The Magazine

It's a Mortgage Technology magazine tradition. Once again we are proud to name the best and brightest technology players in our 2009 Top Service Providers list. See who got the distinction this year. Also in this issue, we discuss the momentum behind electronic delivery. Further, Fifth Third Bank's Brenda Clem talks candidly about the banks e-mortgage strategy. Data quality, paperless processing, new changes to the GFE, website advances, and much are covered in the June issue, as well.

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Featured Story

Keeping Correspondents on Track

By Bonnie Sinnock

Correspondent buyers and sellers of closed loans are increasingly finding they need some level of electronic delivery technology to help keep their respective businesses on track even though there have been some challenges to adopting more advanced automation in this space.

As noted previously in this publication, at least two investors in correspondent loans have been making moves that could put sellers who do not use imaging or electronic closings, respectively, at a disadvantage. Also, vendors and consultants interviewed for this article say other investor projects are in the works. In addition, the Federal Housing Administration has been making progress on technology efforts aimed at allowing it to accept electronically delivered files on the growing number of FHA loans now being originated.

The confluence of these developments could overcome what some interviewed for this article say have been hurdles for sellers when it comes to adopting anything more than very basic e-delivery. The fact that “the investors don’t want to require anything [of sellers] because they want volume … and everybody’s operating on reduced budgets and reduced staff” has been a challenge, said Wayland Pond IV, vice president of sales and marketing at VirPack, Vienna, Va.

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Tech Niches Blog

The Great Paper Chase

I’m in the middle of buying a home. However, with downpayments being what they are I have to be creative. Journalists get paid well, but we’re not millionaires. So, I’m refinancing the mortgage on my co—op and pulling equity to help me get some of the funds. Now I’m going to share the good, the bad and the ugly about my experience so far.

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Executive Spotlight

Evaluating New Mortgage Regulation

Interview with Laura LaRaia, MRG Document Technologies

Is the new HVCC regulation working? What will RESPA Reform bring? Does the new White House really know what it’s doing in announcing its overhaul of regulating the financial sector? Laura LaRaia, an attorney for the legal team at Dallas-based MRG Document Technologies, talked to our editor Tony Garritano about these issues and others.

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Tech Innovation Blog

The Lost Art of Selling

When the mortgage industry started taking a nose dive in 2008 many companies started slashing costs. One of the first areas hit was marketing (the function responsible for generating leads and building brand awareness) and sales (the function responsible for generating repeat business and new sales). What many companies now understand is that in a tough market, sales and marketing are even more important to corporate sustainability. Without new sales coming in the door a tough situation has become even worse.

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Video Newscast

Mortgage Technology Awards

And The 2008 Mortgage Technology Magazine Award Winners Are ...

Mortgage Technology magazine gave out awards in seven categories honoring achievement in mortgage lending technology at the MBA's 95th Annual Convention & Expo 2008, held in San Francisco. Given market conditions, the importance of identifying excellence in automation is magnified as lenders scramble to cut costs and be more efficient.

"Nobody can deny that this has been a very challenging year for all in the mortgage industry," said Tim Murphy, mortgage group publisher and vice president at SourceMedia. "Despite bad times, now is the time to differentiate by embracing new technologies in order to prepare for better times ahead."

"It is my belief that our award winners and finalists will help show that there is light at the other end and will play an important role in reviving the mortgage industry," added Mortgage Technology magazine editor Anthony Garritano. "Certainly hard times are never welcome. By giving out these awards we at Mortgage Technology magazine demonstrate that there are both companies and individuals that have, are and will continue to move the mortgage industry forward in a positive direction."

In each of the seven categories two commendations are given out and one winner is announced. The 2008 companies and individuals recognized are:

Daily Mortgage Technology News

2008 Top 25 Tech-Savvy Lenders

What does it take to be named one of our Top 25 Tech-Savvy Lenders? We look first to the stats we collect for online overall and retail lending. Certainly, our list had to change this year due to the market. Ongoing restructuring of the industry made us take a wait-and-see on some that we know are making unpublicized strides with technology that we hope to honor in the future.

2008 Top Providers

This list has gone through several changes over the past few years. For example, we originally honored 100 providers, but have recently sliced that down to just 50 in order to reflect the deep industry consolidation. As lenders look increasingly for one end-to-end solution, technology providers have merged or acquired niche players to offer a variety of services or technology applications under one company name.