04 May 10 Is First American Sue Happy?
Yes First American CoreLogic Inc. filed another lawsuit. First American filed a lawsuit against eight companies, including Zillow Inc. and Lender Processing Services Inc., claiming the companies’ automated property valuation services infringe on a 1994 patent. In their complaint, CoreLogic seeks an injunction against the companies to prohibit them from using or selling any products that fall within the scope of the patent, and for triple damages to “compensate CoreLogic for its profits lost.”
None of the companies named in the April 16 lawsuit have filed formal a response to the complaint, and none would comment to Inman News. The companies named in the lawsuit provide automated valuation model (AVM) services to businesses or consumers — computer-generated property value estimates that typically rely on a property’s unique characteristics, public property records and other market statistics.
A spokeswoman for Zillow — a site that became one of the Internet’s most popular real estate portals by offering instant, free property “Zestimates” to consumers — said the company was aware of the lawsuit, and “has no plans to change any aspect of our business as a result of this complaint.” Realizing that public housing records are made public, many mortgage insiders think that the Mortgage Giant is grasping at straws.
01 Sep 09 Mortech Responding to LendingTree with Legal Challenge
Mortgage technology software provider Mortech, Lincoln, Nebraska, said it has plans to address a legal challenge by Lending Tree, Charlotte, N.C. Mortech said in an e-mailed statement that it would deal with the issue in a “timely fashion,” and noted it has a good track record and reputation when it comes to its dealings with industry partners and customers.
According to a New York Times press report, the suit alleges that Lending Tree feels that Mortech, as its business partner, is in violation of its contract because it is planning to make its pricing engine services available for another online provider’s use Google and those services would compete with Lending Tree’s lead generation system that promotes mortgage loan shopping for consumers online.
31 Aug 09 Closing Cost Rules and Mortgage Disclosure Changes Confusing
Mortgage lenders, bankers and loan officers are never excited about changes to RESPA or Reg Z. Essentially, expanding and adding new rules for home loan disclosure and mortgage settlement practices is a growing concern for mortgage professionals nationally.
According to a July industry survey by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, the new disclosure and mortgage settlement rules are a big worry for compliance officers. Sixty percent said Truth-in-Lending compliance was a top concern; 58 percent also expressed anxiety with RESPA. “There are so many different mortgage regulations that are changing in the next 18 months or so, it’s kind of an overwhelming task,” said James Barber, the chairman and chief executive at the $1.4 billion-asset Acacia Federal Savings Bank in Falls Church, Vrginia.
Just a month ago, amendments to the Federal Reserve’s Regulation Z went into effect to enforce speedy cost disclosures for consumers. This coming January, banks are bracing for the compliance deadline for related Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) changes, finalized last year by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help consumers shop around for mortgage terms with easy-to-understand, good-faith estimates and limits on pre-closing fees.
For community bankers ramping up for more mortgage origination activity, working under these new rules is already proving to be a cumbersome exercise. RESPA and Reg Z (the Fed’s Truth-in-Lending Act regulations) are forcing banks into costly upgrades of originations systems to accommodate compliance needs-processes, which many larger banks already have in place. Banks also must refocus their business-line and customer-service activities to meet with the inherent delays and confusion as part of new disclosure procedures. “We are handing our customers a letter at the time of the application spelling this out,” said Tom Myers, executive vice president and chief lending officer at the $1.5 billion-asset Monroe Bank & Trust in Michigan. “In the past, if you were expecting to close this loan in 35 to 40 days, it’s now 60 days.”
The most immediate impact on these bankers has been the TIL rules, which were enacted by the 2008 Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act. Mortgage lenders must now wait at least seven days after an early good-faith estimate disclosure before closing on a loan. If the APR at close varies by more than .125 percent from the early disclosure, a “re-disclosure,” or new good-faith-estimate, is then required-which restarts the clock on the pre-close waiting period. That includes actions by consumers who decide at closing to buy down points or change terms themselves. “The customer can’t make a change at the last minute,” without delaying the close, said Monroe’s Pat Williams. “If he wanted a $100,000 mortgage and now wants $102,000, he has to go back and have a seven-day waiting period.”
The major RESPA changes included a new standardized good-faith-estimate form that gives more transparency on fees, settlement procedures and closing costs. But critics say consumers could potentially be perplexed by dual TIL and RESPA forms, since both estimates are derived from different numbers. RESPA calculates from the actual loan rates, while Reg Z is based from the annual percentage rate. “One relates to interest rates and one relates to fees,” said Rod Alba, the senior regulatory counsel with the American Bankers Association. Both the ABA and the Mortgage Bankers Association are seeking a delay in the implementation of RESPA regulations until the two agencies can match up disclosure rules. The ABA “is not saying pull back the rule,” said Alba. “We’re saying delay the rule so you can work out the kinks with your sister agency.” — Article was written by Glen Fest who is an executive editor of US Banker.
17 Aug 09 Lead Planet Offers Email Marketing to Mortgage Companies
Lead Planet Systems here has released Lead Gen09, which includes an option to purchase e-mail marketing tailored to advertise specific loan programs that mortgage lenders and brokers offer. The mortgage lead generation company said Lead Gen09 is the mortgage industry’s technology solution prospect and borrower marketing. It is common for loan companies to contact a lead who is interested but for whatever reason never materializes into a new submission or funding.
The looks to add their email marketing system to their internet mortgage lead system that aggregates mortgage lead from search engines like Bing, Google and Yahoo. Read the original Mortgage Marketing Post > Lead Planet Announces New Email Marketing
Tags: brokers, email marketing, Lead Gen09, Lead Planet, lenders, mortgage companies, mortgage leads
07 Jul 09 Top Loan Modification Company Chooses Kelly Media Group for Marketing
Owings Mills, MD – July 6, 2009 – When the owners of The Renegotiate Mortgage Rates Corporation, an East Coast law firm that specializes in foreclosure prevention, loan modifications and forensic audits announced yesterday that they were awarding their marketing business to Kelly Media Group, an advertising agency based in Los Angeles. Renegotiate Mortgage Rates was seeking technology to automate their lead generation, so they turned to Kelly Media Group to solve their mortgage marketing problems. A spokesman from RMR believes that the KMG advertising team will increase their totals for loan modification leads at a fraction of the cost of their competitors.
The account executives at Kelly Media Group have a combined total in excess of 50 years solving technical and marketing woes generating mortgage leads. Call 877-788-8463 and get a free lead generation quote from one of our lead sales representatives.
Tags: advertising agency, Kelly Media Group, lead generation, loan modification company, loan modification leads, mortgage marketing
20 Apr 09 Live Transfers Converting Higher for Mortgage Marketing
Mortgage related companies continue to report higher than average conversions for live transfers fueled by voice broadcasting technology. Like direct mail, voice broadcasting allows the advertiser to target their customer more precisely by purchasing quality data. Standard voice broadcasting is where our phone system dials from a list of numbers you provide and plays one standard message either to an individual, allowing them to press one to be connected to your call center or allows a message to be left only to answering machines, or both. With live transfers, companies can utilize the technology in-house or by outsourcing to the outbound dialing call center.
According to Kelly Media Group, the voice broadcasting leads, customers can be transferred immediately to our call center or your sales team, whatever you prefer. Phone blast are a great way to get your message out and one of the best new forms for generating leads in high volume. Read the complete article> Press One Live Transfers with Voice Broadcasting Leads.
Tags: live transfers
