Credit Proofreading Tools Provide Clarity, Efficiency to Credit Scoring

March 17, 2008

DALLAS -- Cogent Road, a provider of Internet-based applications for the mortgage industry, has announced several enhancements to Funding Suite v3.0, a significantly redesigned database architecture underlying the credit report that allows tremendous new opportunities and products for brokers. The news was announced at the Mortgage Bankers Association's 2008 National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference and Expo in Dallas.

The latest addition to Funding Suite's credit proofreading tools is a new Underwriting Conditions Scan (UC Scan). With a UC Scan, every credit file is scanned to detect the conditions and underwriting flags that may be indicated by Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter(R). Included as a separate tab within the Intelligent Credit Report, all results are listed in easy to understand language that enables mortgage originators to more easily resolve conditions before the file is even processed through Fannie Mae.

On the heels of new legislation that nearly doubles the current Fannie Mae (FNMA) lending limits, many properties that were not previously Fannie Mae eligible now are. For originators that are unfamiliar with Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter, Funding Suite's UC Scan spells out in layman's terms what Fannie Mae's conditions will be before originators submit the file.

A UC Scan is included free of charge with every Funding Suite credit report. Currently, the UC Scan works with Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter. Funding Suite plans to include Freddie Mac and GMAC-RFC Assetwise(R) UC Scans by the middle of 2008.

Another significant enhancement is Funding Suite's new reason code display that describes exactly why a credit bureau is either unable to score an applicant, or failed to return a file for the applicant. Since reasons for these situations are numerous and cannot be easily understood from reviewing the credit report, originators are often unsure how to proceed with the file or how to explain the situation to their applicant. Funding Suite now provides originators with the exact reason why no file or score resulted. Often, the situation involves an incorrect name or address, which can be easily corrected.

New tools also include the ability to preserve existing scores when rescoring one or two bureaus. In the past, when a single bureau was rescored it was necessary to re-order all bureaus in order to maintain a Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reissuable file. In some situations, re-ordering may cause one or more of the scores to fall out of qualifying range. By preserving existing scores, while ordering only the rescored bureau, Funding Suite's new score preservation tools eliminate the risk of an unexpected score drop.

"With new legislation in place almost doubling the current Fannie Mae Lending Limit, many originators will be using Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter for the first time - and will be very inexperienced with interpreting conditions," said Alan Baia, managing partner for Cogent Road. "Fannie Mae conditions can often be vague and confusing for loan officers new to Desktop Underwriter(R). Not only can our UC Scan help pinpoint exactly why the condition exists, it helps the originator resolve conditions proactively which results in greater processing efficiency."