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88 GEORGIA Equifax and FICO Announce Strategic Partnership Equifax, an Atlanta, Georgia-headquar- tered global data, analytics, and technology company announced a strategic partnership with FICO, a California based predictive analytics and data science company. rough this partnership, FICO and Equi- fax are introducing the Data Decisions Cloud, an end-to-end data and analytics suite that addresses key needs across risk, marketing, and fraud to enable financial institutions to meet the needs of consumers faster and more precisely. e platform integrates the Equifax Ignite platform differentiated data and analytic management with FICO's cloud applications and the FICO Decision Management Suite (DMS), a digital decisioning platform. e companies said this broad strategic alignment will enable organizations to easily explore differentiated data, uncover deep new insights, build highly predictive models, and rapidly deploy decisions into production sys- tems across the customer lifecycle. Financial institutions will benefit from an increased pace of innovation for data and decisioning, supported by incredible industry expertise and explainable artificial intelligence (AI), Equifax and FICO said in a joint statement. "We are energized about this broad partnership between Equifax and FICO. Two industry leaders are joining forces to help financial institutions better meet the needs of consumers and improve business agility," said Mark W. Begor, CEO of Equifax. "Our partnership will seamlessly integrate Equifax's differentiated data assets and Ignite platform with FICO's market-leading cloud based decisioning software and applications." e strategic partnership is focused on a connected, end-to-end development and decisioning management platform that allows customers to quickly explore, develop, test, and deploy powerful insights into production systems across the organization. "Our common mission is to empower financial institutions to leverage data-driven decisioning in all their customer interactions," said William J. Lansing, CEO of FICO. "With this strategic partnership, FICO and Equifax will help organizations operational- ize the best data with unparalleled predic- tive analytics and applied AI, and do so in a streamlined and cost-effective way." NORTH CAROLINA Streamlining Customer Service Arch Mortgage Insurance Company (Arch MI), a provider of private mortgage insurance (MI) and a wholly owned subsidiary of Arch Capital Group Ltd., announced the release of an update to its premium pricing tool, RateStar. is next generation of Arch MI's RateStar user portal delivers a streamlined customer experience with express quotes and options to fully customize quotes. RateStar launched 10 years ago as a dynamic tool that could evaluate individual loan risk precisely. RateStar is also the only MI pricing tool that currently has an MI buydown feature. RateStar Buydown allows loan officers to customize a unique MI premium payment for each borrower, leveraging all lender and seller credits. "RateStar continues to evolve as we apply our decade of expertise and customer feedback," said Michael Schmeiser, Arch MI's President and CEO. "RateStar transformed the way lenders selected coverage, delivering our most competitive rates for each loan, and RateStar Buydown made it possible for them to tailor MI premiums according to individual borrower circumstances." "Now we're taking RateStar to the next level with our new portal," he continued. "It offers an express rate quote option that returns rate quotes faster and requires far fewer fields. Users have a full range of MI pricing options to choose from. RateStar provides a streamlined, uncluttered customer experience with design enhancements based on lender preferences." e new RateStar portal has a unique URL, archmiratestar.com (archmicuratestar. com for credit unions). It's also available on most industry loan origination systems and pricing engines, as well as through Arch MI's origination platform, CONNECT, and its downloadable mobile app. "Arch MI has led the way with our risk- based MI pricing solution, and we'll continue to identify opportunities to enhance and expand RateStar's capabilities," Schmeiser said. "Fortunately, we have both the in-house expertise and experience to ensure the tool evolves as conditions change. Constant innovation makes RateStar relevant to loan officers, who are competing for every loan and need a dynamic MI pricing solution with the flexibility and precision to differentiate them in the marketplace." e new RateStar portal features a streamlined, clutter-free look and feel; a simplified, user-friendly interface, including an accessible font, font size, and language; fewer required data entry fields to receive a basic quote; a reduced processing time on the back end, resulting in faster results; and a new express rate quote option, plus a full menu of applicable pricing options. RoundPoint Receives STAR Performer Status RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation announced that it has earned the Servicer Total Achievement and Re- wards (STAR) Program performer recogni- tion from Fannie Mae. is recognition is given by Fannie Mae to top performing servicers. RoundPoint said it earned the STAR recognition for two categories: General Servicing and Solution Delivery, based on specific metrics set by Fannie Mae. "We are honored to receive Fannie Mae's STAR recognition because it acknowl- edges the tremendous effort put forth by our customer service team to consistently deliver exceptional support," said Kevin Brungardt, CEO of RoundPoint. "e recognition aligns with our corporate values, our focus on ser- vice excellence, and being 'all things home' to our customers." e STAR Program is a performance management and recognition program with a transparent and formal framework that recognizes Fannie Mae's servicing partners for their competency, capacity, and overall performance. e program was created to measure servicers across key operational and perfor- mance areas relative to their peers and to recognize high achievement through STAR designations. It is based on Scorecard metrics related to customer service and foreclosure prevention results and Operational Assess- ments of the servicer's processes, policies, and capabilities. Founded in 2007, RoundPoint is a na- tional co-issue servicer, loan subservicer, and residential mortgage lender. As one of the nation's largest nonbank mortgage servicers, it currently services nearly $90 billion worth of mortgage assets and is authorized to service loans in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.