Mortgage Technology Awards

Nomination Period for the 2009 Awards Now Open

Nominations for the 2009 Mortgage Technology Magazine Awards are now being accepted. Please vist http://registration.mortgage-technology.com and fill in the online nomination form in order for your nominee to be considered. There is a $300 nomination fee.

And The 2009 Mortgage Technology Magazine Award Winners Are ...

SourceMedia, the publishers of Mortgage Technology magazine, gave out awards in 10 categories honoring achievement in mortgage lending technology. The awards illustrate that especially in times of uncertainty, innovation is critical to future success. In the end, innovation matters and those that innovate will thrive in any mortgage market.

"This has been a transitional year for the mortgage industry," said Tim Murphy, mortgage group publisher and vice president at SourceMedia. "However, in times of adversity, true leaders emerge. Through these awards, we honor their ability to step up and reshape the space for the better by adopting new technology and overall business practices."

In fact, the awards competition itself has stepped up by adding four new categories including the Servicer of the Year Award, the Green Originator Award, the Customer-Focused Lender Award and the Innovative Lender Award, specifically to recognize the efforts of leading lenders and servicers that have taken this time to reinvent the mortgage process through technology adoption. "Realizing the severity of the problems lenders and servicers are facing," added Mortgage Technology magazine editor Anthony Garritano, "now is not the time to abandon or outsource technology. Our award winners this year stand out as examples of how success in a down market can be achieved by embracing change and using technology as a tool to help bring about a better way to conduct business that benefits everyone involved in the mortgage chain from the borrower, to the lender, to the investor, to the servicer, and so on."

In each of the 10 categories commendations are given out and one winner is announced. The 2009 companies and individuals recognized are:

The 10X AWARD is given to a company, product or technology application having an exponential impact on mortgage lending. Rapid Reporting is recognized for its leadership in fraud prevention. The participants in MISMO are also recognized for the release of Version 3, which demonstrates that the mortgage industry is capable of arriving voluntarily at standards that can bridge the information gap between origination, secondary and servicing by having a single reference model. The winner is Kroll Factual Data for its approach to risk mitigation. KFD handles 300,000 transactions a day for 25,000 clients. At a period in history when credit assessment and risk management have to be paramount in mortgage lending, KFD provides a full panoply of services, delivering some 70,000 verifications a month.

View videos about 10X Award nominees.

The FIX-IT AWARD is given to a technology tool providing an effective solution for a particular industry problem, need or channel. Loan-Score Decisioning is recognized for giving lenders access to FHA TOTAL Scorecard without the expense and trouble of making them have to use Fannie's DU, Freddie's LP, Chase's Zippy and Countrywide/BofA's CLUES-CLOUT. Global DMS is also recognized for how it is handling HVCC compliance based on established best practices. The winner is Wolters Kluwer Financial Services for its Loss Mitigation Service (LMS), which provides mortgage servicers with a single solution to help them minimize the number of loans that go into default, while maximizing the use of their internal resources to triage loans and determine which ones qualify for government and servicer-specific modification programs.

View videos about Fix-It Award nominees.

The LASTING IMPACT AWARD is given to an individual, group or company that launched a technology initiative or development that has proven to have had a lasting impact. Cogent Economics is recognized for pioneering the use of statistical sampling to replace the straight 10% random sample with a calculated statistical random sample, which could be 1% or less of a lender's origination volume, resulting in a 90% reduction in costs. We also commend Duke Olrich of DRI Management Systems for his 25 years of service automating default and risk mitigation. The winner is Wave eSignSystems for pioneering to use of electronic signatures and electronic vaulting starting way back in the late 1990s. The company helped develop SPERS, continues to be involved in MISMO and helps educate the mortgage space about the benefits around using e-signing technology.

View videos about Lasting Impact Award nominees.

The RELEASE OF THE YEAR AWARD is given to the announcement of a technology product, platform, alliance or initiative that seems likely to have the broadest impact on mortgage lending going forward. Ellie Mae Encompass 360 is recognized for providing its new LOS with an iGoogle-like actionable dashboard to let users see all parts of the system, from a broad pipeline view to loan-level details, and for significantly taming the document dependency of the mortgage origination workflow. We also recognize Integrated Asset Services for introducing a valuable enhancement to AVMs with its new Conditioned Valuation Model (CVM). The CVM fills a gap in today's sophisticated AVMs by automating provision of property condition data to reduce collateral risk. The winner is Motivity Solutions for enabling lenders to harness a wealth of underused data in a lending operation by providing scorecards, dashboards and intelligent reporting, giving business users instant access to relevant information and analytics for forecasts and performance monitoring.

View videos about Release of the Year Award nominees.

The STEVE FRASER VISIONARY AWARD is given to an outstanding mortgage technology innovator, visionary or evangelizer. Cy Brinn is recognized for creating the first PC-based commercial loan servicing system while working at Integrated Resources Inc. in New York City. We also recognize Dain Ehring, founder and CEO at Dorado Corp., for promoting the automation of the complex mortgage lending process. The winner is Greg Smith, general manager and VP at Xerox Mortgage Services for working and speaking out to advance the adoption of a paperless process in which all mortgage participants can "e" collaborate.

View videos about Steve Fraser Award nominees.

The SYNERGY AWARD is given to technology initiatives and alliances that show exemplary interoperability in a production setting to advance the cause of automation and e-commerce. 1st Advantage Mortgage, Del Mar DataTrac (DMD) and DocuTech Corp. are recognized for enabling multiple software systems to work so well that users don't know they're leaving one system and moving to another. We also commend Mortgagebot LLC's Mortgage Marvel for providing an innovative mortgage-shopping service that makes it easy for consumers to shop rates, loans, and lenders. The winners are AllRegs and Mortech for giving thousands of users instant answers to eligibility inquiries. The partnership between Mortech and AllReg addresses pricing and product eligibility pain points that every mortgage executive has sought to overcome.

View videos about Synergy Award nominees.

And The Winners In Our New Categories Are ...

The CUSTOMER-FOCUSED LENDER AWARD is given to the lender that uses technology to provide a better, more transparent process for borrowers. We recognize SunTrust Mortgage for the way it has embraced Web-based technology. The lender uses Metavante's origination platform to provide improved loan quality controls s. The winner is The Provident Bank for its strategic decision to begin engaging in e-lending initiatives to enhance the borrower experience.

View videos about Customer-Focused Lender Award nominees.

The SERVICER OF THE YEAR AWARD is given to a company enabling the optimal servicing of mortgage loans by using technology to ensure effective communications with borrowers, attorneys and lenders. We recognize Minneapolis-based NorthMarq Capital LLC, an early adopter of fully automated servicing technology. We also recognize Midland Loan Services, a commercial servicer that has maintained the highest Fitch and S&P for an unprecedented eight consecutive years. The winner is Wingspan Portfolio Advisors for taking on the most hard-to-modify loans and get them back to performing status over 85% of the time using advanced technology.

View videos about Servicer of the Year Award nominees.

The GREEN ORIGINATOR AWARD is given to the lender that has used technology to create a paperless origination process in an effort to further both business goals and help the environment. We recognize Direct Mortgage Corp. for its Direct Ware technology, which the lender has used to make the wholesale and retail process electronic. We also recognize Flagstar Wholesale Lending for its commitment to going green and saving 1.5 million pieces of paper per month, or over 166 trees. The winner is Pentagon Federal Credit Union for employing a paperless lending solution from Fiserv, which includes Nautilus, enterprise content management, UniFi PRO Loan Origination System and the Loan Servicing platform from Fiserv. This has enabled the credit union to go 100% paperless, save money and the environment.

View videos about Green Originator Award nominees.

The INNOVATIVE LENDER AWARD is given to a lender that doesn't just use technology to follow the market, but to both innovate and lead the market of the future. We recognize Lenders One for offering members access to the latest technology. From loan origination systems to fraud prevention, to training, the company as developed relationships with the industry's leading providers in order to offer members the most up-to-date service available. The winner is Flagstar Bank for continuing to be a pioneer in adopting all things electronic. Flagstar is the first lender to sell e-mortgages to both GSEs, use e-notes to solve the warehouse crisis and is currently piloting an e-mortgage program with FHA.

View videos about Innovative Lender Award nominees.