Industry Briefs Dec. 12, 2022: ACES Quality Management Announces Upgrades
ACES Quality Management Upgrades ACES CONNECT
ACES Quality Management, Denver, enhanced its proprietary ACES CONNECT portal to extend its flexibility and user control capabilities.
This enhancement allows ACES administrators to create custom user roles and assign permissions for those roles to fit the needs of their organization. Users can build roles based on granular permissions related to the loan and exception communication process, thus simplifying group management and settings within the portal through the ACES Quality Management & Control software platform.
OptiFunder Launches Wire Data Check Automation
OptiFunder, St. Louis, expanded its platform features, which now includes a layer of protection against wire fraud.
The Wire Data Check feature instantly checks wire instructions against OptiFunder’s extensive wire transaction database; monitors and detects changes in instructions up to and including the funding process; customizes the level of review to meet a lender’s risk tolerance; and automates the wire instruction review process – no additional workflow steps required.
Wire Data Check is the latest feature in the OptiFunder Warehouse Management System that provides a single solution for mortgage originators to manage the entire funding process across multiple warehouse partners from the initial funding through loan sale, purchase advice reconciliation and final paydown.
Ginnie Mae Releases Report on VA Mortgage Liquidity, First-Time Homebuyer Stats
Ginnie Mae made public its first comprehensive report on the secondary mortgage market liquidity of mortgages that are U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs guaranteed and pooled by issuers into Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities.
“Growth has come with challenges,” said Ginnie Mae President Alanna McCargo. “Unique aspects of the VA mortgage program, compared to other mortgage programs supported by Ginnie Mae, have led to market dislocations that, if left unchecked, could have material impact on all borrowers supported by the Ginnie Mae MBS program. Through several program adjustments and coordination with the VA, Ginnie Mae has mitigated these market disruptions and continued to provide a strong MBS product for investors and low-cost mortgage financing for borrowers.”
After reviewing the VA Loan Program and the summary findings, Ginnie Mae recommends the following actions:
o Establishment of a formalized Ginnie Mae/VA working group to discuss market conditions and program issues.
o Establishment of a task force including Ginnie Mae, the VA, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to monitor and discuss business practices relating to VA lending.
o Implementation of memoranda of understanding to facilitate information-sharing within these groups.
CFPB Finds Members of Reserves, National Guard Paying Millions of Dollars in Extra Interest Each Year
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released research showing Reserve and National Guard members called to active duty are paying an extra $9 million in interest every year because they are not always receiving the benefit of their right to rate reductions under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
Congress enacted the SCRA to provide legal and financial protections so that servicemembers on active duty can focus on their mission. These protections include the right to a reduced interest rate on any pre-service obligation to a maximum of 6%. The Act also includes protections against repossession of certain property without a court order, protections against default judgments in civil cases, and protections against home foreclosure without a court order. Eligible servicemembers can also terminate certain residential housing and automobile leases early without penalty.
In addition to the $100 million of foregone benefits on auto and personal loans, members of the reserve component also infrequently benefit from interest rate reductions for credit cards and mortgage loans: The CFPB estimates that a mortgage loan with an interest rate between 6.5% and 7.5% could accumulate savings of between $1,890 and $5,670 per activation. By comparison, the per activation numbers for auto and personal loans are $331 and $249, respectively.
Fannie Mae Introduces Enhancements to Expand Homeownership Opportunities for Underserved Borrowers
Fannie Mae announced enhancements to its automated underwriting system designed to responsibly expand eligibility and further simplify the borrowing process for loans where homebuyers do not have a credit score. These enhancements are designed to help historically underserved borrowers access credit.
Starting mid-December, another wave of enhancements in Desktop Underwriter, Fannie Mae’s industry-leading automated underwriting system, will deliver new benefits to borrowers with no credit score and the lenders who serve them. The new enhancements will update eligibility criteria for loans where no borrower has a credit score to align with Fannie Mae’s standard Selling Guide requirements, which may help more borrowers qualify for a home loan; enable an evaluation of a borrower’s monthly cash flow over a 12-month period to potentially enhance their credit risk assessment; and simplify the mortgage process by automating the current Selling Guide policy requirement to document nontraditional sources of credit
Indecomm, AmeriHome Expand Partnership
Indecomm, Edison, N.J., announced its intelligent income calculation technology, IncomeGenius, launched across AmeriHome’s non-delegated correspondent channel. IncomeGenius is already used by AmeriHome’s delegated correspondent underwriting team. Expanding its use to its non-delegated correspondent partners will enable AmeriHome’s clients to accelerate income calculations and streamline approvals.
By rolling out Indecomm’s IncomeGenius to its non-delegated correspondents, AmeriHome will help its correspondent clients better capture and serve the growing population of self-employed customers.
Path Software Offers New Third-Party Origination Functionality
Path Software, Dallas, developed a new third-party origination capability. Known as Path TPO, the new functionality enables clients to enter the TPO market, generating loans from smaller lenders and mortgage brokers. It’s delivered through the client’s current Path platform in a secure, compliant and seamless workflow environment that is configurable for increased efficiencies.
Path TPO helps lender-clients access additional revenue streams during this down market, enabling them to maintain productivity among their processors, underwriters and closers. Meanwhile, it provides a new resource-light lending approach for smaller lenders that will no longer need to carry the cost of in-house underwriters and processors. It gives mortgage brokers a broader selection of wholesale partners.
NestRange Offers Customizable, Actionable Property Data for Real Estate, Financial Industries
Altisource, Luxembourg, launched NestRange an Automated Valuation Model that estimates the value of residential properties. This SaaS product leverages a national property database, geospatial comparable data, machine learning and AI to help real estate professionals, investors and financial institutions make decisions with confidence.
The NestRange AVM is a fully interactive tool that estimates the value of single-family homes, condominiums, townhomes and multifamily/apartments. The service draws from a robust data set of more than 150 million properties including more than 750,000 active property listings. NestRange users have control over a variety of parameters including valuation input variables, property conditions and the ability to select specific comparables used in the AVM calculation.
Zventus Launches FinTech-in-a-Box
Zventus, Los Angeles, launched FinTech-in-a-Box, a consumer lending platform that helps legacy lenders compete with newer and more nimble FinTech companies.
FinTech-in-a-Box allows lenders to tap into all the capabilities necessary for a FinTech transformation. As a result, companies can simplify lending processes, improve the borrower experience, and take advantage of new cost efficiencies and technologies. Through partnerships, Fintech-in-a-Box is licensed by the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System in all 50 U.S. states.
