Industry Briefs Apr. 24, 2023: AREAL.ai Releases New TRID Collaboration Tool
AREAL.ai Releases New TRID Collaboration Tool
AREAL.ai, Los Angeles, released the Closing Disclosure Balancer Automation Tool, an AI-powered platform that allows lenders and their title agency partners to compare and balance Closing Disclosures to remain in full compliance with the CFPB’s TRID rules.
CD Balancer is designed to reduce friction between industry partners with advanced software that flags every unmatching section on the Closing Disclosure, highlights any changes made and then sends the corrected data back to the various systems of record automatically.
The company’s core AI-powered document management software ingests the documents, pulls the MISMO data elements, and then uses built in compliance calculations to find issues. The documents are then presented on the screen so the user can see exactly where problems exist. As changes are made, documents are updated.
CFPB Announces Revised Methodology for Determining Average Prime Offer Rates
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a revised version of its “Methodology for Determining Average Prime Offer Rates.” The revised methodology describes calculations used to determine average prime offer rates for purposes of federal mortgage rules.
The methodology statement has been revised to address the upcoming unavailability of certain data the CFPB previously relied on to calculate APORs. On or after April 21, the CFPB will begin using ICE Mortgage Technology data and the CFPB’s revised methodology to calculate APORs. The CFPB will continue to post the survey data used to calculate APORs on the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s website, and the CFPB will continue to identify the source of the data on that page.
More can be found here.
Fannie Mae: 1Q Home Prices Grew 4.7 Percent Year over Year
Fannie Mae, Washington, D.C., reported single-family home prices increased at a non-seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.7 percent from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023, down from the previous quarter’s revised annual growth rate of 8.6 percent.
The Fannie Mae Home Price Index said on a quarterly basis, home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 1.0 percent in Q1 2023, above the 0.0 percent growth seen in the prior quarter. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, home prices also increased by 1.0 percent in Q1 2023.
“As expected, the annual rate of increase in home prices has slowed dramatically in response to the rapid and significant increase in interest rates,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Still, the fact that prices rose slightly in the first quarter is evidence of significant pent-up mortgage demand, despite ongoing affordability constraints. Even though mortgage rates remain elevated compared to the previous few years, the acute lack of housing supply remains supportive of home prices. Of course, the shortage of homes for sale is currently being exacerbated by the so-called ‘lock-in effect,’ which continues to disincentivize huge numbers of households with low mortgage rates from listing their homes.”
Veros, Valligent Launch Valligent Appraiser Training Program for Increased Appraiser Diversity
Valligent, Santa Clara, Calif., an appraisal management company recently acquired by Veros Real Estate Solutions, launched the Valligent Appraiser Training Program to increase appraiser diversity and offer necessary resources to promote inclusion in the lending industry.
The VATP partners with lenders who agree to order appraisals from trainees and their supervisors in order to help the trainees complete the 1,500 work experience hours needed to become a residential certified appraiser. Trainees begin with education, then, over the course of 9-12 months, are supervised by experienced, certified appraisers who direct, oversee, and take full responsibility for the assignment. The Valligent supervisor will be responsible for making sure the trainee has access to the most recent technology tools, resources and hands-on guidance to successfully complete all the state requirements to become a fully certified appraiser. Trainees also receive pay and benefits during their hands-on training.
Total Expert Now Available in AWS Marketplace
Total Expert, Minneapolis, is now available in AWS Marketplace, a digital catalog with thousands of software listings from independent software vendors that make it easy to find, test, buy and deploy software that runs on Amazon Web Services.
Accessing Total Expert in AWS Marketplace can help financial institutions to reduce additional spend by applying existing AWS budget to their purchase of Total Expert. In addition to direct cost savings, purchasing Total Expert in AWS Marketplace includes legal contract reviews and due diligence processes, thus reducing time to market and accelerating the adoption, value, and results of using the platform.
Total Expert Customer Intelligence allows banks, lenders and insurance companies to connect data sources and act on customer insights. By enriching customer profiles with multiple data sources, organizations have visibility into customer intent and can provide relevant education and offers. These customer profiles are then added directly into the platform’s customer journey orchestration, which automates critical parts of the customer journey, such as reminding an advisor or loan officer to engage with a past customer with educational content on available options.
Qualia Launches Audit Readiness Dashboard to Help Title Companies Mitigate Fraud Risk
Qualia, San Francisco, released the Audit Readiness Dashboard as part of its Reconciliation Service. The Dashboard enables title and escrow companies to view all exceptions, uncleared items and non-zero orders for each of their bank accounts in real time to materially reduce the time it takes to complete reconciliations.
The Qualia Reconciliation Service pairs title and escrow companies with experienced, dedicated reconciliation specialists who perform daily reconciliations, clear exceptions, and complete month-end three-way reconciliations up to three times faster than those without the service. The new Audit Readiness Dashboard is embedded in Qualia Core, and enables users to efficiently perform reconciliation activities alongside their Reconciliation Specialist. Users are able to quickly examine audit red flags that require their attention, including file shortages, stale overages, outstanding credits, and outstanding lienable items.
First American Title Agency Division Adds Secure Document Portal to PRISM Digital Platform
First American Title Insurance Co., Santa Ana, Calif., added a secure document portal to its PRISM digital platform, an enhancement that is designed to help First American policy-issuing title agents reduce wire fraud risk and simplify communication with customers.
This new security feature allows title agents to provide their customers with secure access to wire instructions and transaction documents under the protection of multi-factor authentication, and also automates notifications for document and transaction updates.
MMI Adds Video Production Tool for Loan Originator Promotion
Mobility Market Intelligence, Salt Lake City, Utah, released LO Highlight Reels, an easy-to-use video creation tool for loan originators looking to share their success and increase their visibility. With their LO Highlight Reel, an LO can generate a video reel summing up their last 12 months of loan production and then share their unique reel URL across their professional network.
The LO Highlight Reel tool supplies users with a customizable, mobile-friendly video featuring their own up-to-date production numbers. Once created, each LO’s reel will continuously update with market data from the MMI platform to stay current, meaning it can always be safely shared without fear of the data falling out of date. Additionally, an LO can customize their attached profile to include their headshot, contact info, social links, relevant disclosures and even a call-to-action button. Beyond sharing the custom URL, LOs can also embed the video on their personal website.
Clear Capital Expands Relationship with CoreLogic for Appraisal Readiness
Clear Capital, Reno, Nev., announced an expanded relationship with CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., a global property information, analytics provider, to assist lenders in modern valuation and appraisal readiness. Through an existing integration, Clear Capital’s recently launched Universal Data Collection product is now available to be ordered and fulfilled through CoreLogic’s suite of Valuation Workflow Solutions.
Clear Capital’s UDC property data collection platform provides interchangeability and less complexity in management of loans, as well as ease of adoption by integrating with CoreLogic’s Valuation Workflow Solutions. In addition to the flexibility provided, UDC is available at a fraction of the cost of a traditional appraisal and completed in half the time.
