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23 » VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM KROLL ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL INTEGRATIONS WITH ELLIE MAE PLATFORM Kroll Factual Data, Inc., a Colorado-based provider of risk mitigation and independent verifi- cation services to lenders, announced the integra- tion of several of its products into its Encompass mortgage management solution. Kroll's suite of third-party verification services—including verification of employment, Social Security numbers, and more—are available through Encompass, with a risk mitigation ser- vices suite planned for integration later this year. e latest integration adds to the number of Kroll solutions already worked into Encompass, including Bureau Express Credit Reports, Flood Determination Reports, and Loan Review Report, a product created to help clients com- ply with Fannie Mae's loan quality initiative. "Independent verification of borrower data and mitigating risk are vital cogs of a high-quality, compliant mortgage," said Joe Tyrrell, SVP of client management and business development at Ellie Mae. "We're pleased to be able to strengthen Kroll Factual Data's integration in Encompass and offer our mutual clients an efficient way to access these new services." MINNESOTA CREDIT UNION CHOOSES ELLIE MAE FOR MORTGAGE MANAGEMENT Minnesota's ninth-largest credit union is now using Ellie Mae's Encompass software as its mortgage management solution, the California- based mortgage software firm announced. Ellie Mae's, a full-service financial cooperative with five branches, 45,000 members, and $550 mil- lion in assets, says it selected Encompass because the software "allows its mortgage business ... to work seamlessly and efficiently by eliminating the need to courier files, use several different systems to complete tasks on a file, and seek out manage- ment assistance for specific product pricing." "When we began looking for a new system, our goal was to increase efficiency by working within a single system rather than going back and forth from one system to another," said Faith olkes, director of mortgage sales at Postal Credit Union. "We expect to increase our productivity by up to 40 percent thanks to greater efficiency and paperless processing." She added: "Ellie Mae also accommodated our very aggressive implementation period of 60 days. ey've been great to work with and have provided us with the answers to build and config- ure our system to our specific needs." "Implementation of new mortgage manage- ment systems can be an intimidating process, particularly for smaller lenders," said Jonathan Corr, president and COO of Ellie Mae. "We are pleased that we can offer rapid implementation to clients like Postal Credit Union so that they can get up and running quickly and enjoy the benefits of greater efficiency sooner." ORIGINATION INSIGHT REPORT Refinances continued to gain ground against purchase loans last month, while lenders pulled back a little more on credit requirements, Ellie Mae revealed in its January Origination Insight Report. Examining a sample of applications passing through its network, Ellie Mae reports refinance mortgages made up 47 percent of originations in January, up slightly from December. Refinance share bottomed out at 39 percent in October 2013 and has slowly risen since. e increase in refinances compared to purchase loans matches Freddie Mac's latest outlook, which observed a "second wind" for remortgaging as interest rates resist lifting fac- tors. e number of refinances related to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) also rose, climbing for the third straight month, according to the report. "Conventional refinances at 95 percent-plus LTV [loan-to-value ratio] rose to 14.3 percent in January 2014, the highest they've been since we began tracking this data in October 2011," said Jonathan Corr, president and COO of Ellie Mae. Notably, Ellie Mae also recorded an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of 7.2 percent, up more than half a percentage point and the highest ARM share in the company's report since August 2011—representing a switch from borrowers seeking to stretch their buying power, Corr explained. Meanwhile, credit requirements continued to loosen. e average FICO score for all closed loans examined in the report was 724 in January, down from 727 in December, while the average LTV was slightly higher at 82 percent (compared to December's 81 percent). For denied loans, the average FICO was lower—692—while the average LTV was slightly higher at 83 percent. About 32 percent of closed loans last month had a FICO score below 700, up from 23 percent at the start of 2013. Refinance mortgages made up 47 percent of originations in January, according to Ellie Mae. KNOW THIS

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