Technology

LandSafe Inc., a subsidiary of Countrywide Financial Corp., will provide access to flood determinations through the users of Calyx' Point loan origination software.The Point version 4.1 interface allows originators using the system to request flood information from LandSafe without swapping applications. The request is transmitted through the Internet.

Fidelity National Information Solutions, Santa Barbara, Calif., has unveiled FNIS HQ score, a property valuation tool that evaluates current and future price risk and provides an instantaneous risk score.The FNIS HQ Score offers investors, dealers and lenders a tool to identify and manage collateral risk based upon FNIS' property data resources, and proprietary home price forecast indices and loan attributes, the company said. FNIS is a subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial, located at http://www.fnf.com on the Internet.

GHR Systems Inc., Wayne, Pa., has formed a strategic alliance with ValuAmerica, Pittsburgh, under which it will add ValuAmerica's mortgage settlement services to its Entelligent Lender mortgage origination and transaction processing platform.The new relationship adds comprehensive real estate settlement services, including appraisals, title insurance, flood insurance, and closing agency services to GHR’s Web-based platform. These services will also be available within GHR’s new Entelligent Processor system, scheduled for delivery in December. In addition to settlement services, ValuAmerica also offers technology and management consulting services. GHR's website address is http://www.ghrsystems.com.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has licensed PCi Corp. of Boston, a provider of compliance risk-management systems, to assist HUD in identifying market segments with higher risk of exposure to fair-lending violations and predatory lending practices.PCi said HUD will use its Fair Lending Wiz "to investigate discrimination complaints about lenders by performing in-depth comparative file review and regression analysis to assess lenders’ performance" in fair-lending compliance. HUD plans to roll out Fair Lending Wiz in the second quarter after training staff in Washington and its field investigators in regional offices nationwide.

Oklahoma City-based a la mode inc. and Dynatek Inc., Livonia, Mich., have announced plans for the joint development of a software plug-in that would connect Dynatek lender clients to a la mode's Mercury Network.Real estate appraisers subscribe to the network to connect electronically to more lender clients while using report form-filling software, the companies said. During the design phase, Dynatek and a la mode said they will develop and test technology that allows appraisers to use their favorite form-filling software, regardless of brand, while connecting seamlessly with Dynatek software users. "Addressing these workflow issues is an important part of providing a higher-quality product with shorter turnaround times for our clients," said Craig C. Backus, a business analyst with Dynatek.

XFormic Inc., Burlingame, Calif., has announced the introduction of Direct Credit Solution, a software product that it says "revolutionizes" the way small to medium-size mortgage companies retrieve merged credit reports.DCS allows mortgage companies to bypass existing credit data resellers and purchase data directly from the major credit bureaus, XFormic said. "Going direct allows the mortgage company to avoid reseller markups and save, on average, 40% on data acquisition costs," the company said. ".... Currently, the average reseller charges $12-15 for a tri-merged credit report. With DCS, the cost is $7.88 or less." XFormic can be found online at http://www.xformic.com.

Decade Systems Corp., Jacksonville, Fla., and Equix Financial Services, Menomonee Falls, Wis., have announced an alliance under which they will offer mortgage lenders a "rapid, cost-effective" integration system for leveraging Equix's origination and fulfillment capabilities.Equix recently implemented Decade's Total Enterprise Data Integration technology within its system architecture, and this coincided with the launch of an origination call center designed to support a top mortgage lender, the companies said. The technology includes "an extensive library of reusable integration adapters" to popular mortgage systems, enabling Equix clients to send application information and receive data for their existing systems using data files that comply with standards set by the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, they said. "By partnering with Decade, our lender clients are able to realize the benefits of outsourced origination and fulfillment quickly and efficiently, with minimal impact to their internal resources," said Chris Hayward, chief operating officer of Equix. The companies can be found online at http://www.equix.us and http://www.decadesystems.com.

ACS, Dallas, has announced what it says is the first secure Internet-based exchange connecting organizations and counties to facilitate the electronic recording of land records such as deeds and mortgages.Named eRX, the system allows participants to create, sign, notarize, edit, transmit, and record documents in a paperless environment, said ACS, a provider of business process and information technology outsourcing systems. The system also handles the fees associated with these business-to-government transactions. ACS said eRX is the first implementation of an open exchange that provides a single interface for lender and title company members to reach any county member nationwide. The system also features electronic signature technology provided by Silanis Technology. "Counties reduce the manual processing effort associated with paper processing, and what used to take days or even months now takes minutes or hours, eliminating risks for the title companies and significantly reducing the post-closing costs for lenders," said John Brophy, group president of ACS State and Local Solutions. The company can be found online at http://www.acs-inc.com.

VMP Mortgage Solutions, Fraser, Mich., has released the latest version of a forms design tool boasting features that the company says simplify and speed the process of designing documents.VMP said I-32 Forms Design 6.0, which can be installed as a stand-alone tool or as a transparent addition to client applications, allows users to create complex forms with hundreds of data fields using unique identifiers; to incorporate logos, text, signatures, and data fields without altering the original forms; and to insert check boxes, rules, columns, and graphics. One form, regardless of how many pages it contains, is loaded into one file. (For example, a user has to open only one file to work on a 10-page document instead of opening 10 files, the company said.) VMP released the updated tool at the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's technology conference in Orlando, Fla. The company, a division of CBF Systems Inc., can be found online at http://www.vmpmtg.com.

REsolve Technology, a Boston-based custom programming and financial consulting firm for the commercial real estate industry, has unveiled a new tracking and reporting module for its REquest product.The Partnership Module enables users to track, analyze, and report property and fund information and the returns of various real estate properties owned individually or in a partnership, the company said. Users can now allocate properties to specific funds, link historical contributions and distributions, and create and edit customized reports. "Before implementing the Partnership Module, one of our clients had to track their partnership structures in complicated Excel spreadsheets," said Eric Forman, president of REsolve Technology. "This was prone to error and very time consuming. With this new module, users can now add, delete, or edit real estate properties associated with specific funds, or change ownership percentages of funds in certain properties at the touch of a button." The company can be found online at http://www.resolvetech.com.