TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/1478106
M R EP O RT | 9 nois, and Florida, with plans for a nationwide expansion. Recent studies have found that Americans currently have $11 trillion in tappable home equity. However, homeowners looking to use their equity will find that current higher interest rates often make a cash out refinance cost prohibitive. At the same time, tra- ditional home equity lenders take 30 to 90 days to fund due to man- ual underwriting. NFTYDoor's latest offering provides a quicker solution for this segment. "We help homeowners man- age and pay for life's big events," said Mark Schacknies, CEO and Co-Founder of NFTYDoor. "Homeowners should be able to easily tap their equity on demand to pay for a home reno- vation, tuition, a car, or pay off high priced personal debt." Homeowners can access $25,000-$250,000 of their home's equity with a 25-year fixed-rate term, after completing an online application. NFTYDoor is a proprietary digital end-to-end platform that leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate un- derwriting, closing, funding, and servicing. NFTYDoor partners with bank and nonbank lend- ers so they can offer a branded home equity product to their customers. "Our platform is a plug-and- play home equity solution for lenders," said Jonathan Spinetto, COO and Co-Founder of NFTYDoor. "Our eNotes are stored in the blockchain, unlock- ing next-level efficiency in capital markets." Increasing Transpar- ency Throughout the Lending Process CLEVER REAL ESTATE JOINS FORCES WITH TOTAL EXPERT C lever Real Estate is team- ing up with Total Expert to provide a seamless communication process between Clever's concierge team and its customers' Loan Officers. Clever provides home buyers and sellers with a white-glove service that matches them with vetted local real estate agents from brokerages nationwide, negotiates better commission rates on their behalf, and guides them through the entire process. This new integration will enhance Clever's services by allowing lenders to receive updates in real-time about their borrowers, maintain fluid communication between agents and lenders, and help consumers reach their homeownership goals. "Now more than ever, consum- ers are looking for a trusted advi- sor to help them navigate current market conditions and reach their financial goals," said Josh Lehr, Senior Director of Partnerships and Industry Technology at Total Expert. "We're excited to partner with Clever and strengthen cus- tomer relationships with timely, relevant communications." Total Expert will provide loan officers with a 360-degree view of their customers and empower them to stay closely connected throughout the home buying process. By leveraging data-driven insights and intelligent automa- tion, lenders will be equipped to provide a more personalized and efficient experience to their bor- rowers. "We are thrilled this new integration will ensure that Clever customers will enjoy an even more streamlined process and eliminate some of the stress of communicating with multiple parties that typically comes with real estate transactions," said Tony Chahal, SVP of Partnerships at Clever. Tech Advances for Cost Reduction LAKE CITY BANK TAPS BLACK KNIGHT FOR WORKFLOW AUTOMATION B lack Knight Inc. has announced that Lake City Bank has selected its Empower loan origination system (LOS) and integrated solutions to help close more loans, further drive its growth, and reduce costs. "At Lake City Bank, we lever- age next-generation technology to ensure that our client engage- ment is personalized and seam- less and enables us to use these new tools to maintain our great service levels more efficiently while we provide an improved customer experience," said Kirtus Murray, SVP and Retail Lending Manager at Lake City Bank. "With Empower streamlining our workflow and automating many of the tasks that our loan officers have previously done manually, we will be able to improve our customer support and deliver advanced digital capabilities." Lake City Bank also selected the following solutions, which integrate seamlessly with Empower, to provide a true end-to-end loan experience: actionable intelligence for regulatory assistance; machine- learning technology for automated, lights-out document classification and indexing; the industry-leading Optimal Blue product and pricing engine; document and fee services; a property tax solution; a digital, fulfillment-based closing solution; powerful web APIs; and a digital point-of-sale solution that enhances the mortgage application process for both borrowers and loan officers. Empower delivers advanced functionality and automation to increase efficiency, drive down operational costs, and improve the homebuying experience for customers. This scalable, digital platform supports retail, consum- er-direct, home equity, correspon- dent, wholesale, and assumption channels all on a single system to support virtually any size lender. "We look forward to providing enhanced technology to support Lake City Bank's highly personal- ized, customer-driven community banking," said Rich Gagliano, President of Black Knight Origination Technologies. "Using Empower and its integrated solu- tions, Lake City Bank will be able to focus on what they do best: delivering the best in banking solutions in the Indiana commu- nities they serve." MTECH "Now more than ever, consumers are looking for a trusted advisor to help them navigate current market conditions and reach their financial goals." —Josh Lehr, Senior Director of Partnerships and Industry Technology, Total Expert