Technology

Two former Ditech.com executives have announced the launch of Lendability.com, an online mortgage lender based in Scottsdale, Ariz., that aims to be "the leader in both cost and transparency." Paulo La Greca, the new venture's chief executive officer, said the company plans to be in all 50 states by the summer of 2009. Brent Kirk, its chief operating officer, said other online lenders "got carried away with their businesses" by getting heavily involved in subprime mortgages. He said "everything is upfront" at Lendability.com, including rates, fees, and consumer options. Several other former executives at Ditech.com, Costa Mesa, Calif., have joined the company and will remain in Southern California to head up Lendability.com's satellite operations there. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.lendability.com.

First American Subordinate Lien Outsourcing, Dallas, has announced the debut of its Tool for Reserve Underwriting Scoring Model, which defines the potential loss, predicted recovery, and velocity of recovery on a monthly timeline for a subordinate loan pool. Created to address the risk management needs of Wall Street and hedge fund clients, the TRU Scoring Model delivers gross recovery cash-flow projections on a 24- to 36-month basis for a pool of performing or nonperforming subordinate lien assets, the company said. It projects recovery based on internal collection experience with similar types of collateral derived from delinquency and collateral characteristics. "It has been an invaluable solution in managing performance expectations in relation to market servicing benchmarks for the 100,000 distressed junior lien assets that we monitor in our operation," said Brett Benson, director of analytics at First American Subordinate Lien Outsourcing. "In addition, the use of our data products and analytic scores provide a powerful complementary set of metrics for assessing potential losses related to subordinate liens and home equity lines of credit." The company can be found online at http://www.firstam.com.

Denver-based idBusiness, a provider of information security systems for small to medium-size businesses, has announced the launch of the Red Flag Compliance Module. The module is designed to enable mortgage companies to meet the requirements of the so-called red-flag rules under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, idBusiness said. "A mortgage banker or broker is facing about 20 serious challenges to his business every day, one of which is red-flag compliance," said idBusiness chief executive Scott Brooks, himself a mortgage professional. "With the Compliance Module, we created a simple tool that achieves compliance first, but second, gives you a tool to build your business in a tough market." The module goes beyond the 26 identity theft "red flags" outlined by the legislation, providing customers with 37 potential signs of identity theft and integrating them into the day-to-day functions of a mortgage company's employees, idBusiness said. The company can be found online at http://www.idbusiness.com.

Financial Crossing, Palo Alto, Calif., has launched a technology-enabled program that expands the professional capacity of financial advisors, mortgage originators and other industry professionals. The Independent Advisor Program allows these professionals to function as personal liability managers, providing mortgage and liability analysis, planning, monitoring, and execution in real time and on an ethical and objective basis through FC's Liability Manager software. The software incorporates patent-pending analytics, market data, and leverages real-time pricing and eligibility from NYLX for thousands of loan programs from multiple lenders; offers seamless mortgage fulfillment services through integration with Lydian Data Services; and has execution and origination of loans and plans in all 50 states through an integrated partnership with Citizens Community Bank of New Jersey, a commercial bank and correspondent. FC can be found on the Web at http://www.financialcrossing.com.

LenderLive Network Inc., a Denver-based provider of business process outsourcing and technology, has announced the purchase of the assets of Guardian Mortgage Documents. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. "This acquisition takes our long-standing relationship with Guardian management and its staff to the next level, allowing us to capitalize on the tremendous synergies that are already in place," said Rick Seehausen, president of LenderLive. Guardian, which had been the exclusive provider of document preparation services to LenderLive for 10 years, will retain its management, and its operations will continue from its Lakewood, Colo., location, LenderLive said. LenderLive can be found on the Web at http://www.lenderlive.com.

Interthinx, Agoura Hills, Calif., has launched specific FHA Requirement Solutions to help lenders ensure compliant Federal Housing Administration lending programs. Interthinx said its features and services -- such as income verification, identity validation, occupancy status, automated regulatory compliance checks, and third-party certifications -- provide data validation to meet many requirements to support the rapidly growing share of FHA business. For training purposes, a multitude of Interthinx Red Flags have been mapped to specific FHA requirements to help underwriters understand exactly what loan information needs further scrutiny. For example, the company noted, section 4155.1 of the FHA handbook states that the FHA will insure owner-occupied principal residences only -- at least one borrower must occupy the property. Interthinx provides a minimum of 11 Red Flag alerts around the issue of occupancy that, under various circumstances, will trigger and notify an underwriter of potential fraud or risk. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.interthinx.com.

Minneapolis-based ComplianceEase has released RegulatorConnect and RegulatorDirect, which the company says will enable state-regulated mortgage lenders and banking institutions to plug into an automated regulatory examination process. RegulatorConnect links institutions with state regulators through electronic data transfer, while RegulatorDirect enables lenders to electronically deliver compliance audit reports to regulators with a single click. At the heart of the new process is ComplianceAnalyzer, which was selected by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors to provide baseline as well as customized state agency-specific audits as the examination automation component of the Model Examination Guidelines initiative. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.complianceease.com.

Overstock.com Inc., Salt Lake City, has announced that its website now offers access to online real estate auctions. The company said it has joined forces with Williams & Williams, a real estate auction company based in Tulsa, Okla. "Our site provides Overstock.com customers with information from real estate auctioneers and brokers who have direct access to auction properties and local expertise," said Patrick Byrne, chairman and chief executive officer of Overstock.com. The companies can be found online at http://www.overstock.com and http://www.williamsauction.com.

First American Loan Production Solutions has begun offering electronic document packages that allow lenders to originate and close mortgages on U.S. purchases of investment properties and second homes in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. The company said the international e-doc packages include federal- and state-mandated disclosures and program-specific notes and security instruments compliant with local regulations that are unique to the respective countries. In addition, the packages include Internal Revenue Service forms for tax reporting purposes and country-specific closing documents. FALPS can be found online at http://www.loanproductionsolutions.com.

CSC, a provider of technology based in Falls Church, Va., has announced the introduction of Borrower Inquiry, a tool designed to enable homeowners facing foreclosure to track the status of their requests for help from their mortgage servicers. The company said this capability will also help expedite workout requests by substantially reducing inbound calls to servicers and freeing up resources. The inquiry tool, which can be used by any servicer, informs borrowers of progress in accordance with the Hope Now Servicer Guidelines released in June. The borrowers can use a secure website to access updates from mortgage servicers on the status of their workouts. CSC said Borrower Inquiry is the first of several planned default management tools the company is designing to facilitate workouts and improve loss mitigation process efficiency. CSC can be found online at http://www.csc.com.