Technology

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has chosen commercial real estate information and technology provider Trepp LLC as collateral monitor for commercial mortgage-backed securities as part of the Term Asset-Backed Securities Lending Facility. TALF's monthly subscription window for new issue CMBS was set to open for the first time Tuesday afternoon. At press time midday Tuesday Trepp senior vice president Andy Liebman and Tom Sink said to their knowledge there was nothing pending for it, but they were already at work on aspects of the program that are being finalized, and said next month they anticipate the program will be underway for both new issue and legacy CMBS. Trepp said in its role as monitor it would assist the New York Fed in providing valuation, modeling, analytics and reporting as well as advise on matters involving newly issued and "legacy" CMBS in the program. The New York-based company said it would not establish policies or make decisions for the New York Fed, including decisions on whether to reject a CMBS as collateral for a TALF loan or exclude loans from mortgage pools. Trepp said it would use the analytics and forecasting services of its subcontractor and sister company, the Boston-based Property and Portfolio Research, in conjunction with its work as a TALF CMBS collateral monitor.

Southern California-based REOTrans has launched the RT Certified Agent Program, an online training regimen that educates agents in the REO-sales process. REOTrans has been providing basic training on the use of the workstation free of charge at various industry meetings, but the sessions were constantly overbooked, so the company decided to create an online series of courses. The company offers three levels of certification.

LendingSpace, the developer of web-based loan origination software for reverse and forward mortgages, has named Jeffrey Osheka president. Mr. Osheka has over 20 years in the industry working for companies such as Lydian, Decade Systems, Ultraprise/GHR and Fidelity Mortgage Funding. As president of LendingSpace, Mr. Osheka is responsible for directing the company's current growth, with an emphasis on the rapidly expanding reverse mortgage market.

Interthinx has integrated its fraud prevention system with MortgageDashboard's loan origination system. The integration enables MortgageDashboard to offer customers an interface with automatic screening for potential fraudulent activity, according to the Agoura Hills, Calif.-based company. BenchMark Mortgage was recently introduced to MortgageDashboard's expanded loan origination system.

Woodward Asset Capital LLC, Southfield, Mich. has launched OfferSubmission.com, a web-based software program geared toward firms that want to sell assets, including mortgages. Woodward is marketing the program to banks, servicers, GSEs, private equity firms and hedge funds.

Byte Software, Kirkland, Wash., has released the BytePro Loan Modification Edition, designed to help servicers process modifications under the Treasury Department's Home Affordable Modification Program. The BytePro Loan Modification Edition allows servicers to process HMP modifications from initial borrower contact through completion of the modification. The company says the software calculates the interest rate, term, and balance of the modified loan in accordance with Treasury mandates. For loans that do not qualify for the HMP program, the software provides the ability to modify loans according to the lender's own parameters.

Byte Software, Kirkland, Wash., has released the BytePro Loan Modification Edition, designed to help servicers process modifications under the Treasury's Home Affordable Modification Program (HMP). The BytePro Loan Modification Edition allows servicers to process HMP modifications from initial borrower contact through completion of the modification. It automatically calculates the interest rate, term, and balance of the modified loan in accordance with Treasury mandates, and it produces all the documents that must be executed by the borrower and servicer. For loans that do not qualify for the HMP program, the software provides the ability to modify loans according to the lender's own parameters.

Lend America, Melville, N.Y., has launched a new website for institutional investors looking to monetize their distressed residential mortgage portfolios. The company, a Ginnie Mae issuer, has been working to help institutional investors monetize portfolios by using the government's Hope for Homeowners program to handle loans that meet that program's expanding qualifications. The company has been one of the most aggressive in its use of the H4H program and recently said it was one of the first to complete to a "satisfactory" level the Department of Housing and Urban Development's pre-closing review period for direct endorsement of the H4H program. This allows it to underwrite, close and insure H4H deals without prior HUD review. The new website can be found at http://www.refiportfolio.com.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. is recommending daily trade netting for to be announced mortgage-backed securities transactions. The DTCC said the move would cut what have been high costs in processing the trades and increase risk protection for the market. "The idea is to streamline the somewhat complex current `balance order' netting process," said Murray Pozmanter, DTCC's managing director, clearance and settlement/fixed income. "The industry's process today requires trading firms to allocate pools of mortgages against the TBA obligations we establish, and then to settle all those pools with multiple counterparties at different prices." He said the DTCC is recommending this be changed to a process where trades would be netted daily and the DTCC's Fixed Income Clearing Corp. subsidiary would "step in as the allocation and settlement counterparty." Currently, MBS trades are netted only once a month, beginning 72 hours prior to the monthly settlement date established for each kind of TMBA security. Because this forces trading firms to meet a netting cut-off on the "72 hour day," the number of trades incorporated in the current netting process can be limited, according to a DTCC report.

Compliance and risk management vendor ComplianceEase has launched HMDA Analyze and CRA Manager to enable mortgage lenders to manage the analysis and reporting that is required by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and the Community Reinvestment Act. The new offerings are hosted and Web-based HMDA and CRA solutions that therefore do not require in-house IT hardware maintenance and software updates. The new applications will enable the user to edit loan records, conduct dynamic analysis, and generate the Loan Application Register (LAR) and other reports for regulators from anywhere, and in real time given that both applications are completely Web based.