Advantage Credit recently announced the launch of Originator’s Best Friend, an “extensive” searchable database of loan programs that will help brokers close more loans faster.

The online database allows brokers to perform targeted searches for loan stumbling blocks and delivers the data on loan programs in a broker-friendly format, the agency said.

“It is an online tool that customers of Advantage Credit can use for free,” Advantage spokeswoman Kelly Gontarski told MortgageDaily.com. “The database will allow customers to input all our lending applications. Our applications actually allow the brokers to view the scores, down payment information or a loan that the borrower is looking for.”

The database is expected to have 20,000 broker users, the spokeswoman said.

“It gives the lenders an opportunity to showcase their packages,” Gontarski added. “There is certainly a consultative edge to our tool we are providing. If users are having any trouble finding the package that they want, we have people on staff to hunt down the package that they need.”

LenderLab, another online loan search database that charges for this information, told MortgageDaily.com that it believes Advantage’s offering is good for the market but that it may not deliver the same level of value as databases brokers pay to use.

“We welcome this database because the more players and focus, the better off we all are,” said Doug Anderson, general manager of LenderLab. “Free services though are going to be more like directories and you will get what you pay for; where services like ours or Broker Buddy is going to supply the broker with a more significant value.”

LenderLab said it focuses on loan programs offered by subprime, niche and nonconforming wholesale lenders and allows both residential and commercial searches.

“We find that if we do all auditing, every month we review programs to make sure they are still accurate and we match search criteria to make sure that they can be used in the most detailed way, well then this adds value to the whole process that does not come from a free service,” Anderson said.

Rachael Robertson is a freelance reporter for MortgageDaily.com.

E-mail: rrobertsonr@yahoo.com