Industry Briefs Nov. 13, 2020

Qualia Launches Physical Document Service

Qualia, San Francisco, launched its Physical Document Service, enabling mortgage lenders to automate management of paper trailing documents from title partners through Qualia.

Qualia then fully manages collection, sorting and quality assurance of physical trailing documents and ensures an on-time shipment and delivery to investors. This service is part of Qualia’s suite of tools that enable mortgage lenders to create automated processes that work in tandem with title & escrow companies for greater efficiency and reduced costs.

LBA Ware Partners with Fiserv

LBA Ware, Macon, Ga., partnered with Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wis., to provide out-of-the-box business dashboards and reports to users of the Mortgage Director loan origination system. With the integration of LBA Ware’s LimeGear BI platform into Mortgage Director, banks, credit unions and independent mortgage lenders gain immediate access to sophisticated tools for improving efficiency, productivity and profitability.

Formerly known as PCLender, Mortgage Director is the modern LOS at the core of the Fiserv lending ecosystem. LimeGear is a turnkey BI platform that enables mortgage lenders to deploy unified data strategies across their organizations for actionable insights into productivity and efficiency. Branch and area managers can use data insights from LimeGear’s dashboards to keep loan pipelines moving, zero in on decisions that support profitability and evaluate and inspire team performance.

Accurate Group Launches ValueNet Rental Addendum Form

Accurate Group, Cleveland, Ohio, released its ValueNet Rental Addendum Form to help lenders and investors reduce valuation time and cost associated with rental loan programs.

With the addition of the Addendum Form, ValueNet can now be used on rental properties. Additional benefits include faster turn time compared to standard GSE forms; use for single-family, condo and multifamily rental homes; and use with either interior or exterior desktop appraisals.

Stavvy Launches Native eSign Functionality

Stavvy, Boston, launched its native eSign functionality empowering hybrid closings for mortgage lenders and their settlement agents. The new features enable banks, lenders, settlement agents, and borrowers to complete closing transactions remotely by leveraging the Stavvy suite of tools and products as applicable based on local laws or regulations.

Stavvy supports a hybrid experience with eSigning functionalities that allow the majority of documents to be eSigned, requiring only one in-person or virtual meeting for the promissory note and select documents that require notarization. By simplifying and expediting these processes, closings that used to be hours long can now be seamlessly completed in 10 to 15 minutes.

Indecomm Partners with FormFree to Launch Business Health Check

Indecomm Global Services, Edison, N.J., partnered with ability-to-pay fintech FormFree, Atlanta, to introduce Business Health Check, an automated analysis of self-employed loan applicants’ current business income and expense streams that helps mortgage lenders make better-informed loan qualification and underwriting decisions. 

Mortgage lenders gain access to intuitive analytics, trends, inferences and red flags on self-employed borrowers’ income. Calculated using Indecomm’s IncomeGenius and validated against business bank account information via FormFree’s AccountChek, Business Health Check provides mortgage lenders with a uniform, document-free approach that encourages consistency while reducing risk and delivering key insights.

FHFA Validates Classic FICO for Use by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced validation and approval of the Classic FICO credit score model for use by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The validation and approval allow them to continue supporting the mortgage market while assessing more modern credit score models that were submitted in response to the 2020 Joint Enterprise Credit Score Solicitation.

FHFA expects it will take the Enterprises an additional year to complete the validation and approval process of the remaining credit score models submitted in response to the solicitation.

Adwerx Partners with LW Reedy Real Estate, Engel & Völkers

Adwerx, announced LW Reedy Real Estate and Engel & Völkers Kansas City as the latest brokerage firm to join the Adwerx Enterprise Automated Advertising Platform.

By implementing the Adwerx Enterprise Automated Advertising Platform, both companies are better equipped to attract, develop and support its real estate professionals. Adwerx customers can deliver customized ads programmatically across streaming TV, popular websites, Facebook and Instagram and mobile apps, while driving growth through digital marketing automation.

OptifiNow Integrates with LendingQB

OptifiNow, Seal Beach, Calif., enhanced its integration with MeridianLink’s LendingQB—a browser-based SaaS mortgage loan origination platform—to provide services for wholesale mortgage lenders. The enhanced integration allows wholesale lenders using OptifiNow to monitor broker performance and receive automated alerts that improve sales efforts and customer service.

OptifiNow is a sales and marketing platform for retail, consumer direct, wholesale and recruiting teams for the mortgage industry. The wholesale version of OptifiNow tracks broker company accounts and individuals that are associated with those accounts; its integrated marketing enables fast and easy distribution of targeted communications to brokers via email and SMS.

FirstBank Puerto Rico Signs Extension for Black Knight’s MSP Servicing System

Black Knight Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., announced FirstBank Puerto Rico, a state-chartered commercial bank with operations in Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Florida, signed a multi-year contract extension for MSP, Black Knight’s servicing system. As part of the extension, FirstBank Puerto Rico will also use Black Knight’s Servicing Digital platform.

The Black Knight MSP system enables mortgage servicers to manage their servicing processes, including loan setup and maintenance, escrow administration, investor reporting and regulatory requirements. MSP, which is used to service 36 million active loans, helps servicers increase efficiency, reduce operating costs and improve risk mitigation. FirstBank Puerto Rico uses MSP for first mortgages, but the platform can also support home equity loans and lines of credit.

Ginnie Mae MBS Issuance Exceeds $76 Billion in October

Ginnie Mae, Washington, D.C., issued more than $76.4 billion of securities in October, up from $75.8 billion in September and $60 billion one year ago. The volume represents home financing for nearly 277,000 households.

A breakdown of October issuance of $76.44 billion includes $72.49 billion of Ginnie Mae II MBS and $3.95 billion of Ginnie Mae I MBS, which includes $3.85 billion of loans for multifamily housing. Ginnie Mae’s total outstanding principal balance as of October 31 was $2.118 trillion, flat with September 2020 and an increase from $2.10 trillion in October 2019.

Fannie Mae HPSI in Holding Pattern as Election Results Resolve, Pandemic Evolves

The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index ticked up 0.7 points in October to 81.7, rising for the third consecutive month. Three of the six HPSI components increased month over month, with consumers reporting a more optimistic view of both homebuying and home-selling conditions, in addition to expecting mortgage rate declines. However, consumers also reported greater pessimism regarding their personal finances and employment outlook. Year over year, the HPSI is down 7.1 points.

“In October, home purchase sentiment and personal finance sentiment diverged to produce only a slight increase in the HPSI,” said Doug Duncan, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Though there were improvements in the HPSI’s buying, selling, and mortgage interest rate outlook components, we saw similar declines in the job security and household income change components. To date, the HPSI has recovered over 60 percent of its COVID-19 pandemic loss, reflecting the bright spot that the mortgage market has been in the economy. However, the continuing evolution of the pandemic and the 2020 election outcomes may have longer lasting and unexpected impacts on consumer sentiment, as we saw following the 2016 elections, and we expect both factors will shape the housing market over the coming months.”

CFPB Files Lawsuit Against Driver Loan LLC

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit against Driver Loan LLC, Doral, Fla., and its CEO, Angelo Jose Sarjeant, for allegedly engaging in deceptive acts or practices in taking deposits from and offering credit to consumers. 

The Bureau alleges Driver Loan and Sarjeant violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 by misrepresenting the risks associated with the deposit product it offered to consumers and by misrepresenting the annual percentage rate for extensions of credit it offered to other consumers. The Bureau’s complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleges that since 2017, Driver Loan purports to have offered short-term, high-interest personal loans totaling over $30 million, typically to drivers who work with ride-share companies.  The loans range from $100 to $500 each and are repayable in 15 daily installments.  The Bureau alleges that Driver Loan deceptively markets its loans as having an APR of 440% when the actual APRs are 975%.

QuestSoft Adds New LeadER Multi-Quote Prequalification Compliance Review to Compliance EAGLE

QuestSoft Corp., Laguna Hills, Calif., added a digital compliance tool to its Compliance EAGLE platform that delivers critical compliance at a justified price point during the loan prequalification process.

LeadER is a customizable addition that allows lenders to quickly check all applicable state and federal rate limits. It is based on the applicable index values to verify that a loan would not be “High-Cost” before providing a rate quote to a borrower. The tool also calculates and/or verifies APR and payment streams for multiple side-by-side quotes within the same review request. LeadER can create calculations for all types of loans (fixed, ARM, specific payment variations).