Is the paperless mortgage here yet? We have heard a lot about the mortgage industry standing on the verge of a completely paperless mortgage process because of new legislation in place that requires banks to accept electronic signatures. One Denver-based company, Entrust Financial Services, Inc., through their subsidiary, Entrust Mortgage, has developed state-of-the art software that evaluates loan applications, classifies borrowers and provides approvals to home buyers, completely electronically.
Anyone who has bought a home in the last decade knows that the process is stressful, considering the amount of negotiating, anticipation and paperwork that is involved. But closing a deal in the future will be easier, thanks to a recent federal law making electronic signatures legally binding. It has allowed the mortgage business to eliminate the reams of paper that plague the process of financing the purchase of a new home.
Entrust Mortgage has developed mortgage-banking software for brokers who use it to take customers through the home buying process in minutes, as opposed to days. Jung Song, owner of Primus Lending couldn't believe how fast his employees were able to approve new loans. "The Entrust on-line approval system lets my loan officers get instantaneous decisioning from an abbreviated application system and provides them a detailed stipulation list showing what documentation we need to submit to Entrust to close the loan," Song says. "The process is quick and easy and it helps even my inexperienced loan officers to give immediate and accurate decisions to our borrowers."
The automated process begins by directing brokers to the best program a borrower can use, based on qualifications. Then the broker submits a complete mortgage package electronically. "By using the electronic system, brokers are able to transfer files to a number of people who can communicate back to the broker by using e-mail attachments," says Scott Sax, President of Entrust. "When the loan file is approved by underwriting, the homebuyer can receive closing documentation via electronic transmission."
Electronic file flow not only saves Entrust time, it also saves money. "We need fewer employees to do the job in a paperless environment than we needed before the use of e-mail and electronic signatures," says Sax. "We need far less storage space for documents as well. That saves us money and when we save money, the borrower saves money too."
Entrust Mortgage, a subsidiary of Entrust Financial Services, Inc., based in Denver, is a wholesale mortgage banking company with a 40-state network of over 4,000 contracted mortgage brokers. They specialize in offering niche financial products, including, first, second, and home equity mortgages, and personal unsecured lines of credit. Entrust's unsecured line of credit can be applied for and decisioned in 20 minutes, totally on the Internet.
Pat Rioux
