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January 2024 ยป thefivestar.com 5 January 2024 M T E C H CLOUDVIRGA ANNOUNCES FANNIE MAE INITIATIVE OFFERING EARLY ASSESSMENT FOR MORTGAGES C loudvirga announced it has expanded its strategic integra- tion with Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter (DU) solution to include the newly announced early assessment enhancement. This new enhancement streamlines a lender's pre-qualification process, making it easier for lenders to assess bor- rowers' loan eligibility and provide in- formation earlier in the process to make decisions on their mortgage options. Lenders have used hard credit pulls and fully completed applications during pre-qualification to determine a borrow- er's creditworthiness, which created an alert on the borrower's credit file. "By harnessing the power of data-driven insights and automation, this new enhancement ensures a more efficient, transparent, and borrow- er-friendly mortgage origination process for all stakeholders involved," said Maria Moskver, CEO of Cloudvirga. "A majority of borrowers who are pre-qualified by a lender end up using that lender for their mortgage origination. Simplifying and streamlining the pre-qualification process will help lenders gain a compet- itive advantage, improve the customer experience that they can deliver, and, at the same time, lower their customer acquisition costs." DU early assessment allows lenders to get a conditional recommendation from DU, as well as early notice of eligi- bility information, by using a soft credit pull from a single credit bureau and an automated and abbreviated application that allows a reduced dataset to assess borrower qualifications. As a result, the process is faster and, because it avoids a hard credit pull, preserves borrowers' credit scores, safeguarding their creditworthiness. In addition, the soft credit pull protects borrowers from being approached with unwanted marketing solicitations. "At Fannie Mae, we continue to offer more ways for mortgage lenders to improve the homebuying experience," said Peter Skarnulis, VP of Single-Family Digital Management Solutions at Fannie Mae. "With this latest offering, lenders can receive an early assessment from Desktop Underwriter with a soft credit report when they're pre-qualifying bor- rowers, which won't impact their credit score." ICE REVEALS MSP LOAN SERVICING SYSTEM ENHANCEMENTS I ntercontinental Exchange revealed that its MSP loan servicing system now features the ability for the auto- mated release of the lien once a mortgage has been paid off. The new Automated Lien Release (ALR) capability integrated with MSP combines document creation and auto- mated workflows into one solution and routes lien release packages for eSign- ing and eRecording, adhering to local regulations for the more than 2,500 U.S. counties where eRecording is available. The launch of the MSP ALR capabili- ty marks the first time ICE has harnessed the full capabilities of its expanded mortgage technology business to quickly build and implement solutions that address market needs. "In the few short months since completing the Black Knight acquisition, we've identified many such seemingly simple, but incredibly valuable, ways to enhance the mortgage lending process," said Tim Bowler, President of ICE Mortgage Technology. "Automated Lien Release is a great example of the capabilities that can be quickly brought to market to help usher U.S. housing finance forward. As always, the ultimate beneficiary of everything ICE does is the American homebuyer." Releasing a lien on a property has historically been a laborious process prone to human error, during which ser- vicers coordinate with title companies, vendors, notaries, and others to release and record a fully paid lien. With ALR, once payoff funds are received and applied, application pro- gramming interface (API) integrations trigger the creation of the lien release package and processing workflow in ICE Mortgage Technology's closing solutions, which were enhanced by the 2019 acqui- sition of Simplifile. Because the MSP ALR capability can reduce mistakes and delays associated with manual processing, recording can take place in days instead of weeks. Even in counties where eRecording is not available, ALR streamlines the process and prints the release package for the servicer to wet sign. Automated Lien Release is already available to users on the MERS System and has been helping members elec- tronically sign and notarize documents independent of their servicing system. ALR's new direct integration within MSP grants that same ability to servicers for their whole portfolios. "The smooth and timely release of liens is fundamental to keeping Amer- ican housing finance moving," Bowler said. "This holds true for home sales, refinances, equity lending, and more. Digitizing and automating lien releases is just one step in ICE's mission to unify the disparate elements of housing finance and create a better experience for the American homeowner." MODEX UNVEILS INTEGRATION PARTNERSHIP WITH OPTIFINOW CRM M odex and OptifiNow an- nounced their integration partnership, combining Modex's mortgage data with OptifiNow's approach to CRM. In a disrupted market, mortgage professionals are increasingly interested in leveraging data to help make strategic decisions about their businesses. Mo- dex's integration with OptifiNow enables wholesale lenders and recruiters to see