documents and fax or mail them into their company," said Myers chief executive officer Warren Myer. "The disclosure documents are pre-populated with information from the loan application." A new calculator for consumers to determine their monthly income has also been added. The update will be delivered free to all existing clients and will be a part of Myers' Executive, Standard, and Automated website packages. Myers, which hosts 5,000 mortgage websites, can be found on the Web at http://www.myers.com.

ERS Group, Knoxville, Tenn., has announced the release of software tools to help financial services firms determine their regulatory compliance guidelines under various pieces of mortgage-related federal legislation.The Web-based RiskExec is designed to help financial firms improve productivity by reducing their data management burdens and enhancing communication among their compliance team members, the company said. It consists of software tools "developed specifically for financial services firms and their management teams covering [Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, Community Reinvestment Act], and high-cost loan analyses," said Cary Collins, a principal at ERS Group. "We help clients better manage regulatory and compliance risks by monitoring their ongoing lending processes and by providing appropriate compliance and executive-level reporting on these processes." The company, a subsidiary of Dallas-based SourceCorp, can be found online at http://www.ersgroup.com.

Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Experian-Scorex has announced the release of ScoreRight, a credit simulation tool.ScoreRight provides a side-by-side comparison of an applicant's credit information from all three credit reporting agencies, a tradeline level view of the applicant's accounts, and the ability to simulate credit-related actions to help educate applicants about what they need to do to help their credit rating, the company said. Experian-Scorex can be found on the Web at http://www.experian-scorex.com.

Wholesale Access Mortgage Research & Consulting, Shaker Heights, Ohio, has released preliminary results of its Mortgage Brokers 2004 Study.The study found that all brokers accounted for 68% ($1.8 trillion) of last year's total origination activity, and that the mean brokerage firm produced $32 million, with an average of 8.7 employees. The study also found that conforming loans accounted for 46% of brokers' volume; that the most-used wholesalers are Countrywide, for conforming loans, and National City, for subprime loans; and that brokers in general are heavy users of technology, which has allowed them to reduce their firm size and still keep their volume up. The completed study will be available in late July. Wholesale Access can be found on the Web at http:/www.wholesaleaccess.com.