SAN DIEGO, Jan. 24, 2005 – Del Mar Database has released the findings of a recent DataTrac® customer survey which indicate that the average DataTrac customer increased production in 2004. Of the mortgage lender customers surveyed, 80 percent increased production in 2004 over 2003 and the average increase was more than 20 percent. DataTrac is a software solution that enables lenders to leverage their existing technology investment to reduce costs, generate greater profits per loan, minimize errors using business intelligence and fund more loans with fewer people.

"Despite the mortgage industry’s overall downturn in 2004, we heard anecdotal evidence throughout the year that our customers actually were continuing to grow, and this survey confirms that information,” said Rob Katz, vice president of Del Mar Database. “We were surprised by both the percentage of our customers that were growing as well as the magnitude of their growth.”

The National Mortgage Brokers Association estimates that mortgage production dropped 23 percent in 2004 as compared to 2003, from $2.6 trillion in originations to $2.0 trillion.

“Comparing our customers’ actual growth with the industry’s decline indicates that our customers outpaced their peers by almost 50 percent!” said Katz. “Many of those customers tell us that one of the key reasons they've been able to grow is that our solutions provide them with significant advantages over other lenders. While we believe this is true, we also believe that our customers self select. Lenders that make the right technology decisions are also clearly more likely to be the same lenders that make the right production and other business decisions.”

One of the survey participants, American Mortgage Express Financial (AME), has been a DataTrac customer since 1998. AME realized a 60 percent increase in loan production in 2004 as compared to 2003, from $2.0 billion to more than $3.2 billion.

“DataTrac and its components have saved our employees countless hours of work,” said Greg Holsapple, director of Business Systems for AME. “AME researched multiple LOS vendors. We selected DataTrac because Del Mar Database came with a successful record of rapid implementations, user-friendly applications and extremely robust tools. The solution played a key role in making our operations more efficient and ultimately helped AME to surpass our funding goal in 2004.”
About AME Financial

Since its beginning in 1983 as one retail office with eight loan officers and three processors, American Mortgage Express Financial has grown to become one of the largest, independently owned mortgage lenders in San Diego. Last year, AME Financial originated more than $3.2 billion in loans, and the San Diego Business Journal has ranked AME Financial as 19 out of its 100 fastest growing private companies in the county. The Better Business Bureau named AME Financial a finalist in Marketplace Ethics at the 2004 Torch Awards.