| Freddie Touts Prospector Success Stories
5 awards announced September 22, 2003 By MortgageDaily.com staff |
| Five mortgage professionals received the Loan Prospector service award for using the automated loan approving service to assist homebuyers.
Freddie Mac announced Jeff Dietz, Rita Lightcap, Gray Henderson, Beth Suzor and Laverne Pritchett winners of the award, which honors lenders who strive to meet customers’ needs using Loan Prospector — Freddie’s automated underwriting service. The system rivals Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter and reportedly diminishes borrowers’ obstacles, by cutting approval process time, reducing upfront costs and providing fair and consistent lending decisions. Loan Prospector and the expertise of dedicated mortgage lenders “makes a difference in the lives of consumers whose credit experience or personal circumstances presented challenges,” a Freddie executive said. Recipient Lightcap, a lender for a Pennsylvania bank, enabled a young couple with low funds for a new home before their baby’s birth. Excellent credit and low debt rate were important factors that approved them for a Freddie 100 mortgage, a product that eliminates the need for a large down payment on a home service, the government-sponsored enterprise said. “In the past, you had to look at loans differently because the risks were on to you,” Lightcap said. “Now we do a lot more loans as conforming because Freddie takes the risks off of us.” Freddie said the same finance option helped Pennsylvania lender Dietz qualify a low-funded family for their first home after being declined for a previous loan. Maine mortgage lender Suzor saved a couple $107,600 over the life of a loan. Before coming to Suzor, the couple was offered a 9.5 percent loan with an $8,500 commission. Freddie said their system strongly considered their recovered credit history and large down payment. Pritchett earned her award for helping an elderly widow qualify for a low-cost, low-rate conventional loan so she could relocate closer to her children, the GSE said. South Carolina lender Henderson was recognized for helping a family with only one income, a $15,000 medical debt and a necessary surgery pending. The cashout refinance of their mortgage aided their debt and lowered their monthly mortgage payment, reported the secondary lender. “It takes the guesswork out of underwriting,” Henderson said of the system in a phone interview. “It’s amazing.” |
