What's under your lender's hood?
December, 2009
Brokers must focus on providing superior customer service and working with lenders that will still be in business tomorrow. The two go hand in hand. Brokers’ customer service is only as good as their lender’s ability to execute and provide timely information. If their lender drops the ball, brokers look bad to their borrowers.
The impact of a lender’s operational weaknesses also can threaten business viability. One of the worst things that can happen to brokers is for their lender to go dark with borrower files sitting on their desk. And without stable lender relationships, there is no broker business. Period.
To read the full article, click here.
Commerical banks put vendors to the test
December 7, 2009
As banks look to grow their mortgage presence, they're looking to technology vendors to help them make this transition, and vendors are finding the due diligence process for serving a bank is much more rigorous as compared to a retail morgage lender.
Case in point, Brand Bank here marked its 105th anniversary in 2009. Its mortgage lending business unit, Brand Mortgage, also passed a milestone, three years as a mortgage banker. Licensed to lend in 17 states, the mortgage banking unit is assembling an operational infrastructure it can grow into as its markets accelerate, one that will accommodate and help drive its evolving capital and liquidity strategies.
To read the full article, click here.
Brand Mortgage Implements Del Mar DataTrac Lending System
October 28, 2009
Brand Mortgage, the residential lending unit of metro Atlanta, Georgia-based community bank Brand Bank, has implemented a mortgage lending platform by Del Mar DataTrac (DMD), the leading provider of affordable loan automation solutions for mortgage lenders, banks and credit unions. Founded in Gwinnett County in 1905, Brand Bank launched Brand Mortgage in 2006 to meet home financing demand in its growing region, and today is a licensed lender in 17 states.
According to Brand Mortgage senior vice president for capital markets and secondary marketing Mack Mullins, its ability to survive infancy during the mortgage industry’s darkest period is a testament to Brand Mortgage’s commitment to mortgage lending and its firm market position. Mullins joined Brand Mortgage in early 2009 to develop its capital markets and oversee its secondary marketing group.
To read the full article, click here.
Del mar datatrac selects depthpr for full service public relations
October 20, 2009
ATLANTA, GA - Depth Public Relations, an Atlanta, Georgia, provider of public relations, Internet search visibility and marketing strategies for the mortgage lending and financial services industry has signed Del Mar DataTrac (www.dmdinc.com), the leading provider of affordable loan automation solutions for mortgage lenders, banks, and credit unions.
“Having served mortgage lenders since 1991, Del Mar DataTrac understands the importance of reputation and visibility within our industry,” said Del Mar DataTrac president Rob Katz. “DepthPR knows its way around the trade and business media, and came highly recommended by the organizations it has represented.”br />
To read the full article, click here.
Advice for successful mortgage lending
September/October, 2009
Recent changes in our economic landscape are motivating regional and community banks to become more interested in mortgage lending. Decreasing competition and liquidity issues among independent mortgage lenders have placed banks in a priime position to gain market share for residential loans. And mortgage lending can help a bank's business in sever ways, so it is no surprise that banks are vying for market share.
By offering morgages to their customers, banks can strengthen their prositions by holding and servicing the loans. Or, they can drive up profits by selling the closed loans and servicing rights on the secondary market. And. by promotoing their lending business, they can attract new customers for all of their other products and services.
To read the full article, click here.
Del Mar DataTrac adds Mortgage Lending Expert Mark Todd as DMD Product Line Manager
September 22, 2009
SAN DIEGO, Calif., Sept. 22 - Del Mar DataTrac (DMD), the leading provider of affordable loan automation solutions for mortgage lenders, banks and credit unions, has tapped mortgage lending veteran Mark Todd as a DMD Product Line Manager. Todd has more than 18 years' mortgage lending management experience, including nearly a decade at the C-level. For more than five years he was co-owner and COO of a mortgage lender producing in excess of $2 billion annually. Previously, Todd served as CIO of a mid-sized national lender and as a vice president managing production.
The DMD solutions empower mortgage lending operations to improve profitability, save time, better control their business, and enjoy peace of mind. In this role, Todd will design new products and enhancements to existing software lines based on his industry expertise and ongoing analysis of market requirements. His goal is to ensure the DMD product suite provides the most viable solution set for the needs of today's mortgage banker.
To read the full article, click here.
1st Advantage Mortgage, DocuTech, Del Mar DataTrac named Synergy Award Finalists
September 18, 2009
SAN DIEGO California Newswire - 1st Advantage Mortgage, DocuTech and Del Mar DataTrac (DMD) have been named Mortgage Technology magazine’s Synergy Award finalists, recognizing “technology initiatives and alliances that show exemplary interoperability in a production setting to advance the cause of automation and e-commerce,” according to DMD. The three companies were chosen as finalists because of 1st Advantage’s ability to reduce its time and costs associated with processing closing documents by leveraging the integration between DataTrac®, DMD’s leading back-office hub for lenders and ConformX, DocuTech’s Web-based solution for creating compliant closing documents. The integration utilizes DMD’s Vendor Service Platform 2.0 (VSP 2.0), a browser-based extension to DataTrac that enables seamless two-way integrations with vendor systems.
To read the full article, click here.
DMD Releases datatrac version 9.0
September, 2009
San Diego-based Del Mar DataTrac Inc. (DMD) has released version 9.0 of its widely recognized workflow automation platform. The 9.0 release encompasses the core products within the suite, including new versions of DataTrac®, WebTrac®, DocumentTrac™, lnTrac, TracTools™, AutoPrice and the Vendor Services Platform (VSP). This release addresses 246 product requests, according to the company.
Version 9.0 is designed to facilitate faster loan processing and underwriting, while reducing lenders' risk in the face of regulatory uncertainty. It features streamlined user screens, new user roles and buih·in compliance features.
To read the full article, click here.
with mortgage lending still at bottom, mistakes are costly
August, 2009
A former mortgage banker, Rob Katz has been president of Del Mar DataTrac (DMD) since 2008, and has more than 20 years experience n the mortgage industry. The company, founded in 1991, is the dominant provider of off-the-shelf mortgage origination software for small and mid-size mortgage lenders, according to Katz.
DataTrac is the company's flagship product, which Katz describes as an automated workflow platform. The company sells to both mortgage banks and commercial banks, but the ratio has shifted increasingly to commercial banks in the last 18 months.
To read the full article, click here.
LOS Survival of the fittest
August, 2009
Year after year Mortgage Technology surveys have shown general industry consensus that there are too many loan origination systems for all of them to survive and prosper. In an uncertain mortgage market lenders can’t afford to gamble when they migrateto a new system. How do they pick a healthy provider?
The first thing smart lenders do is keep focused on the difference between what they want and what they need. When lenders look for a new LOS, most hope to find it in a single shop that offers a single end-to-end system. Knowing that to be true, LOS vendors typically feature long checklists of features in their marketing materials.
To read the full article, click here.
Upping The Ante
August, 2009
The first-time homebuyer tax credit included in the economic stimulus bill earlier this year is due to expire Nov. 30, but with home sales still sluggish, efforts are underway in Congress to extend the tax break into 2010 and perhaps even expand it to all home buyers.
The Home Buyer Tax Credit Act of 2009, introduced by Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), would raise the tax break from $8,000 to $15,000, or 10 percent of the home's purchase price, whichever is lower; remove income restrictions - the current credit is available only to households making $75,000 or less - and extend it to all home purchasers, not just first-timers. The credit would expire one year from the date the bill is enacted.
To read the full article, click here.
LOS Vendors just can't slow down
July, 2009
While market conditions are causing most players to contract, loan origination systems are being forced to actually expand their services.
As lenders are forced to do more with less, LOS vendors are being forced to up the ante to help their clients beat the current down mortgage market. New regulatory demands, coupled with the newfound demand to originate FHA product are prompting LOS systems to keep advancing.
To read the full article, click here.
top 50 mortgage service providers
June, 2009
Each year Mortgage Technology magazine names its Top 50 Service Providers. Our four major criteria for inclusion of eligible vendors and service providers on our list are customer satisfaction, functionality, market share and viable revenue model. Demonstrating functional value to lenders is our most important criterion. It is crucial that the providers on our list have satisfied users and show the ability to hold them by keeping those customers apace of the technology deployed by competing lenders. What makes the list even more compelling this year is that 19 providers that made it this year were not on the list last year.
To read the full article, click here.
Case study: cornerstone mortgage implements datatrac
June, 2009
Cornerstone Mortgage, Little Rock, Ark., reported productivity gains in several areas throughout its company after San Diego-based DataTrac's DocumentTrac implementation.
Company
Cornerstone Mortgage, Little Rock, Arkansas, is a $120 million mortgage lender with retail and wholesale branches in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Challenge
In 2004, Cornerstone Mortgage purchased and implemented a loan origination platform and quickly became unsatisfied with the technology’s features and the vendor’s unresponsive service. One year after implementation, Cornerstone still failed to recognize any improvements in its ability to service loans, reduce operating expenses or improve other business processes as it had expected before adopting the vendor’s loan origination system.
To read the full article, click here.
Time to ramp up mortgage lending?
June, 2009
Before you get too excited about that headline, there is a caveat. Starting from scratch may be a difficult and expensive option for those community banks who up till now have only made mortgage loans as an accommodation. But there are other options.
One result of the shakeout and consolidation in the mortgage markets is that borrowers are left with fewer choices and also want to deal with someone solid and local. Mortgage banks can fit that description and community banks definitely do. There may be a synergy there right now that could work well for both. Here’s why: Mortgage banks have the expertise and contacts, but limited sources of funds, now that many warehouse lenders have either closed or become far more restrictive. Many banks, on the other hand, have limited experience with mortgage lending, but they do have ready sources of funds and capital.
To read the full article, click here.
Shutting the Door On Warehouse Lending
June, 2009
When people talk about moving items to and from a warehouse, the idea is usually of workers with forklifts hauling crates and palates of goods onto loading docks for distribution.
Warehouse lending, however, is less about moving products from lenders to consumers, and more about a distinct lending strategy with credit moving from large banks to smaller, independent banks - and the whole system has begun to change in recent months. Not only has the number of warehouse lenders diminished along with available warehouse funding; the decline in warehouse capacity now outpaces the overall decline in mortgage originations. The question remains whether the retreat of warehouse lines brings correspondent lenders face-to-face with immanent extinction, or whether its’ just the beginning of an industry reformation in the way lenders expedite their products.
To read the full article, click here.
June, 2009
A hotly contested bill, HR 1728 or the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act, is making its way through the House of Representatives at the time this story went to press. A provision within the current version of the legislation requires mortgage lenders to maintain at least 5% of the credit risk involved. It’s a requirement critics say make lending unaffordable for mortgage lenders with little cash on hand. Proponents of the legislation, on the other hand, say it’s a necessary check in the lending system to ensure lenders keep skin in the game.
MBA Chairman David Kittle, in testimony given before the House Financial Services Committee, argued the risk retention provision would make it impossible for many lenders to compete, especially non-depository lenders who do not keep significant cash on hand but rather rely on warehouse lines of credit. This idea would ultimately narrow choices, lessen credit and significantly increase costs to borrowers.
To read the full article, click here.
June, 2009
Warehouse Capacity continues to be an issue keeping most lenders up at night. For those lucky enough to have a warehouse line, the current dip in interest rates has pushed many lenders up against their funding capacity. With less than ten national warehouse banks left, they are all so busy that asking for a bigger line could be a multi-month process. Face it: you don’t have months to wait for them.
The best way to ease your funding capacity woes is to sell your closed loans as quickly as possible. Although many people at a lender’s shop can have an impact on the speed at which closed loans get sold, arguably the role with the greatest impact is the head of secondary markets.
To read the full article, click here.
How Credit unions Can Take Advantage of 'Quiet' Mortgage Front
May 11, 2009
With the unpredictable financial markets, credit unions are poised to significantly grow their share of residential mortgage lending activity in 2009. In the past, borrowers were bombarded with telemarketing calls, junk mail, and TV advertising from brokers and retail lenders. Today, however, that "noise" is getting quieter, and borrowers are growing wary of working with big banks and mortgage lenders in the wake of the current market volatility.
Although the total number of mortgages being sought is down, so, too, are the number of places a person can now go for a loan. For those following the news (and who isn't these days?), there has been very little negative mention of CUs. In short, CUs that position themselves as a "safe haven" for a member looking for a mortgage today have a high probability of capturing that business.
To read the full article, please visit http://www.cujournal.com
May, 2009
In the history of technology companies and financial backers, Del Mar DataTrac Inc. (DMD), San Diego, boasts one of the more unusual stories. The mortgage banking technology firm has been acquired by the same private-equity firm not once, but twice, in less than a decade.
TVC Capital LLC, also based in San Diego first acquired DMD from company founder Tom Brown in 2001 when the private-equity firm was known as Titan Investment Partners. In 2005, Titan sold DMD to Fiserv, Inc., Brookfield, Wisconsin.
However, the acquisition didn’t work out as planned and Titan, now known as TVC, jumped at the chance to buy it back-which it did in 2008.
The modus operandi of private-equity firms is to find a small, undervalued company, buy it and invest capital to boost market share and expertise, and then sell it at a nice return on investment to a larger corporate entity. The small undervalued gem disappears into the maw of the bigger enterprise, and the equity firm moves on to its next deal.
In the case of DMD, Jeb Spencer, co-founder and managing partner of TVC, had been closely following the fate of the technology company it sold for two reasons – one emotional and the other remunerative. DMD was the first company Spencer was involved with after joining the old Titan Investment; plus, after the then-chief executive officer (CEO) left DMD, Spencer stepped in as chief executive officer for an 18-month stint.
To read the full article, click here.
Extending Warehouse Line Capacity
May, 2009
Lenders are looking to technology to increase warehouse lines so they can fund more loans.
The Mortgage Bankers Association has ratcheted its 2009 originations expectation up to $2.7 trillion. That’s good news for sure, but will mortgage lenders be able to reach that figure? Most industry executives think the projection is near impossible to meet. “Sure, the mortgage industry is becoming more healthy, but that’s an ambitious goal,” said Jeff White, managing director of Mortgage Warehouse Network.
“The paper is vanilla again and we’ve gotten rid of all the subprime. Second, the bank stocks are healthy again. We’re seeing glimmers of hope. MBS are starting to trade. However, without warehouse capacity, it will be hard for the industry to originate $2.7 trillion.”
To read the full article, please click here.
Technology Credit Union Uses DataTrac Software to Help Handle Mortgage App Surge
April 15, 2009
Some sophisticated middleware is helping one big Silicon Valley credit union handle a surge in mortgage business driven by falling mortgage rates and a flight to the perceived safety of credit unions.
Technology Credit Union in San Jose, Calif., is using solutions from Del Mar DataTrac to automate many of the manual processes in its lending operation, enabling it to handle a rising tide of refinancing and new mortgage applications.
“Since Thanksgiving, we’ve gone from about three applications a day to about 50. We had quite a backlog for a while but we’re getting to it all now, and there’s no question in my mind that if didn’t have this software, we’d be looking at up to a three-months turnaround time on some of these,” said Steve Donahue, assistant vice president of loan origination at $1.3 billion, 78,000-member Tech CU (www.techcu.com).
To read the full article, please click here.
What's Next for Origination Tech?
March 19, 2009
The US home finance industry depends upon a relatively small group of technology vendors to provide the automation it uses to originate mortgage loans. This group is subject to the same economic cycles that impact mortgage lenders and has, as a rule, learned to cope with fluctuations in loan origination volume. But in the wake of a three-year refinance boom combined with a cultural mandate to put every American into a new home, the business has gone into a spiral. Now, two years into this downturn, we survey the loan origination technology business to find out how these companies are faring.
To read the full article, click here.
Panel: Integrating Creates Efficiency
March 9, 2009
The basis for purchasing automation within the thin margins of today's volatile market often involves spending money to save money, and at least one panel presentation planned for the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference in Las Vegas is aimed at helping market participants do just that using a piecemeal implementation strategy.
Driving cost out of the business while creating operational efficiencies are key reasons to buy technology today, according to Patrick Weaver, chief executive officer of WestOne Mortgage Corp., Tarzana, Calif., who is slated to speak as part of the panel on "Business Enhancing Technology Strategies for the New Lending Landscape" during the show. (The panel is slated to take place from 3:45 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17 and Anthony Garritano, editor of NMN's sister publication Mortgage Technology magazine, plans to moderate it.)
To read the full article, please click here.
Home Ownership Goals Created House of Cards
January 1, 2009
Government long has promoted home ownership as a means of strengthening communities and building the wealth of its citizens, but the recent housing market collapse has some analysts wondering whether consumers have gotten too much of a good thing.
While federal policies helped tens of thousands of U.S. consumers achieve home ownership during the housing boom, they also opened the door to the widespread use of risky loans, a national credit crunch and a wave of foreclosures.
“Public policy has been used to promote home ownership since the wake of the Great Depression,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. “These efforts were overdone this decade during the housing boom and bubble.”
To read the full article, please click here.
|