Ellie Mae today announced the release of Encompass Banker Edition 3.0 and Encompass Custom Edition 3.0. The latest custom version of the Encompass Mortgage Management Solution offers extensive configurability in a loan origination system, and the latest banker edition offers a complete end-to-end business solution designed for small- to mid-size retail and correspondent lenders, and brokers looking to become bankers. Several of the improvements were targeted specifically for Encompass Banker 3.0 to enable interim servicing and better management of secondary market loan sales.

“Now, mortgage bankers can service loans prior to selling loans on the secondary market, track their profitability on trades, and configure notifications that alert them of key servicing activities, such as when statements must be sent out, when accounts go past due and when they’re scheduled to make upcoming disbursements,” Ellie said in the announcement.

The spring 2008 launch of Mozart 6.0 promises to be Overture’s most enhanced, powerful and versatile decisioning solution for mortgage lenders and investors, according to a news release. Among the things making Mozart faster, easier and more flexible than before, are enhancements that support lenders’ missions of high compliancy with transparent decisioning to meet suitability challenges, and new agile pricing functions that enable users to present new rates and products to their customers in a more efficient manner.

“Mozart 6.0 has the ability to read and use values directly from customer-uploaded rate sheets,” Overture explained in the announcement. “That means there are fewer steps to go through to make adjustments to pricing, loan-to-value limits, and even buy-up or buy-down schedules. This expedites the time to market by eliminating the need to alter and migrate rules every time there’s a pricing and product change.”

In an announcement today, DocuTech Corp. touted the addition of 14 new customers during the fourth quarter, including Reunion Mortgage. It also boasted about the release of ConformX® 3.10, enabling users to automatically manage their rules for prepayment penalties. Among companies the Orlando, Fla.-based technology provider forged alliances with last year were PCLender.com and Dynatek’s MORvision.

Loan Producer received the MXCompliance Certification for Credit Request v2.3.1 and Credit Response v2.3.1 from the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization Inc. The certification enables customers of the residential mortgage origination system’s creator, Financial Industry Computer Systems Inc., to interface directly with any credit vendors that are also MISMO compliant without having to perform any customization for each individual credit vendor, a news release stated.

U.S. Bank said it launched a pilot program in which participants were given a Nokia cell phone equipped with MasterCard PayPass to allow payment of purchases with a tap of the phone. When tapped at a PayPass-enabled terminal or reader, the Nokia 6131 NFC phone transmits payment details wirelessly and sends payment confirmation to the customer through the use of Near Field Communication. U.S. Bank is currently offering the program only in Spokane, Wash., but will expand availability in the future.

As part of a renewal agreement, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank has chosen NYCE Payments Network LLC to be its exclusive provider of retail PIN debit access and primary ATM network for domestic transactions. Among the reasons exclusivity was given to NYCE was because of its economic value, and high alignment with and support of M&I strategies for electronic payments’ growth, according to a news release.

ShoreTel Inc. announced its new application, ShoreTel Microsoft Dynamics CRM Integration, links its call management and control capabilities with immediate access to comprehensive customer data. Beta trials are available and pricing is $165 per client seat for the application, which is delivering positive results for at least one company.

The “application has given us the ability to automatically capture customer information from inbound calls, route calls to the appropriate loan officer, and eliminate unanswered calls and lost leads,” Vertex Financial Group was quoted as saying in the announcement. “We believe these capabilities will increase Vertex’s 2008 revenue by 20 to 30 percent.”