Residential Briefs

MBA (3/3/2008 ) MBA Staff
Treasury Launches New Financial Literacy Curriculum
The Treasury Department launched a new curriculum to improve the personal financial literacy of middle school students with support from the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy. The free program, Money Math: Lessons for Life, helps teachers integrate personal finance topics into mathematics classes.
Money Math is a four-lesson, 86-page curriculum that uses real-life examples to teach personal finance through middle school mathematics concepts. The President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy recently recommended that Treasury actively promote the project through its outreach efforts and through the Financial Literacy and Education Commission's MyMoney.gov web site.

Experian Launches Toolbox to Improve Data Access, Intelligence
Experian, Costa Mesa, Calif., a global information services company, announced availability of its Attribute Toolbox, a data intelligence application that puts enhanced data access and attribute management capabilities into the hands of clients. The Attribute Toolbox allows institutions to connect to multiple data sources and build, fine-tune and manage attributes that are required to make informed decisions throughout the customer life cycle.

Attribute Toolbox offers clients pre-developed interfaces to credit and non-credit data sources. The tool has an intuitive user interface that allows analysts to manage, create and validate attributes which can be deployed in real-time or off-line processing environments.

EU Fines Microsoft Record $1.3 Billion
The European Union fined Microsoft Corp. a record $1.3 billion Feb. 27, saying it charged “unreasonable prices” to European software developers.

Sources said the fine was the largest ever for a single company; Microsoft has been fined nearly $2.5 billion by the EU in an antitrust dispute dating back to 2004. Microsoft said it would appeal, saying that it had resolved the issues in question and had made its products more transparent.

CEO Survey Cites Real Estate in Sustainability
A new global survey of 1,254 senior business executives, including more than 300 CEOs, found that real estate strategies play a central role in corporate sustainability efforts. Nearly half of all respondents named as their leading sustainability priority a goal that is addressed primarily or solely through real estate strategies.

The survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that 33 percent of senior executives ranked “improving energy efficiency across global operations” as a major priority, 19 percent ranked it as the leading priority. Thirty-six percent ranked “improving the local environment around operating facilities” as a major priority and 14 percent ranked it as the leading priority. Twenty-six percent ranked “reducing greenhouse gas emissions and/or waste/pollutants as a major priority, and 13 percent ranked it as the top priority.

Fidelity National Information Services Releases FIS Desktop 2008
Fidelity National Information Services Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., announced release of FIS Desktop 2008, an imaging, retrieval, expense and communication management system that provides real-time connectivity to participants in the mortgage banking and financial industries.

The system links FIS’ default customers through a single user-interface and streamlines complex work processes by automating labor-intensive functions and eliminating the need to build multiple interfaces among various data and service suppliers. FIS Desktop 2008 also generates advanced reporting and performance metrics.

REO Sentinel Intros Technology to Monitor Vacant Lender-Owned Properties
REO Sentinel, Jacksonville, Fla., introduced a smart technology device designed to monitor vacant lender-owned properties.

The device enables lenders and property preservation managers to have visibility into all events at a portfolio level, or the ability drill down to an individual property for a more granular review. A web-based dashboard is available, showing the status of each property and any alerts that have occurred over a user-configurable time frame. Client-specific scripts allow notifications of events at the property to be made to a lender’s property preservation company, realtor or other designees.

Rapid Reporting: Mortgage Industry Begins to Self-Regulate
Rapid Reporting, Fort Worth, Texas, a provider of income and identity verification products to the mortgage industry said usage of IncomeChek, Rapid Reporting’s income verification tool, has increased by 157 percent between January 2007 and January 2008.

“We’re definitely seeing higher per-client usage,” states Jay Meadows, CEO of Rapid Reporting. “Lenders are becoming aware that more than 60 percent of mortgage fraud involves income or identity misrepresentations and they know that matching a borrower with proper loan terms is more effective when income is confirmed. Additionally, lenders understand that law enforcement is becoming increasingly reluctant to take action when lenders fail to take necessary precautions to protect themselves from fraud. Lenders are securing reliable, third-party verification of income as much for prevention as they are for due diligence.”

IncomeChek is an online income verification process that provides borrowers’ income data directly from the IRS. Users receive tax transcripts in 24 hours or less and a summary report page can be customized to provide at-a-glance loan critical income information.

New Web Site Enables Mortgage Loan Servicers to Complete Short Sales
National Quick Sale, Jacksonville, Fla., established a technology that allows servicers to complete loss-reducing transactions. National Quick Sale enables lenders to complete short sales by reducing the time it normally takes to conclude such sales.

The product is in testing phase and will be available in April.

Interthinx Introduces Forensic Review Appraisals
Interthinx Inc., Augora Hills, Calif., a provider of proven risk mitigation, mortgage fraud prevention and regulatory compliance tools for the mortgage industry, announced launch of its forensic review appraisal service, R/EValue.

Qualified reviewers are placed in all 100 of the top Metropolitan Service Areas in the country and reviews are typically returned within 10 business days. Interthinx audits appraiser work and ranks its panel of reviewers after every assignment. Professionals who do not provide timely and consistently excellent work are removed from the Interthinx panel.

Weststar Mortgage Selects MRG For Document Preparation Services
MRG Document Technologies, Dallas, a provider of compliance and documentation services for the financial industry, announced that Weststar Mortgage Corp., an Albuquerque, N.M.-based direct lender that specializes in financing and purchasing non-conventional loans, has selected MRG to provide support for its one time close construction-to-permanent transactions.

MRG offers a system for preparation and delivery of compliant document packages for mortgage lenders. The specific needs of the individual lenders are met through customized document packages, designed by in-house legal professionals and IT specialists. MRG also offers delivery options for the document packages using e-mail and Web site delivery.

VA Launches FIS-Developed Reporting Application for Mortgage Servicers
Fidelity National Information Services Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs has launched a new Web-based reporting application for mortgage servicers called Veterans Affairs’ Loan Electronic Reporting Interface (VALERI). FIS developed VALERI in collaboration with VA.

VALERI is built upon the FIS Desktop, a workflow, imaging, expense and communication management system that provides real-time connectivity among lenders, service providers, vendors and portfolio investors. VALERI enables mortgage servicers to report “significant events,” through either the servicing system or the servicer’s Web portal user-interface within VALERI.

HUD: FHASecure Helps 100,000 Americans Stay in Homes
HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said the department’s FHASecure product has helped 100,000 homeowners refinance their mortgages and avoid foreclosure. Launched in September, the program enables families who are current on their home loans or past due because their teaser rates reset to close on loans refinanced through FHA.

“Homeowners are cutting their monthly mortgage payments by an average of $400 a month compared to their exotic subprime loans,” Jackson said. “Over the past five months, FHASecure has helped about 500 families a day close on their new government-backed loans.”

RamQuest Announces File Scan Plus! Version 2.0
RamQuest Software Inc., Plano, Texas, a provider for the title and escrow industry and developer of the Closing Market digital network, announced version 2.0 of its File Scan Plus! Software.

File Scan Plus! is a document imaging and management component of The RamQuest Software Solution and integrates with Complete Closing and PaperlessCloser. By scanning documents and importing literally any type of digital file into the application, users can have a central location to instantly access, manage and deliver documents associated with a closing. Version 2.0 includes an in-file folder system that allows them to create custom categories in line with individual business requirements.

Fair Isaac Collaborates with PRBC
Fair Isaac, San Francisco, announced a collaboration with Payment Reporting Builds Credit (PRBC), Salisbury, Md., a credit information repository that (with a consumer’s approval) collects, verifies and scores rental and bill payment data. PRBC’s service is designed to enable lenders to better evaluate applicants who have little or no recent credit history.

The collaboration combines PRBC’s verified data with FICO Expansion score data and analytics to deliver an accurate assessment of applicant risk, which meets Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD requirements.

PushMX Launches Production Version 4.0
PushMX Software, Santa Clara, Calif., an automated workflow provider, announced version 4.0 of its flagship PushMX Production application. The new version includes paperless document management as well as a service provider interface, which will allow mortgage professionals to track document requests and order status.

Along with the document management features, a new interface offers access to preferred service providers through PushMX Production, allowing users to order services during the loan process and then track fulfillment.

Fidelity’s Cyberhomes.com Partners with Realogy
Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., announced that its Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions subsidiary entered a marketing agreement with Realogy Corp., Parsippany, N.J., a global provider of real estate and relocation services, to carry its 700,000 daily property listings on Cyberhomes.com, FNRES’ home search and valuation site.

Cyberhomes gives visitors a detailed analysis of both homes and their surrounding communities based on more than two million listings for sale and 100 million property, ownership, sales and mortgage records, covering more than 85 percent of the United States population. Cyberhomes also powers the valuation and listings aggregation functions for AOLReal Estate.