Technology

MBS ProClose Inc., a provider of mortgage closing document services and technology based in McLean, Va., has announced the completion of a MISMO-compliant print engine with a complete library of processing and closing documents.The ProClose Gold option provides access to the document library from within a lender's enterprise loan origination system, keeping documents and data within their control, the company said. "Lenders using ProClose Gold will have a single source of printing for all their document needs, providing maximum efficiency and cost effectiveness to improve the bottom line," MBS ProClose said. The announcement was made at the Mortgage Bankers Association's 92nd Annual Convention and Expo in Orlando, Fla. The company can be found online at http://www.proclose.com.

TransUnion Settlement Solutions, Chicago, has announced the availability of fraud and identity management products to the mortgage industry at the MBA's annual convention in Orlando.To mitigate occurrences of fraud, mortgage lenders can integrate TransUnion's fraud and identity management solutions directly into their loan origination system and automated underwriting systems, the company said. Some of the systems offered are borrower identification, loan data verification, and collateral valuation and property services. The systems leverage multisource databases to verify and authenticate personal information on a borrower's mortgage application. The company's Irregular Sales Indicator alerts lenders when a property has an irregular sale price and provides a history of sales transactions for the neighborhood. Additionally, TransUnion's Collateral Market Value verifies a customer-estimated value or an appraised value in a quality-control environment. TransUnion also offers mortgage lenders comprehensive fraud response services in the event of a database compromise.

GMAC Mortgage Corp., Horsham, Pa., has announced that it is the first investor in the mortgage industry able to purchase a correspondent loan with an electronic note, complete the sale of the loan on the secondary market, and service the eNote.Under a licensing agreement with Document Processing Systems Inc., GMAC Mortgage and GMAC Bank will use eMortgage Studio software to interface with the MERS eRegistry, the electronic system that maintains eNote information. "Servicing an eNote is an enormous first step to originating and servicing electronic mortgages," said Joanne Wight, vice president of correspondent lending operations at GMAC Bank. "Not only do [GMAC Mortgage] and GMAC Bank have an immediate ability to participate in the eMortgage marketplace, we can also offer a solution for lenders seeking secondary-market investors who are equipped to handle eNotes."

Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., discussed its recently launched DecisionStream product during a press briefing at the Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention in Orlando.According to Al Verkuylen, senior vice president of development and strategy for FNF subsidiary Lender's Services Inc., DecisionStream takes the data from the various parts of FNF and brings them out to the point of sale. This allows originators of refinance and home equity transactions to decide early in the process whether it is worthwhile to invest in the full-scale mortgage settlement package. Another benefit is that with bundled services as part of the origination process, DecisionStream provides guaranteed quotes for settlement services, he said, allowing originators to give a definitive price to their customer. With Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act reform expected to include a guaranteed mortgage package, this is a benefit, Mr. Verkuylen said.

Mortgage Technology magazine, a MortgageWire affiliate, announced the 2005 winners of its annual tech awards Sunday evening at the Mortgage Bankers Association's 92nd Annual Convention and Expo in Orlando, Fla.WellFound Decade was the winner of this year's 10X Award to a company using technology to achieve an exponential impact on mortgage lending. Advectis Blitzdocs won the Fix-It Award, which goes to a company offering a technology tool that fixes a particular problem. Dynatek won the Help Desk Award for a company offering exemplary technical support and customer service. Scott Happ of Mortgagebot took home the new Lasting Impact Award, which goes to an individual, company, or group whose earlier efforts have had a lasting impact on mortgage industry technology. This year's Outstanding Mortgage Website Award went to No Red Tape Mortgage. The Steve Fraser Award, which goes to an outstanding mortgage technology innovator, visionary, or evangelizer, was presented to Ruth Thompson of Desert Document Services. And Prime Alliance Solutions Inc. won the Synergy Award for a technology initiative or alliance that advances the cause of seamless end-to-end e-commerce. More information about the awards can be found online at http://www.mortgage-technology.com.

LSI, a division of Fidelity National Financial Inc. based in the Pittsburgh suburb of Coraopolis, has announced the launch of DecisionStream, a Web-based system that LSI said instantly delivers loan prequalification information at the point of sale.The system is designed to help lenders decide whether to proceed with a refinance or home equity loan application before investing in full-scale mortgage settlement services, LSI said. The company said DecisionStream delivers previously unavailable POS information that provides insight into the loan qualification process, including: title approval and guaranteed fee data; real-time delivery of FICO score and factor codes; a flood insurance requirement indicator; an automated valuation model that provides a benchmark for estimating loan-to-value ratios; and instant property tax status information. LSI, which stands for Lender's Service Inc., can be found online at http://www.lsi.fnf.com.

Two business units of Fiserv Inc. -- Integrated Loan Services, Rocky Hill, Conn., and General American Corp., Pittsburgh -- have combined operations to form the Fulfillment Services Division of Fiserv Lending Solutions.The division will adopt FLS as the parent brand for all products and services, the Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv said. The combination "brings together two leaders in fulfillment services with strengths in different markets," said FLS group president James Puzniak. "ILS has succeeded in the prime equity market by offering innovative solutions, while GAC's strength has been in the subprime and traditional markets." Jerry Smith, chief executive officer of ILS, and Rich Sneddon, CEO of GAC, will hold co-CEO positions with the division, and Lee Howlett will serve as division president and chief operating officer, Fiserv said. Among the division's offerings are the CASA automated valuation model, QuickClose Lien Protection Insurance, the GATORS settlement management system, and various appraisal products, broker price opinions, flood certificates, title insurance, closing services, and outsourced loan processing systems. FLS can be found online at http://www.fiservlendingsolutions.com.

Commerce Velocity, Irvine, Calif., has announced the introduction of an end-to-end group of mortgage services that extends into secondary-market functionality.The company said the group of services "weaves automated processing and superior intelligence throughout the entire mortgage processing channel" to handle lead management, point of sale, eligibility and pricing, underwriting, document preparation, fulfillment, loan risk modeling, and more. Founded in 1999, Commerce Velocity has had its greatest impact so far in offering automated underwriting for subprime and nonconforming loans, particularly for wholesale transactions. Funding America recently adopted Commerce Velocity's CQ BrokerConnect Automated Underwriting platform to provide brokers and borrowers with instant pricing, pre-qualification, and AU approvals. The company can be found online at http://www.cvelocity.com.

WellFound Decade Corp., Jacksonville, Fla., has announced that Alaska USA Federal Credit Union is deploying WellFound Decade's Mortgage Integration Foundation to integrate its systems.The implementation marks a shift in strategy for Alaska USA, which had originally sought to deploy an end-to-end loan origination system, WellFound said. "Alaska wanted to deploy technology for its member-direct channel, a [point-of-sale] system for its originators, and wanted to automate the MERS registry," said Brian Fitzpatrick, president of WellFound Decade. "With the Mortgage Integration Foundation providing the integration architecture for all systems, they no longer had to invest into integrating all these components to an LOS system which might be replaced or upgraded in the future." The main components for the implementation are scheduled to be in place within 120 days of initiating the project. "We can integrate systems much faster than anyone else in the mortgage industry because we have already built adaptors to most of today's leading IT systems," Mr. Fitzpatrick asserted. WellFound Decade can be found online at http://www.wellfounddecade.com.

Application service provider ARC Systems, Austin, Texas, has announced that Austin-based Amherst Funding Group has chosen ARC's LendTech for commitment management and eligibility determination of closed loans.According to the announcement, AFG expects to launch the implementation in the first quarter of 2006. To streamline the commitment process, each closed loan will be submitted by the seller to the Web-based LendTech platform using AFG guidelines governing the seller's particular commitment with AFG. ARC Systems said the implementation will help AFG track loans more efficiently, ensure data integrity, and eventually perform complex automated underwriting on its flow and bulk purchases. Amherst Funding Group LP was formed in 2004 to acquire closed loans for trading and securitization, including closed agency and alternative-A mortgage loans, under mandatory flow and bulk commitments. ARC Systems can be found online at http://www.arcsystems.com.