Ernst Publishing Patents Mortgage Fee Calculator —American Banker

Tighter Regulations Leave Less Room for Error When Computing and Disclosing How Much Mortgages Cost. 

John Adams at American Banker reports that Ernst Publishing, not related to the accounting company, sells technology and closing cost data to mortgage market players. Its clients include nine of the largest ten originators and servicers and the largest five title insurance companies.  And it has now received a U.S. patent for its recording fee and tax calculator, called “System and Method for Generating and Tracking Field Values of Mortgage Forms.” Read the whole thing here. More:

“The industry will be held accountable for mistakes that, in the past, were simple annoyances to the borrower. Today, they’re illegal,” says Jan Clark, vice president of sales and marketing for Ernst Publishing. Ernst sells technology and closing cost data to mortgage market players. Its clients include nine of the largest ten originators and servicers and the largest five title insurance companies.

Ernst Publishing, which is not related to the accounting company, has received a U.S. patent for its recording fee and tax calculator, called “System and Method for Generating and Tracking Field Values of Mortgage Forms.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is tightening rules for good faith estimates (GFE) to narrow the tolerance for variance between the GFE and the actual cost to near zero.

“Any credible tool like this that makes the closing process more accurate and transparent, and less manual, is beneficial. Manual is costly and you don’t want to do that going forward,” says Christine Pratt, a senior analyst at Aite Group.

The good faith estimate is required by the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). Lenders and brokers must produce an itemized list of fees and costs associated with the loan. This list must be delivered within three business days of applying for the loan. By narrowing the tolerance between the GFE and the real cost of a mortgage, the CFPB (which is making the changes to RESPA) is placing more pressure on lenders to produce accurate estimates, since they face financial penalties for non-compliance. Also, as fees change over time, the GFE must change accordingly.

New CFPB Regulations Are Driving Innovation in Intellectual Property

 

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