Technology

After an 18-month implementation of a loan origination system, Wachovia was on hand at the 10th Annual SourceMedia Mortgage Technology Conference in Tempe, Ariz., to share helpful hints on how to undertake the process successfully.Steve Daniels, senior vice president and director of business technology at Wachovia Mortgage Corp., noted that time is the biggest enemy in LOS implementations. Wachovia works with 15 vendors to formulate its origination strategy, with one core LOS at the center. Mr. Daniels stressed the importance of creating a steering committee that includes at least one representative from the technology vendor; assigning a dedicated program administrator to every task to keep things moving; knowing the nature of one's competitive advantage before selecting a vendor; holding the vendor accountable for everything in the request for proposal submitted during the due-diligence process; and understanding that an LOS implementation is a business process that senior management has to "own." Mr. Daniels also maintained that a cost/benefit analysis should be done on every change, and that each change should be evaluated on its own merit and how it affects any past or expected changes. Wachovia can be found online at http://www.wachovia.com.

When nonprime lender Aegis Lending selected Intellidyn for mortgage lead incubation, it knew that GM Mortgage was already putting up some remarkable conversion numbers with leads that generally go in the trash can.At the 10th Annual SourceMedia Mortgage Technology Conference, Intellidyn senior vice president Gene Devine presented statistics showing exponentially improved click-through and conversion rates on cold leads with the system created for GM Mortgage. Now Hingham, Mass.-based Intellidyn Corp. is creating a custom lead-incubation system for Aegis leveraging a multichannel database system and state-of-the-art analytics. Forrest Young, director of marketing and business development at Aegis Lending, characterized lead incubation as a "must-have" tool for direct lenders. "We do a fair amount of second-effort and recycle marketing programs successfully," he said, "but lead incubation marketing is a longer-term initiative that works differently to drive our prospects back to us when they are ready and in the market." Aegis Lending can be found online at https://www.debtunderoneroof.com, and Intellidyn can be found at http://www.intellidyn.com.

Metavante Corp., Milwaukee, has announced the launch of the Consumer Loan Origination System, which enables lenders to support all their consumer and personal loans on one integrated platform.The application is a licensed system that supports various loan types, including home equity, home equity lines of credit, auto, recreational vehicle, secured, and unsecured. The tool is a Web-based, stand-alone system that streamlines consumer loan processing by accessing customer relationship data from a lender's core banking system and additional data from external sources such as credit bureaus. The system then incorporates credit policy and business rules. The CLOS also works in tandem with Metavante's Mortgage LOS. Metavante can be found on the Web at http://www.metavante.com.

Global M&A activity totaled $3.79 trillion last year, with technology mergers and acquisitions accounting for $612 billion, according to Scott Cooley, principal at Cooley Consulting.Speaking at the 10th Annual SourceMedia Mortgage Technology Conference, Tempe, Ariz., Mr. Cooley said most technology buyers looking for an acquisition target are in the market for return on investment, strategic, or cross-sell opportunities. They are seeking to fill a hole in their current offering, to roll up like firms, or to buy a technology provider instead of building that technology on their own, he said. In the M&A process, Mr. Cooley stressed the importance of talking to every potential buyer; creating a company book with all the company's trade secrets for use by potential buyers; giving certain buyers special treatment; and qualifying the buyer on a variety of levels. The successful acquisition, according to Mr. Cooley, includes developing a stronger management team, properly evaluating joint business plans, taking advantage of synergies, and proving out growth.

Mortgage Coach, Irvine, Calif., has launched the Mortgage Coach Marketing Machine, online tools and sales proposals that enable loan officers to reduce rate shopping and differentiate themselves from competitors by educating borrowers on the benefits of mortgage planning.The Marketing Machine offers services such as the Personalized Mortgage Plan, the Annual Equity Review, and the Periodic Mortgage Review, each supported by advice-delivery tools and printable marketing pieces. "The Marketing Machine serves two main purposes," said Dave Savage, founder and chief executive of Mortgage Coach. "First, it puts valuable, pertinent information directly into the hands of the borrower -- not just the originator. Second, it makes the originator a referral magnet." According to Mr. Savage, Mortgage Coach users say clients are five times more likely to conduct their next mortgage transaction with them as a result of using Periodic Mortgage Review. The company can be found online at http://www.mortgagecoach.com.

Ron Duff of Fiserv Lending Solutions has been elected to chair the Governance Committee of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, taking over from David Barkley of Freddie Mac, who has chaired the panel since its inception in 2000.Nancee Gorenstein of MGIC and Lisa Bolelli of First American Real Estate Information Services were elected vice-chairs. The committee also re-elected the following members: Chris Anderson of Gallagher Financial Systems; Jim Cooke of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll; David Erkes of GMAC Residential Holding Corp.; Roger Gudobba of VMP/Wolters Kluwer; Michael Levine of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage; Shannon Lloyd of Fannie Mae; Kelly Romeo of the American Land Title Association; and Wendy Sadeh of Bridger Commercial Funding. The Governance Committee consists of 20 MISMO subscriber organizations that serve two-year terms, with half the seats up for election each year. MISMO, which was established by the Mortgage Bankers Association, develops electronic commerce standards for the mortgage industry. The organization can be found online at http://www.mismo.org.

The biggest buzz at SourceMedia's Mortgage Technology Conference in Tempe, Ariz., has been over a statement that LendingTree's participating lenders are not upset to hear that it is "thinking" of opening brick-and-mortar retail stores.That remark by LendingTree general manager Lori Collins continued to spark comment well after Ms. Collins made the statement in response to a question after her presentation on the Internet's value as a source of qualified mortgage leads. A number of lender attendees commented on the conflict between acting as a retail lender and LendingTree's role as a multilender marketplace where "when banks compete, you win." A competitive trigger for LendingTree to consider such a move may have been revealed in Monday's keynote address, when E-Loan senior vice president Pete Bonnikson told conference attendees that his company, another pioneer in online lending, has already opened "8 or 9" brick-and-mortar offices to leverage its back-office efficiencies to serve borrowers who prefer to deal face to face with a loan officer. LendingTree can be found online at http://www.lendingtree.com.

The First American Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., has announced the launch of MarketLinx, a company aimed at addressing the information technology needs of residential real estate professionals.The new company combines the strengths of First American subsidiaries First American MLS Solutions Inc., Offutt Systems, Sonic Eagle Inc., and Lucero Research Corp. to provide customizable technology for multiple listing services, brokers, and agents, the parent company said. "Our long-term strategy is centered on the development of a complete, online real estate platform that provides an integrated set of components to perform all of the functions that are important in a residential property transaction," said Stephen C. Roney, president and chief executive officer of MarketLinx. "Merging the technology and software assets of these companies into one organization offers ease of use for the real estate professional, who can now order several core products and services from one entity rather than multiple providers." The new company can be found online at http://www.marketlinx.com.

When E-Loan started up in 1998, its slick-looking website masked a clunky paper-based process. But now it is launching the electronic signing of closing documents in first-quarter 2007, and its back office is all but paperless.This was the story E-Loan senior vice president Pete Bonnikson told attendees in his keynote address Monday morning for the 10th Annual Mortgage Technology Conference in Tempe, Ariz. The key to online lending today, he said, is to give the borrower an instant decision communicated by a live loan consultant who gets the borrower to lock in a rate and submit a credit card for credit and appraisal. Mr. Bonnikson said E-Loan consultants succeed in that goal 25% of the time. He boasted that E-Loan now gets high marks from 95% of Realtors involved in its purchase loans. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company can be found online at http://www.eloan.com.

The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, a subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association, has formed an alliance with the Federal Housing Administration.MISMO said the purpose of the alliance is the development and publication of government standards for data and electronic mortgage transactions involving government entities within MISMO's framework and using its infrastructure. The FHA will join MISMO's Government Housing Workgroups, which are being developed with the help of Ginnie Mae, a MISMO ally since last fall. Members of the Government Housing Workgroups are expected to include representatives of interested government entities (starting with Ginnie Mae and the FHA) and private-sector companies. MISMO can be found on the Web at http://www.mismo.org.