Is this competition to PRWT's system?
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Saturday June 20, 7:43 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Mortgage Industry Service Providers Move E-Commerce
to the Internet for the first time
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 20, 1998--Contour Software, a Silicon Valley,
California-based provider of mortgage loan software systems for the financial industry,
announced today at the NAMB '98 Annual Convention and Showcase the industry's first release
of a wide variety of mortgage-related electronic transactions that use the Internet. This is the
first instance of the mortgage industry using the Internet to replace previous EDI solutions
between mortgage companies and their product suppliers. This quick movement to the Internet
was facilitated by a new technology developed by Contour called WebIT (Web Integrated
Transactions).
WebIT is an electronic commerce solution that allows users of Contour's The Loan Handler(TM)
mortgage automation software to order mortgage services through a single Internet connection.
Previously, this was done through proprietary electronic data interchange (EDI) connections. By
using WebIT, lenders can automatically transfer borrower file data directly onto a web page form
for any vendor instead of having to build elaborate EDI solutions and interfaces requiring data
files, conversion routines and communications software.
''The release of WebIT to our customers moves the industry closer to eventually eliminating the
multitude of direct dial solutions for the ordering of mortgage services. These include credit,
flood, appraisal, and title reports; mortgage insurance; wholesale loan submissions; and property
valuations,'' said Scott Cooley. ''In addition to an increase in speed, a single Internet connection
to all your e-commerce partners prevents the headaches associated with installing and
maintaining the various modem communication programs from every different vendor.''
Currently, ten companies comprise Contour's initial E-Commerce partners: The Money Store,
Old Republic Title, Lereta Flood, PLU Flood, America's Flood, Fidelity National Flood, Intell
Flood, Factual Data Corp. [Nasdaq:FDCC - news], Credit Profile Services and PSAR. Dozens of
other companies are also preparing to take advantage of WebIT including the various services
offered by The First American Financial Corporation.
''WebIT eliminates all of the previous interface development work performed by the hundreds of
suppliers that serve the mortgage industry,'' continued Cooley. ''Since all of the suppliers are
building web-based order forms anyway, we can build an entire E-commerce solution in one to
three hours - it used to take months to build a single interface.''
To use WebIT, lenders can simply access the Internet through The Loan Handler and connect to
the vendor's Internet Server and more specifically, the vendor's web-based order form. The Loan
Handler, using WebIT, will then populate the vendor's web site order form field by field with the
borrower data, which may then be submitted to the vendor with a click on the typical ''Submit
Button.'' Contour builds the entire interface for The Loan Handler such as the Menu options,
graphical icons and mapping which fields should populate the suppliers order form.
''It required almost no effort on our part for Contour to integrate our web page, which allows our
customers to order title reports, with the WebIT software,'' stated Kirk Knott, Director of
Information Systems and Vice President of Old Republic National Title. ''In fact, it literally took
only a few days to complete the integration as opposed to months and months typically
associated with such a project.''
''More and more of the mortgage industry business is being conducted on the Internet,''
continued Knott. ''So, it makes sense for us to be a part of Contour's electronic commerce
initiative because it provides us with the ability to save some keystrokes on both sides of the
transaction and make the flow of data smooth from one entity to another. That, in turn, increases
our productivity and will make our employees more efficient.''
''The Money Store is committed to wholesale lending and the broker community, and we are
always looking for ways to expand this line of business,'' said Bill Feigles, senior vice president
of The Money Store. ''We have been working with Contour on this project for several months,
and believe that this technology will drive our business to even higher levels. Electronic data
transfers between the broker and lender result in increased productivity, better service, and faster
closes.''
''We feel that Contour's WebIT is in-step with where the industry's technology is headed,''
commented Ron Carlson, National Director of Product Development for Factual Data Corp.
''Factual Data has been utilizing TCP/IP for improved speed when providing mortgage credit and
flood reports, but Contour is the first company to take the loan origination software connectivity
to the next level of simplicity utilizing advanced technologies.''
About Contour Software, Inc.
Founded in 1982, Contour Software offers software products for every facet of mortgage
lending. The company's flagship product, The Mortgage Banking Series, is a complete line of
software products for every facet of mortgage lending, from qualification to servicing. With a
customer base of 35,000 active seat licenses, Contour Software is a technology leader with the
most complete line of software products and the most electronic commerce connections in the
industry. Customers include mortgage bankers, mortgage brokers, credit unions, commercial
banks and savings institutions. A wholly-owned subsidiary of First American Real Estate
Information Services, Contour has 115 employees and 30 additional sales representatives
located across the United States.
For more information, contact Scott Cooley, President, Contour Software, 700 West Hamilton,
Campbell, CA, 95008-0403, call 800-CONTOUR (800-266-8687) or visit
www.contoursoft.com, www.mtgloan.com, www.lenderdirectory.com or www.processloan.com.
About First American Real Estate Information Services
The First American Financial Corporation (NYSE:FAF - news) is the nation's leading provider of
real estate-related financial and information services. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, First
American Real Estate Information Services, Inc., it provides a variety of services to leading
financial institutions nationwide, including credit reporting,flood compliance, appraisal services,
mortgage loan origination and servicing systems, real estate tax reporting, certification, and
outsourcing, document preparation services, property reporting and valuation, loss mitigation and
default management solutions. The Information Services group has its headquarters in St.
Petersburg, Florida. Through other subsidiaries, First American Financial, founded in 1889 and
based in Santa Ana, California, has more than 13,000 employees in over 400 branch offices in
the United States and abroad. Information about the company's subsidiaries and an archive of its
press releases can be found at firstam.com on the Internet |
