TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/1008878
TH E M R EP O RT | 5 MTECH Financial Services Sales at Hyland, said. "As a template-free solu- tion, Brainware for Lending gives financial institutions the power to improve the consistency and qual- ity of loan information throughout the loan life cycle, while reducing the cost of validating data." Brainware for Lending uti- lizes optical character recognition (OCR), intelligent capture, and extraction functionality to signifi- cantly reduce human touchpoints and virtually eliminate manual document classification. Coupled with OnBase, Hyland's content- services platform, it provides financial institutions with an end- to-end digital lending process. The company said that by leveraging Brainware for lending, financial institutions could better support compliance initiatives and requirements; decrease manual labor and per-loan process costs; and create a competitive advan- tage by closing loans faster. For over 25 years, Hyland has enabled more than 19,000 organi- zations to digitize their workplac- es and fundamentally transform their operations. Named one of Fortune's Best Companies to Work For since 2014, Hyland is widely known as both a great company to work for and a great company to do business with. Investment Watch AFFINITY WORLDWIDE ANNOUNCES OWNAMERICA EQUITY PURCHASE. A ffinity Worldwide, a family of companies that works to empower and support residential real estate in- vestors, announced it has made an equity investment in OwnA- merica. The purchase deepens the partnership between Ow- nAmerica and two of Affinity Worldwide's real estate-related entities, Think Realty and National Real Estate Insurance Group (NREIG). OwnAmerica is a financial- services platform that operates a national marketplace for single- family rental (SFR) portfolios. Affinity Worldwide's investment connects Think Realty members with OwnAmerica's online tools, which help them find and secure properties and scale portfolios according to their personal invest- ing goals. NREIG is now the preferred insurance program of OwnAmerica. "This partnership is in line with Affinity Worldwide's vision to provide real estate investors with valuable education, ser- vices, and tools for success," said Eddie Wilson, CEO of Affinity Worldwide and Think Realty. "OwnAmerica has one of the largest databases of investment properties in the nation and tools to help investors find the right properties for them. This partner- ship will make investing easier." Greg Rand, founder and CEO of OwnAmerica, commented on the announcement, saying, "We are very proud of our new part- nership with Affinity Worldwide because it furthers our mission to help SFR owners optimize the performance of their real estate portfolios. We know how im- portant this is to our customers. They are counting on their real estate holdings to deliver financial independence for themselves and the people who depend on them. Affinity shares our appreciation for these rugged entrepreneurs and our passion to help them succeed. It's going to be a great relationship." Making Education a Priority FIVE STAR AND ASPEN GROVE REVAMP MORTGAGE INDUSTRY CERTIFICATION PLATFORM. T he Five Star Institute and Aspen Grove Solu- tions have announced the release of a rebuilt Five Star Academy (FSA) website, featuring a new look and a more-intuitive interface. Aspen Grove Solutions, a Maryland-based provider of technology solutions to the mort- gage services industry, provides the platform delivery for FSA through its learning partnership with the Five Star Institute. Aspen partners with learning- content providers to host and deliver 24/7 eLearning content through its Aspen iLearn service or via white-labeled offerings such as FSA. The Five Star Academy is an independent certification program with courses written by housing and mortgage industry experts. "The objective of the FSA is to provide relevant, timely, and actionable education tailored for professionals of all levels servicing the mortgage industry. We expect these certifications to contribute not only to the careers of those who complete the coursework but also to the overall progress of the industry as a whole," said Ed Delgado, President and CEO of the Five Star Institute. FSA offers key education in regulatory compliance, legal practice, diversity and inclusion, and distressed asset disposition in an easy-to-use online format. Each FSA certification program contains eight courses and the equivalent of 20 credit hours of relevant mate- rial. Additional information about the FSA and its four certifica- tion programs can be found at TheFiveStarAcademy.com. "As committed industry profes- sionals, we at Aspen appreciate how important it is to acquire and maintain in-depth knowledge in our sector. We take pride in the knowledge that we are facili- tating the work of our industry- leading education partners at the Five Star Institute and ensuring the best training and education is available in the marketplace," Edmond Buckley, President of Aspen Grove Solutions, said. The Five Star Institute is a pub- lishing, communications, market- ing, and event-planning company. Five Star hosts one of the most prominent mortgage events in the United States—the Five Star Conference and Expo. Additional information about the Five Star Institute's brands and opportunities can be found at TheFiveStar.com. Editor's Note: The Five Star Institute is the parent company to MReport. Managing Risk VEROS RELEASES ENHANCED SOLUTION TO STREAMLINE APPRAISAL PROCESS. C alifornia-based Veros Real Estate Solutions (Veros) has released an enhanced, data-rich version of its VeroSCORE appraisal risk-management solution. VeroSCORE, which already pro- vides intelligent, automated, and virtually instantaneous analysis of appraisal reports and associ- ated risk factors, now has a new revamped design that displays additional validations such as public record data and appraiser licensing and eligibility checks. "The objective of the FSA is to provide relevant, timely, and actionable education tailored for professionals of all levels servicing the mortgage industry. We expect these certifications to contribute not only to the careers of those who complete the coursework but also to the overall progress of the industry as a whole." — Ed Delgado, President and CEO, Five Star Institute