Technology

Standard & Poor's has released an updated version of its credit risk analysis product for residential mortage-backed securities.S&P had added several new fields of information that "has been shown to play a critical role in a loan's foreclosure frequency or loss severity expectation" to the product. Among these is a compliance field that takes into account anti-predatory lending laws. S&P can be found online at http://www.standardandpoors.com.

Titan Investment Partners LLC, a private equity firm based in San Diego that is also the managing owner of Del Mar Database, will acquire Sollen Technologies LLC, Dallas.Sollen develops technology that provides real-time delivery of mortgage loan product and pricing information for U.S. mortgage lenders. Details of the deal were not disclosed, but Titan said it expects the deal to close within the next few weeks. Titan, a provider of mortgage technology services to over 230 lenders in the United States, is a member of the Relational Group, an asset management and financial advisory firm with more than $2.3 billion under management. Del Mar Database is the developer of the DataTrac and WebTrac business applications. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.sollen.com and http://www.delmardb.com.

NetBank Inc., Atlanta, has reported net income of $15.6 million ($0.32 per share) for the third quarter, compared with $8.5 million a year earlier.Among the highlights the bank reported for the third quarter were record mortgage production of $5.7 billion, including record originations through the nonconforming channel of $589 million, and strategic retention by the bank of $586 million in company-originated loans. NetBank originated $5.1 billion in conforming mortgages during the quarter, a slight decrease from last quarter's record numbers. On the nonconforming side, the company originated $589 million in loans. NetBank can be found on the Web at http://www.netbank.com.

Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has reported net income of $277.3 million ($1.99 per share) for the third quarter, compared with $143.5 million ($1.16 per share) a year earlier.The company pointed out that its results included $52 million in pretax realized investment gain and $53 million in expense items that had been previously disclosed. Those items had a net effect of $1 million in pretax expenses on the results and less than one-half-cent on earnings per share, FNF said. Fidelity National can be found on the Web at http://www.fnf.com.

Qvault, Essex Junction, Vt., has released version 2.5 of its Status Sweep software, a tool that works in conjunction with Calyx Point to provide pipeline management and other tools for originators.Features in the new version include enhanced support for mortgage teams. "Originators are realigning their organizations around a team concept," said managing partner Rob Cecil. "We have had clients and prospects alike tell us they are planning to move away from the traditional 'loan officer-processor' model to more of a team environment." Version 2.5 also provides a significant increase in vendor or supply chain communication. Status Sweep was designed especially for a mortgage lending customer who needed to track and then provide access to the status of events using the Point database. Today, Qvault markets the software nationwide. Qvault can be found on the Internet at http://www.qvault.com.

Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wis., has reported record net income of $80.4 million ($0.41 per share) for the third quarter, compared with $66.2 million ($0.34 per share) a year earlier.The company said it completed five acquisitions in the third quarter, including Insurance Management Solutions Group, St. Petersburg, Fla., which services the flood insurance market; and General American Corp., Pittsburgh, a provider of technology and settlement services to the real estate and mortgage banking industries. Fiserv provides integrated data processing and information management systems to banks, mortgage lenders, and others in the financial services industry. The company can be found online at http://www.fiserv.com.

Document Systems Inc., Carson, Calif., and ProLender Solutions Inc., San Diego, have completed an interface that will enable ProLender users to submit loan-specific data directly to DSI's DocMagic product.Through the interface, ProLender communicates directly with DSI's servers and transmits data in Extensible Markup Language so that DocMagic can provide customized loan documents electronically or for posting on the Web. The company made the announcements at the MBA's annual convention in San Diego. ProLender's website address is http://www.prolender.com. DSI can be found at http://www.docmagic.com.

Mortgage Builder Software Inc., Southfield, Mich., has rolled out direct interfaces with four credit information companies: CBC Companies, LandAmerica, Info1, and Factual Data.The integrated interface keeps customers on the Mortgage Builder system without transporting them to another website to receive credit reports. MBSI offers access to more than 230 additional credit reporting agencies, but the interface to these four preferred vendors was created due to user demand, the company said. The majority of Mortgage Builder's customers use one of these four credit bureaus to process loan applications, according to the company. The company made the announcements at the MBA's annual convention in San Diego. MBSI's website address is http://www.mortgagebuilder.com.

Case Shiller Weiss, Boston, a unit of Fiserv Inc., has added three new service options via the Casa valuation platform.Casa Order Explorer is a Web-based application that allows lenders to monitor Casa accountholder order activity, create utilization reports, and search archived reports. Casa Future Value provides a predicted value for the property one year out, and Casa Plus is a product warranty. The company made the announcements at the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's annual convention in San Diego. CSW can be found on the Internet at http://www.cswcasa.com.

AmeriDream Inc., Gaithersburg, Md., has announced the release of Gift Xpress, which it says is the industry's first electronic downpayment gift program.The Web-enabled tool allows lenders to submit applications online and allows settlement companies to finalize gift applications electronically at the settlement table, AmeriDream said. "GiftXpress streamlines and automates the process and reduces the time spent on paperwork," said Ann Ashburn, president and chief executive officer of AmeriDream. The company said the new program was developed in partnership with Silanis Technology. The announcement was made at the MBA's annual convention in San Diego. AmeriDream can be found online at http://www.ameridream.org.