Technology

DeepGreen Financial, a Cleveland-based home equity lender, has announced the hiring of mortgage industry veteran James L. Gear Jr. as national sales director.Mr. Gear has more than 25 years of industry experience in sales, secondary marketing, technology, and mortgage insurance, the company said, including positions at Amerin Guaranty, Loantrader.com, IMX, Bear Stearns Mortgage Capital, and MGIC. The company also announced the following promotions: Jeff Bell to the new position of chief information officer; Michael Moore to director of business & product development; and Felipe Obando to director of marketing. In addition, David Hadley, DeepGreen's chief technology officer, will take on added responsibilities in the areas of strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, and special projects. DeepGreen can be found online at http://www.deepgreenfinancial.com.

Decade Systems Corp., Jacksonville, Fla., has formed a strategic partnership with Ellie Mae Inc., Dublin, Calif., whereby Decade will act as Ellie Mae's preferred integration provider and a reseller of Ellie Mae's ClickLoan technology.As the preferred integration provider, Decade will provide integration solutions to Ellie Mae's clients that have a need to integrate Ellie Mae's Encompass and ePASS products to other mortgage technology systems, such as loan origination, core banking, secondary marketing, and servicing products. In addition, Decade's Total Enterprise Data Integration product has been integrated directly into Ellie Mae's universal loan origination system connector, ClickLoan. Ellie Mae, a provider of desktop and Web-enabled mortgage industry productivity technology, can be found on the Web at http://www.elliemae.com. Decade Systems, a provider of systems integration technology for the industry, can be found at http://www.decadesystems.com.

ComplianceEase, a division of San Francisco-based LogicEase Solutions Inc., has released PredatorAnalyzer AssureCert, which the company is calling "the industry's first fully-warranted automated compliance solution."Specifically, the product is designed to enable originators to comply with high-cost and anti-predatory lending legislation and protect against violations. The company will combine the new offering with its existing PredatorAnalyzer product. The combined product is backed by an A.M. Best-rated A++ insurer and covers losses due to fines, penalties, judgments, and secondary-market transaction losses due to compliance defects. The product is available for loan-level protection of up to $300,000 with a coverage period of five years. ComplianceEase can be found on the Web at http://www.complianceease.com.

Danvers Savings Bank, Danvers, Mass., has signed up to employ Lake Mary, Fla.-based Fiserv Lending Solutions' easyLender LOS product.Danvers Savings is an $875 million mutual savings bank that serves the northeastern metropolitan Boston area via its 12 locations in three counties. Danvers Savings says it plans to use the easyLender Mortgage and easyLender Consumer/Commercial software products to automate all aspects of its mortgage, home equity, consumer, and commercial lending operations. Fiserv Lending Solutions, a unit of financial software provider Fiserv Inc., can be found on the Web at http://www.fiservlendingsolutions.com.

Credit Plus Inc., a credit information services company based in Salisbury, Md., has partnered with Document Systems Inc., Carson, Calif., in what amounts to a cross-marketing arrangement.Under the agreement, DSI -- a developer of software, tools, and Web-based systems for the production of compliant loan document packages -- will list Credit Plus as its preferred provider of credit information for its LoanMagic software. On the other side of the coin, Credit Plus has agreed to help market and distribute DSI's loan presentation system. Credit Plus can be found on the Web at http://www.creditplus.com, and DSI can be found at http://www.docmagic.com.

Just Valuation Inc., Altamonte Springs, Fla., and FNC Inc., Oxford, Miss., have announced a strategic alliance that will make JVI's residential appraisal and inspection services available through FNC's CMS collateral information management system.FNC's CMS is an origination decisioning system. JVI itself uses the CMS to manage appraisal and inspection orders, tracking, and delivery among its network of vendors. Through the alliance, other FNC CMS clients will be able to use their systems to order services from JVI. JVI (the majority partner of Southeast Alliance) has more than five years' experience as a management and marketing contractor for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's real-estate-owned inventory for Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as HUD REO appraisal oversight for 24 additional states. FNC is a collateral information management company that speeds loan decisions by converting paper to data. It can be found on the Web at http://www.fncinc.com.

BCE Emergis plans to downsize its Greensboro, N.C., office by this October, but denies reports it will exit the U.S. by the end of the year, MortgageWire has learned."We've announced to our employees in the Greensboro office that we are in the process of evaluating our invoicing product to leverage it as part of a broader payment solution," said Mark Boutet, vice president of communications at BCE. "As such, we're in the process of centralizing some development functions out of Montreal [BCE's corporate headquarters], where we have a core team of developers. We expect to accomplish this goal over a transition period bringing us up to October of '04." The number of people to be laid off was not disclosed as of MW's deadline. BCE said it plans to retain a Greensboro presence beyond October, but on a smaller scale. However, a credible industry source said BCE is expected to exit the U.S. market, perhaps as early as the close of this year. Nonetheless, BCE operates two other offices in the U.S., a sales office in Denver and an office in McLean, Va., where the company runs its e-lending product, which will both remain at full capacity in preparation for the commercial rollout of the company's e-lending product this May. "We are absolutely committed to the e-lending market in the U.S. and have approximately 70 employees in the McLean office," said Mr. Boutet. BCE's products enable lenders to make electronic transactions involving claims, loans, and payment processing. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.emergis.com.

BridgeSpan Inc., Frisco, Texas, has announced that the San Jose Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California has approved bidding procedures for the company's sale of assets.In an Order Establishing Bidding Procedures, Authorizing Termination Fee and Setting Dates, Deadlines for Hearing on Chapter 11 Plan Disclosure Statement, the court set April 14 as the deadline for submitting alternative proposals for the stock of BridgeSpan or its assets. Prospective bidders may receive a copy of the order and additional information by contacting Penn Ayers Butler of Brooks & Raub, the company's reorganization counsel, at PButler@reorglaw.com. BridgeSpan and BridgeSpan Title filed Chapter 11 petitions in January.

Ellie Mae Inc., Dublin, Calif., has appointed Gunnar Bergstrom, former president of Electronic Mortgage Services at BCE Emergis Inc., as vice president of business development for Lender Services.In his new role at Ellie Mae, Mr. Bergstrom will manage strategic lender relationships. "Bringing Gunnar onto our management team will help us expand our reach and serve the technology needs of the … wholesale and correspondent lenders," said Sig Anderman, chief executive officer of Ellie Mae. Ellie Mae can be found on the Web at http://www.elliemae.com.

Technology Investment Capital Corp., Greenwich, Conn., has announced the completion of a $15 million senior secured loan to MortgageIT Inc.MortgageIT is a full-service residential mortgage bank that originates mortgage loans via retail and wholesale offices and the Internet. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.ticc.com and http://www.mortgageit.com.