Credit Plus to offer single price credit report
AllRegs and FICO introduce new FICO National Certification
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O MARCH 2010
AllRegs, a publisher of guidelines for the mortgage industry, and FICO, a provider of analytics and decision management technology, have introduced a new FICO National Certification program: the Certified FICO Professional (FICO Pro). This program is designed to recognize individuals who have a strong understanding of FICO scores and how the FICO score impacts both the lender and the consumer.
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MISSOURI MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
LendingTree has announced the launch of its first-ever iPhone App, the Mortgage RateFinder, now available at the Apple Store. This free application allows a user to get up-to-theminute loan offers without any personal information being shared. Mortgage Ratefinder App is extremely user friendly. You simply enter information about the loan you would like. The App then performs a quick search of participating lenders and instantly provides users with customized loan offers. Users can choose to receive up to 30 different offers. Once an offer is found, the user clicks to be contacted by that lender and move forward with the loan request. “Whether refinancing or purchasing a home, today’s consumer demands greater speed and accessibility to competitive mortgage offers and we are very excited to now provide instant access to offers on your iPhone,� said Doug Lebda, founder and chief executive officer of LendingTree. “LendingTree was the first company to deliver transparency and efficiency to the mortgage process by forcing banks to compete for your business and we hope to build upon our success with our expansion into the smartphone market.� LendingTree is committed to protecting the privacy of all its customers. Mortgage RateFinder users’ personal information is not shared in order to receive customized loan offers. Only once the consumer requests to be contacted by a lender is their information transmitted to that specific lender. For more information, www.lendingtree.com/appstore.
www.NationalMortgageProfessional.com O
Credit Plus Inc. has announced that it will offer a single-price credit report, the price of which will be based upon a lender’s business model. The new pricing option will assist lenders and mortgage brokers in achieving compliance with regulatory changes, effective Jan. 1, 2010, that were made to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). The new rules require lenders and brokers to provide customers with a standard Good Faith Estimate (GFE) that clearly discloses all loan terms and closing costs. Closing agents are then required to provide borrowers with the new HUD-1 Settlement Statement that clearly compares consumers’ final costs with the originally quoted costs. The final price for several services, including the credit report, must be within 10 percent of the quoted price or lenders may face penalties beginning May 1, 2010. “Offering the option of a single-price credit report provides much-needed flexibility in today’s mortgage environment,� said Greg Holmes, national director of sales and marketing at Credit Plus Inc. “We believe the single pricing structure will facilitate compliance with the new HUD regulations, particularly the GFE.� The Credit Plus single-price credit report will include: Supplements that lenders can customize; potential score improvement alerts; unlimited secondary use fees; and unlimited Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reissue fees. The new standard GFE requires that lenders and mortgage brokers clearly disclose the loan term and type, interest rate, whether there is a pre-payment penalty and/or balloon payment, and itemized closing costs. The new standard HUD-1 Settlement Statement enables a borrower to compare an itemized list of all fees from the GFE with actual closing costs. Lenders and brokers who do not wish to purchase single-price credit reports will continue to have the ability to purchase credit reports within Credit Plus’ traditional price structure. Credit Plus offers scoring tools, Tax Return Verifications, flood reports and other services in addition to credit reports. For more information, visit www.creditplus.com.
LendingTree releases new iPhone app
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