Technology

First American RES has chosen the 2005 MBA technology conference in Orlando to issue a challenge: Try to get its new LoanIQ tool to miss detecting a fraudulent loan.Boasting a 90% detection-success rate, First American invites lenders to submit the addresses for their early-pay defaults involving fraud, mixed in with some performing loans and some non-fraud loans that went to REO status in order to confirm that LoanIQ can pick out the instances of fraud. A lender submits the property address, the borrower's names, sellers' names, requested loan amount, estimated value, sale price or appraised value, and whether or not the property is classified as new construction or previously occupied. LoanIQ responds with a value in one of three categories: "Satisfactory," "Unsatisfactory" and "Marginal."

Denver-based Mortgage Cadence implemented its end-to-end LOS at Global Home Loans in just six months, and now it has topped that by going through the same cycle at RateStar Inc. in just 60 days, according to Mortgage Cadence.Homeowners Loan Corp. launched Mortgage Cadence in early 2004 as a plan to increase its internal efficiencies and extend them throughout its entire enterprise, including its wholly owned subsidiary, RateStar. HLC chief technology officer Paul Sadler said it took "a lot of hard work" to get RateStar up and running in 60 days. "Part of the success of this implementation is because we're very familiar with the Mortgage Cadence product," Mr. Sadler said. "We've been using it on the back end since 2004 and are now rolling it out to the front end." Nonetheless, Mr. Sadler said that even someone completely unfamiliar with Mortgage Cadence should be able to do a successful implementation within 90 days.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based WellFound Decade Corp., a provider of business integration software, has launched InvestorExpress, a product that permits mortgage sellers to electronically deliver mortgage loan data to their investors, including Countrywide.Countrywide's correspondent customers are the first to benefit from InvestorExpress, which enables the electronic delivery of loans to Countrywide with 98.5% accuracy, according to WellFound Decade. InvestorExpress automatically extracts committed loan data from the seller's system, translates the data into the investor's format of choice, and securely delivers it for upload into the investor's system. (For more on the benefits of this interface, see the March 28 issue of National Mortgage News.) WellFound Decade can be found on the Web at http://www.wellfounddecade.com.

Fidelity National Field Services Inc., a unit of Fidelity National Financial, Jacksonville, Fla., has introduced a state-specific, Web-based contractor assessment program for property preservation contractors.The Contractor Qualification Assessment program will "validate the industry proficiencies of more than 1,000 independent property preservation contractors managed by Fidelity National Field Services nationwide," according to the parent company. FNF said the program is based on lender and investor guidelines and "best practices" in the industry. It consists of questions relating to lender and investor requirements and state-specific requirements involving services such as conveyance preparation, lock changes, eviction attendances, and pool coverings, the company said. Fidelity National Field Services can be found online at http://www.fnfieldserv.com.

Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has announced the introduction of the Offer Management System, a tool designed to enable brokers and agents to initiate offers and counteroffers for bank-owned property online or to respond to counteroffers online.The tool is being launched by Fidelity National Asset Management Solutions, a division of FNF. For brokers and agents, the Offer Management System is designed to replace the manual e-mailing and faxing of offers and negotiations, FNF said. "All offer and negotiation information entered into the system will automatically populate into FNAMS's case management system, providing property owners with real-time access to the status of property negotiations and expediting the entire negotiation process," the company said. The automation of negotiations will be carried out directly through the FNAMS website, which can be found online at http://www.fnams.com.

Fidelity National Financial, Jacksonville, Fla., has announced the addition of online bidding capabilities to BuyBankHomes.com, FNF's Web portal dedicated to marketing properties that have completed the foreclosure process.The new feature offers interested parties a convenient way to place online bids on foreclosed properties that will be presented at live onsite auctions, the company said. "BuyBankHomes.com's online bidding capabilities enable buyers and investors to be represented at the live auction by proxy, which will result in a one-time bid being submitted on their behalf at the appropriate point in the live auction process," FNF said. The company can be found online at http://www.buybankhomes.com and http://www.fnf.com.

Anti-fraud automation leaders Sysdome, Calabasas, Calif., and AppIntelligence, Weldon Spring, Mo., have come together to form one anti-fraud juggernaut.ISO, which acquired AppIntelligence earlier this year, has acquired Sysdome for an undisclosed sum. Sysdome and AppIntelligence will be combined into a single new division called ISO Mortgage Analytics. The combined entity boasts a mortgage client list of over 1,000 institutions and a full suite of products to combat most known types of mortgage fraud. MortgageWire has learned that Kevin Coop, president of Sysdome, will be the new president of ISO Mortgage Analytics. Despite the overlap, the company plans to maintain both product offerings. For more information, see the March 21 issue of National Mortgage News.

Irvine, Calif.-based Portellus has just announced its entry into the market for wholesale origination websites with a feature-rich broker portal module.The new offering boasts a "very customizable" front-end user interface coupled with Portellus' existing loan file workflow and advanced business rules management system, the company said. Portellus' Mortgage Solutions Framework offers a complete suite of mortgage processing modules that can be implemented individually or integrated, extending from point of sale to secondary marketing and servicing. The system can be brought in-house or used on a hosted basis. To enable easy customization, user interface screens are built independently of validation, decisioning, and workflow logic. Features includes broker portal administration, risk-based pricing, and broker-specific promotions. The company can be found online at http://www.portellus.com.

RamQuest Software, Plano, Texas, has announced the formation of a strategic partnership with LandAmerica Financial Group and Old Republic National Title Insurance Co. under which the latter two companies have purchased minority equity interests in RamQuest.RamQuest, which provides software for the land title industry, said the partnership combines its technological expertise with the "strategic insights and knowledge" of LandAmerica and Old Republic. It said key members of its management team, including chief executive officer Mark McElroy, chief operating officer Neil E. Syken, and chief financial officer Steven P. Terry, will remain with the company. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.ramquest.com, http://www.landam.com, and http://www.oldrepublictitle.com.

Among North America's largest financial services firms, E-Loan ranked highest overall in online customer satisfaction in the first quarter and Fleet Bank ranked No. 1 among commercial banks, according to the Customer Respect Group.In other results of CRG's First Quarter 2005 Online Customer Respect Study, World Savings Bank scored highest among savings institutions, while Washington Mutual scored lowest, and A.G. Edwards topped the securities companies list, while Morgan Stanley scored lowest. Among companies operating almost exclusively through the Internet and telephone, E-Loan did best among Internet financial firms, and best overall. The study also indicated that 43% of surveyed firms share personal data with business partners or third parties, one of the highest industry percentages measured. That percentage fell from 59% in the second-quarter 2004 report, but is still much higher than the 24% all-industry 2004 average. CRG said the results are based on interviews of a representative sample of the adult Internet population, and analysis of more than 2,000 corporate websites. The company is an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat their customers online.