Residential Briefs

Submitted by Ronald Tennant with Metrocities Mortgage:

MBA (5/20/2008 ) Palaparty, Vijay
Wolters Kluwer Partners with NBT Bank
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, Waltham, Mass., through its PCi line of compliance analytics products and services, worked with NBT Bank, Norwich, N.Y, to help the bank comply with the Community Reinvestment Act and related Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements.

Wolters Kluwer’s PCi Professional Services team helped the bank use its existing CRA software tool, CRA Wiz, a Wolters Kluwer product. The team also provided the bank’s compliance staff with on-site training on HMDA data collection and reporting. CRA Wiz creates customized HMDA data reports for management and regulators. The reports inform management and regulators of how data was validated and details processes and procedures.

eLynx Forms Partnership with Interlink Electronics
eLynx, Cincinnati, a provider of electronic document communications network for the financial services industry, entered into a partnership with Interlink Electronics, Camarillo, Calif., a provider of electronic signature technology. The combination of the two companies’ offerings will provide financial services organizations with eSignature products and services.

Calyx Network Adds New Mortgage Service Provider
Calyx Software, San Jose, a provider of loan marketing, originating and processing software, expanded the Calyx Network with a network interface update. The May Calyx Network Interface update contains a connection to an additional mortgage service provider, First Integrity Title Agency LLC, Denver.

The Calyx Network allows users of Calyx Software’s Point loan origination software to connect directly with lenders and mortgage service providers, automating data exchange and streamlining the loan origination process. Updates are automatically installed into Calyx Point and new providers are added to the application on a bi-monthly basis. The Calyx Network Interface update is automatically installed into Point versions 5.2 and higher when users open their software and connect to the Internet.

NorthMarq Capital Eliminates Paper Statements with FICS
NorthMarq Capital Inc., Minneapolis will use Commercial Servicer, a commercial mortgage loan servicing system from Financial Industry Computer Systems Inc., Dallas. In addition, Northmarq will use FICS' electronic imaging and document management system, Radstar, and its consumer based web application system, LoanStat, to eliminate paper-based monthly statements to its borrowers.

Commercial Servicer enables NorthMarq to electronically notify borrowers that their monthly statements are available to view and download in the LoanStat system. Borrowers can access their loan data online and receive electronic copies of items including amortization schedules, escrow analysis, billing statements, escrow activity report, loan activity report and year-end statements, providing time and cost efficiencies for both lenders and borrowers.

Cogent Road Launches AVAIL with Select Lenders
Cogent Road, San Diego, a provider of internet-based applications for the mortgage industry, announced that AVAIL, a fully automated educational program for potential borrowers to improve credit health with the assistance of a broker, is currently in beta status with select clients of Cogent Road’s Funding Suite. AVAIL will be available to all Funding Suite mortgage originators in the third quarter at no additional cost.

The consumer-focused program incorporates Funding Suite’s automated credit proofreading tools to identify and resolve potential data errors that may work against customers’ credit scores. The program also provides customized, step-by-step credit usage suggestions for consumers that improve their overall credit health. Throughout the yearlong process, credit usage strategies are modified based on the consumer’s previous actions. AVAIL detects when positive steps have been made and provides encouragement when needed.

Consumers enroll in the AVAIL program through a professional mortgage originator who then serves as the consumer’s credit coaching advisor. The AVAIL program is branded with the originator’s logo, photo, name and contact information to further strengthen interaction with the mortgage originator. The advisor can view the consumer’s AVAIL account to provide guidance if questions arise. The mortgage originator is also automatically notified when a consumer achieves predefined credit scoring targets.

ISGN Re-Brands Acquired Companies
ISGN Technologies Ltd., Bensalem, Pa., a provider of end-to-end technology solutions and services to the mortgage industry, is re-branding all its subsidiary companies. Mortgage software products providers MortgageHub and Dynatek will be known as ISGN; onDemand service provider Inuva and document preparation/fulfillment services provider Tradewinds Mortgage Document Preparation Co., will be known as ISGN Fulfillment Services; and provider of cost analysis/risk mitigation services Cocamar will be known as ISGN Inspection Services.

All of the individual company websites will be redirected to www.ISGN.com, which will display select information from each division’s website. Collateral material has also been revised to reflect the unification of the divisions under one name. All products and eServices will maintain their name with the ISGN name attached, including MORvision, an ISGN product. The company does not plan to make any location or personnel changes at this time.

OpenClose to Purchase Assets of LION
OpenClose, West Palm Beach, Fla., developers of web-based, end-to-end mortgage software, agreed to purchase the assets of LION Inc., Seattle, and will continue to operate its Precision LPX suite of mortgage software and retail web site services.

The acquisition expands OpenClose’s existing offerings, which include an end-to-end loan origination software and product-pricing engine for mortgage bankers, to include direct consumer and broker lending software. The Precision LPX suite consists of web-enabled tools designed to help brokers originate, price and lock loans. The services, combined with OpenClose’s existing LOS, gives lenders and brokers a tool to handle tasks in the loan life cycle from consumer to secondary market.

First Houston Adds Global Financial Services as New Division
First Houston Mortgage, Houston, announced that Global Financial Services, Bethesda Md., a mortgage lending and financial services firm, will join its network of branches. The division will integrate First Houston’s products and services, including a paperless lending platform, in-house underwriting system, electronic signature capability and paperless file management system. Global Financial Services also receives access to First Houston’s offshore operations facility in India for loan processing support. First Houston began growing its affiliated network of branches in 2006 and now has 20 branches nationwide with more than 250 employees