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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 87 FormFree was the first asset verification provider approved to participate in Fannie Mae's Day 1 Certainty initiative. "AccountChek provides an ultra-secure and convenient way for borrowers to submit asset and deposit data using any smart device—and now, through our integration with Lend- ingQB, the experience is just as secure and convenient for the loan officer or processor ini- tiating the AccountChek process," said Brent Chandler, CEO and Founder of FormFree. LendingQB is an award-winning LOS that received top industry marks for end-user experience in STRATMOR Group's Decem- ber 2017 LOS Technology Insights report. "LendingQB's verifications dashboard gives lenders efficient access to the Day 1 Cer- tainty services they know and trust, like Ac- countChek by FormFree," said Tim Nguyen, President, LendingQB. "By reducing the time and effort required to enable, order, and track these services, we are further enhancing the value they already bring to our customers." NORTH CAROLINA Arch MI Completes Integration with Cloudvirga Platform North Carolina headquartered private mortgage insurance company Arch Mortgage Insurance Company (Arch MI) has an- nounced the completion of a new integration with Cloudvirga, developer of mortgage point- of-sale (POS) platforms. Cloudvirga's lender customers now have direct, real-time access to Arch MI RateStar. RateStar evaluates a wide variety of loan characteristics to more precisely match Arch MI rates to individual loan risk. Cloud- virga's Consumer POS and Enterprise POS platforms now seamlessly connect with Arch MI to return accurate MI pricing in seconds, eliminating the need to re-key data on web- sites outside Cloudvirga and ensuring accurate disclosure data. All RateStar quotes come with a 90-Day Promise to honor the quote as long as there is no change to the submitted loan information. "We are excited to partner with an innova- tive company like Cloudvirga," said Chris Hovey, Executive VP and COO at Arch MI. "Like Arch MI, Cloudvirga is aggressively reimagining the mortgage process for greater speed and efficiency. Together, we are bringing Cloudvirga users immediate, real-time access to RateStar." Arch MI's flagship mortgage insurer, Arch Mortgage Insurance Company, is licensed to write mortgage insurance in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Cloudvirga's intelligent mortgage point-of-sale (POS) platforms combine borrower experience with a digital lender platform that cuts overall loan costs, increases transparency, and reduces the time to close a loan. To date, Cloudvirga has raised over $27 million from some of the country's top lenders and venture capital firms. "By tightly weaving Arch MI's RateStar pricing for both borrower-paid monthly and single premium MI into Cloudvirga's digital mortgage platform, we deliver loan calcula- tions that are far more accurate than the norm from the very start and generate an underwriting-ready loan for a fraction of the typical production cost," said Kyle Kamrooz, Co-founder of Cloudvirga. PUERTO RICO HUD Announces $1.5 Billion in Aid to Puerto Rico e Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it was awarding more than $1.5 billion in aid to help Puerto Rico recover from the damages wrought by Hurricanes Irma and Maria last year. HUD Deputy Secretary Pamela Hughes Patenaude joined Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló to make the announcement, marking Patenaude's third trip to the island since the hurricanes hit. e funds are being provided through HUD's Community Development Block Grant—Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program and are targeted to "support long- term recovery of seriously damaged housing and local businesses in Puerto Rico," according to HUD's media statement. HUD Secretary Ben Carson said, "President Trump and the entire HUD family stand with our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico to help them recover from these devastating hurricanes. ese recovery funds will help repair damaged homes and businesses. As local leaders, along with their citizens, develop their recovery plans, HUD will reduce regulatory barriers and remove any unnecessary roadblocks to speed long-term recovery." "On behalf of the many thousands of survivors here in Puerto Rico, I want to express our appreciation to the Administration and HUD for recognizing the tremendous needs that remain in so many of our neighborhoods," said Governor Rosselló. "is grant will make a huge difference in repairing damaged homes and businesses and facilitating the social and economic recovery here in the island." Congresswoman Jenniffer González- Colón said, "e $1.5 billion in CDBG-DR funding that we are announcing originates from the first Continuing Resolution (CR) that we advocated for and approved in Congress last September, out of a total of $7.4 billion that was assigned to HUD to assist in the aftermath of natural disasters. Today's announcement is just another example of our ongoing efforts in Congress to allocate federal funding that helps mitigate the hurricanes' disastrous effects and consequences." In spite of federal aid, Puerto Rico has been struggling to recover from the brutal 2017 hurricane season. Last month the Orlando Weekly reported on how evacuees from Puerto Rico were accelerating Florida's affordable housing crisis, with 300,000 Puerto Ricans having fled to Florida after the storms and only 18 affordable rental units available per 100 low-income families, according to a National Low Income Housing Coalition study. Puerto Rico is also headed for a possible foreclosure epidemic, as reported in December by the New York Times, which found that about one-third of Puerto Rico's 425,000 homeowners were behind on their mortgage payments. Tens of thousands had not made payments for months as 2017 ended, and about 90,000 borrowers became delinquent as a consequence of Hurricane Maria, the Times report said, quoting reports from data firm Black Knight Inc. HUD's newly announced grant will undoubtedly make a significant impact on Puerto Rico's recovery efforts. Time will tell whether more help will be needed. TEXAS Northsight Management Finalizes Merger with Truly Noble Services Northsight Management LLC, a thriving mortgage field services provider offering a full array of default property management services, announced the finalization of its merger with Truly Noble Services, a well-respected Texas-

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