Technology

The implementation of electronic signature technology that has led to 75% to 95% closed loan ratios for online mortgages at Guaranty Bank was a centerpiece at Saturday's eLynx user conference held in Phoenix, just prior to the 2004 MBA national technology show.The uSign automation, which was built in compliance with the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act and the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, was designed to deliver disclosure packages and other loan documents online without incurring mail and courier fees or experiencing delays in receiving signed documents. Powered by Silanis, the technology allows borrowers to view documents at their convenience before signing electronically. eLynx first introduced its uSign electronic signature technology at the 2003 MBA Tech conference. In 2003, some 20% of the Guaranty Banks's total loan origination volume was sourced to the Internet. To increase its percentage of online business - and the closed loan rate for Internet borrowers - Guaranty began using uSign in December 2003 at its mortgage company, Guaranty Mortgage.

An offering that includes all the products and services to enable presentation of mortgage application documents for review, acceptance, and approval over the Web was among the flurry of announcements Silanis made at the MBA tech show in Phoenix.The eDisclosure offering, which was built on Silanis' ApproveIt Web server, was designed to present electronic disclosures to borrowers for immediate review, acceptance and approval, and can eliminate five to seven days from the mortgage origination process, according to Silanis. The company also released its eMortgage Impact Study at the conference. The study, an industry-specific service designed to help lenders determine the value associated with eMortgage initiatives, discusses compliance issues involved in the automation of the mortgage origination process, offers tips on an optimal implementation strategy, and details cost savings and performance improvements.

Prime Alliance Solutions, Inc., which serves over 600 credit unions nationwide and originated nearly $20 billion in loans last year, is implementing Dexma’s Emerging Market Toolkit, Dexma announced at the Mortgage Bankers Association's national technology conference.The toolkit translates mortgage documents into the borrower’s native language, enabling Prime Alliance credit unions to send their borrowers a translated initial loan approval letter listing the conditions required to close the loan. Spanish and its cultural variants will be available first, since Latinos are the largest minority group in the U.S., representing 13.5% of the population, the company reported. Prime Alliance members include several credit unions in states that have higher-than-average Latino populations, including California, Texas, Florida and Colorado.

MortgageWire has learned that Harland has shipped its Interlinq E3 loan production system, the long-awaited successor to MortgageWare.Some 30 lenders are scheduled to start implementation of E3 by the end of April, out of the 360 lenders that have purchased E3. Most of the first 30 implementations are customers upgrading from MortgageWare, which has been the system used more than any other by lenders since 1992, according to Mortech. E3 is a Web-based platform that has been touted as an open customizable system enabling business process management and XML-compliant integration across the mortgage supply chain and for interfacing easily with other systems. Thayne D. Atkinson, the management information system officer at Salt Lake City-based Security National Mortgage, commented, "I will be able to move electronic data into the system without fear of losing data integrity, since everything filters through the business logic before it's written in the database." He estimated that E3's ability to automatically route incoming broker loans to the correct branch and notify the correct person will save an average of 15 minutes per loan setup and communication time -- about 4,200 hours a year.

Cendant Settlement Services Group, a subsidiary of Cendant Corp. based in Moorestown, N.J., has signed up to use BCE Emergis' Emergis Vendor Services Exchange to conduct appraisal transactions electronically.BCE, Montréal, Québec, will develop a customized integration with Cendant's proprietary ordering system, enabling Cendant's mortgage originators and over 2,500 appraisers to connect online to place, receive, and manage the status of appraisal orders in a standardized format. BCE will also provide Cendant access to automated appraisal review engines that will improve error identification and enhance quality control. Cendant can be found on the Web at http://www.cendant.com/media, and BCE can be found at http://www.emergis.com.

AllRegs, an Eagan, Minn.-based online publisher of mortgage reference information, has begun the search for a new president/chief operating officer as a result of a consolidation of ownership by co-founder Glenn Ford."We're looking for a seasoned professional to take over the operational responsibilities of what is already a very successful company," said Mr. Ford, who was recently named chairman and chief executive officer. The company also announced the promotion of Douglas Smalley to vice president and chief technology officer and the reorganization of its advisory board. The following members have been added to the advisory board: David Matthews, former president of RBC Mortgage; Scott Cooley, founder of Contour Software; Joseph Doyle, president of TCF Mortgage; and Terry Schopfer, president of TenA Cos. AllRegs can be found online at http://www.allregs.com.

Calyx Software, a provider of desktop loan origination systems based in San Jose, Calif., and Advectis, Alpharetta, Ga., have released what they termed a tighter integration of their flagship products, Calyx Point and BlitzDocs.The integration comes as Advectis, a provider of paperless origination and loan archiving applications, joins the Calyx Preferred Point Partner program. With Advectis as a Preferred Point Partner, a broker will be able to access BlitzDocs from within Point to create electronic loan folders without re-keying any information already captured in Point, the companies said. Brokers will also be able to submit imaged documents to lenders for paperless underwriting. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.calyxsoftware.com and http://www.advectis.com.

Fraser, Mich.-based VMP Mortgage Solutions, a Bankers Systems Inc. company, has released VMP SMART Document Viewer, version 2.5.The new version features what VMP is dubbing an industry first -- a routine that checks documents for well-formed and valid Extensible Mark-up Language using the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization's data standards. The validation routine allows for lenders experimenting with e-mortgage technology to perform basic XML integrity tests on their data. (SMART stands for securable, manageable, archivable, retrievable, transferable.) VMP can be found on the Web at http://www.vmpmtg.com.

Integrated Loan Services, Rocky Hill, Conn., has released a product that allows clients to interface directly to ILS to place and display the status of their orders with the company.It provides a link that enables lenders who have Fiserv's UniFi PRO loan origination system to access the settlement services provided through ILS. There is no transaction fee for the service. ILS can be found on the Web at http://www.ils.com.

Palisades Technology Partners, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., has launched Impact Mortgage Services Components, which are designed to plug into point-of-sale and loan origination systems to streamline the delivery of new products and services.Specifically, the product includes pricing, fees, compliance, and mortgage calculation services. Palisades, which provides strategic consulting, eLending applications, and systems integration, can be found on the Web at http://www.ptpusa.com.