Technology

American Home Mortgage Holdings Inc., New York, has signed an exclusive agreement with Forbes.com to launch a co-branded online mortgage channel via American Home?s MortgageSelect.com online lending subsidiary.Under the agreement, MortgageSelect.com will be integrated into Forbes.com?s Mortgage Center, on the site?s Personal Finance channel, and provide a full online mortgage lending service, American Home said. MortgageSelect.com will be the exclusive residential mortgage provider on Forbes.com. This is the latest in a series of strategic partnerships formed by MortgageSelect.com. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.americanhm.com and http://www.forbes.com.

RealEC Technologies, Santa Ana, Calif., and Myers Internet Inc., San Francisco, have announced an agreement that offers seamless integration for Myers' Internet-connected customers to more than 5,000 service providers who have integrated with the RealEC network platform.Myers' OriginatorNetwork is a back-office portal that offers more than 8,000 mortgage originators website management tools, access to marketing, small business services, and the ability to order settlement services electronically. RealEC is designed to facilitate the origination, servicing, and closing of real estate transactions and to enable real estate practitioners to enhance their businesses. Myers, a provider of Internet infrastructure to the mortgage industry, can be found on the Web at http://www.myersinternet.com, and RealEC can be found at http://www.realec.com.

LandSafe, the Plano, Texas-based technology subsidiary of Countrywide Financial Corp., is combining its ValueFinder and Frauditor products into a single report that it will make available at the same price previously charged for one of the products."As AVMs become increasingly important to the lending community for pre-qualifying, HELOCs, second mortgages, and portfolio valuation, LandSafe is keeping pace with the demand for more complete information delivered at the highest possible speed," said Michael Faine, LandSafe's managing director, president, and chief operating officer. The new product will return the value, the uncertainty factor, and public record information on the property and comparable properties provided by ValueFinder, as well as Frauditor red flags for possible inflated value, property-type mismatch, or seller mismatch. The product is available through the LandSafe website or via direct XML integration with the customer's loan origination system. LandSafe's website address is http://www.landsafe.com.

Veros Software, a provider of predictive technology and advanced analytics based in Irvine, Calif., has released the latest version of its VeroValue automated property valuation system.VeroValue 1.6 provides mortgage lenders with new tools such as home value forecasting, online account management, property fitness scoring, and wireless access, the company said. Home value forecasting is provided through analysis of key economic indicators and residential real estate trends, while property fitness scoring combines analysis of the subject property, neighborhood, market conditions, and both micro- and macro-economic conditions, Veros said. In addition, the new version offers a Correlated Confidence Score based on the accuracy of the valuation estimate, scaled from 1 to 100 for ease of integration into automated underwriting systems, the company said. Veros can be found online at http://www.verovalue.com.

VMP Mortgage Forms, St. Cloud, Minn., has announced that it will provide a new identity verification software program to mortgage lenders to help them prevent fraud, money laundering, and financing for terrorists.The program, IDFlag, enables lenders to perform real-time and batch verification of consumer and business application information by checking customer data against many risk-indicating databases, the company said. "The mortgage industry is looking for a comprehensive, yet easy-to-use solution to help curb fraud losses and comply with the requirements of the USA Patriot Act," said Joanne Gaskin, VMP's marketing director. VMP is a Bankers Systems company, which can be found on the Web at http://www.bankerssystems.com.

E-Loan Inc., Dublin, Calif., has introduced Loan Advisor, the latest addition to its family of products offering consumer debt advice.The product helps solve debt-related problems by asking about objectives, credit scores, loan details, and tax information in order to recommend a loan that offers the lowest payments or the lowest after-tax cost, the company said. The recommendation takes into account key parameters such as the loan-to-value ratio, credit, actual closing costs, and available interest rates. "The Loan Advisor helps consumers by weighing all options available to them and providing an unbiased recommendation on the lowest-cost solution for their individual scenario," said Joe Kennedy, president and chief executive officer of E-Loan. "It is, to the best of our knowledge, the most sophisticated debt advice tool ever developed." The company can be found on the Web at http://www.eloan.com.

MERS OnLine, Vienna, Va., has reported the registration of its one millionth loan.MERS OnLine, which was introduced in May 2000, is the Internet-based access point to the MERS System, enabling members to perform all transactions in an online, real-time environment. It was created as an alternative to a client-server based system, eliminating the need to buy proprietary software and licensing agreements when registering loans on the system, MERS said. "One million loans registered on MERS OnLine signifies a growing acceptance by small- to medium-sized lenders of the MERS System," said R.K. Arnold, president and chief executive officer of MERS. MERS can be found on the Internet at http://www.mersinc.org.

Fidelity National Financial Inc., Irvine, Calif., has increased its stake in LendingTree Inc., Charlotte, N.C., by purchasing 1.84 million shares of preferred stock held by a unit of Capital Z Financial Services Partners.This stock can be converted into 2.0 million shares of LendingTree common stock. The price paid was not disclosed. Prior to the deal, FNF held 1.6 million shares of LendingTree common stock. FNF and its affiliates now own 12.4% of the total voting stock in the company. Capital Z remains LendingTree's largest shareholder, owning 15.4% of the voting stock. "We feel that LendingTree is a compelling strategic partner for our comprehensive suite of real estate settlement products and services," said FNF chairman and chief executive William P. Foley II. Capital Z is also a significant shareholder in Aames Financial Corp., the Los Angeles-based subprime lender. LendingTree can be found on the Web at http://www.lendingtree.com.

Finali Corp., Westminster, Colo., has announced an agreement to provide outsourced customer care to First Franklin Financial Corp., a subprime mortgage lender based in San Jose, Calif.The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under the arrangement, Finali's customer care agents will respond to queries and will be complemented by their netSage Virtual Agent on First Franklin's website. The live agents will provide outbound communication to screen applicants and route them to the appropriate loan officers at First Franklin. "Our industry is booming, and we were looking for an innovative way to increase our capacity to handle increased volume without making significant investments in infrastructure," said First Franklin managing director Carole McCormick. "At First Franklin, we believe we've found a unique offering in Finali's combination of customer service experts with its virtual assistants." The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.finali.com and http://www.first-franklin.com.

LION Inc., Seattle, has formed an alliance with Silver Spring, Md.-based LoanRover Decision Systems that will see LoanRover's subprime decision engine distributed to LION's network of mortgage originators and lenders.LION says its network includes over 6,500 mortgage brokers, 250 lenders, and 20,000 limited members, all of whom will now have access to LoanRover's software. The multilender decision engine will allow broker members of LION's network to submit a file and receive instantly priced, conditional loan approvals from subprime lenders. LION said this move would put the company closer to its goal of providing a turnkey mortgage technology system. LION already offers lead generation, websites, loan search services, and loan processing software. The companies can be found online at http://www.lioncorp.net and http://www.loanrover.com.