Tech Roundup: First Am Launches Post-Settlement Platform

First American Document Solutions, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based post-closing and servicing solution provider within The First American Corp. (FAF) family, unveiled in mid-December its new online platform, ePostClosing.com, which will enable lenders and servicers to handle document retrieval, trailing document, lien release and assignment tasks in a streamlined, Internet-based system. The platform will also provide customers with a large property database, including more than 4 billion imaged records and a wide field of industry researchers. These tools, First American says, should cut down on delivery time for data and documents, reduce management costs and improve investor compliance. “Efficiency and compliance have become even more important to servicers now that they are being asked to perform significantly higher levels of service and are under increased scrutiny from investors, the courts and state and county officials,” said Robert Karraa, chief operating officer of First American Document Solutions. For more information, visit www.firstamresdocs.com. Partnership provides accuracy and efficiency for mortgage originator Optimal Blue, the Plano, Texas-based provider of online mortgage industry technology, announced last week the successful partnership with Aurora, Ill.-based First Centennial Mortgage.  A mortgage originator, First Centennial reported no errors in pricing or guideline information during the first three months of using Optimal Blue’s product eligibility and pricing engine technology platform. “With the constantly changing guidelines, First Centennial’s loan officers no longer have to sift through dozens of rate sheets every hour — Optimal Blue guarantees the accuracy of its content, allowing the loan officers to focus solely on the borrower,” Optimal Blue said in a press statement. “As a company that has continued to grow, finding additional ways to streamline operations and automate our processes is critical,” said First Centennial vice president Dave McCormick. “Using Optimal Blue, we have improved our margins and saved time and money, which is very compelling in a challenging environment.” For more information, visit www.optimalblue.com. Conversion to Web platform will streamline business, cut costs McDonald Computer Corp., a Southfield, Mich.-based provider of automated mortgage servicing technology, announced Monday it had been selected by Raleigh, N.C.-based Ofori Lender Services for its Web-based mortgage servicing platform. The conversion to McDonald’s system is scheduled for January and will be effective for all loans Ofori services. “The majority of the industry is paying too much for servicing technology,” according to McDonald Computer Corp. president James McDonald, and it was cost-savings that Ofori officials cited as an incentive to convert to McDonald’s platform. “By greatly reducing our cost on technology and management portfolios, we will become a more competitive sub-servicer,” said Ofori manager Karen Heller. For more information, visit www.mcdonaldcomputer.com. Write to Diana Golobay at [email protected]. Editor’s note: Tech Roundup runs every Monday, and offers a look into the various technology that makes the entire mortgage market work — whether origination or default, through to secondary market operations. If you’ve got a tech bit that we should know about, email the reporter above. Disclosure: The author held no relevant investment positions when this story was published. Indirect holdings may exist via mutual fund investments. HW reporters and writers follow a strict disclosure policy, the first in the mortgage trade.