Technology Helps Mortgage Companies

But first, rising interest rates, escalating delinquencies, compressed margins and increasing regulatory demands are forcing lenders to revise how they extend credit to borrowers and to invest substantially in technology to support new products and revenues, according to TowerGroup’s recent survey of financial services institutions. Almost four-fifths of respondents ranked core systems transformation and upgrades as their top information technology priority and lenders are estimated to spend over $5 billion in IT this year.

Banking technology innovations had 66 Federal Credit Union signing a three-year contract to use AT&T Inc. as its primary network and data services provider to get connectivity that can be accessed simultaneously by all of its locations, a news release indicated.

Proofpoint Inc.said Cowlitz Bancorporation deployed its Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway appliance to protect both inbound and outbound messaging streams. The appliance has enabled Cowlitz to eliminate nearly all Spam messages, guard against virus threats and be confident that outgoing email complies with industry regulations.

Credit technology advancements included Carteret Mortgage’s implementation of Deal Maker Score, a credit analysis software solution, software developer Market Kinetix LLC announced Tuesday. The service reportedly helps originators determine how prospective borrowers can raise their credit scores to a target level in the shortest amount of time.

Clients of Credit Systems Designs’ UltraAMPS mortgage processing system can now access CreditXpert Inc.’s complete, upgraded versions of Credit Assure, CreditXpert Essentials and the CreditXpert What-If Simulator. Among other things, it has been found that using the credit score maximizing software solutions can salvage one-third of consumers who normally would be declined for a loan, CreditXpert announced.

A study from Mortgagebot LLC that analyzed the online lending practices of more than 700 of its customers found that originators have become less paper intensive, according to an announcement. MortgageBot, which maintains mortgage Web sites, also found that one-fourth of the lenders studied originate more than half there loan volume through an online channel.

In the world of loan pricing technology, 1st Source Bank purchased the LoanQuest WebRegistration technology of MortgageFlex Systems Inc. The Web-based, point-of-sale application gives 1st Source’s remote wholesale and retail brokers access to real-time product and pricing information from the LoanQuest loan origination system, according to an announcement.

DocuTech Corp. announced the launch of ConformX 3.10, a new process for managing more than 500 prepayment penalty configurations through an interface with loan origination systems. The upgrade to ConformX automatically applies the correct prepayment penalty values to a loan based on property state, loan amount and other variables, eliminating the need for time-intensive maintenance of guidelines and requirements from individual investors, states and federal government.

Among advancements in loan origination systems, Metavante Corp. will provide a Web-based consumer loan origination solution for AFC First Financial Corp.’s residential HVAC and energy-efficiency home improvement loan programs, according to a news release. With the solution, AFC will gain a single, enterprise-wide platform for use as it expands to a national footprint in energy efficiency lending by becoming part of Great Bear Bank.

Calyx Software announced the release of Point and Point Data Server versions 6.0. The updated version has a new enhancement that allows the integration of mortgage broker and mortgage banker functionalities, and includes new marketing tools and report generator. The product aims to help brokers who are evolving into mortgage bankers and most benefit originators who both broker and fund loans, then sell them on a servicing-released flow basis.

In a separate announcement, Calyx touted that it maintained a market share of 67.9 percent in the recently completed Wholesale Access 2006 Mortgage Broker Study, making it the market leader for loan originations systems. Calyx said it has maintained its dominant market share of two-thirds since 2002.

Financial Industry Computer Systems Inc. said it added a My Work List feature to its residential mortgage loan origination system, Loan Producer, to allow focus on loans that meet needs of the task at hand. The feature empowers users, involved in originating through secondary marketing functions, to query loans in the LOS based on selected criteria, open the resulting loans to perform a task, and then refresh the list to return only those loans that still meet the criteria.