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Special Reports
Document Services
DocumentTrac Put Company On the Right Track in 2004
By Anthony Garritano
SAN DIEGO -- Del Mar Database has added 86 new clients in 2003, 97 clients in
2004 and 20 clients in December 2004 alone. The increase last year is being largely attributed to the company's
new imaging solution, DocumentTrac.
"Lenders overall are continuing to recognize that origination volume is going
down and they need tools to help them increase production and allow them to run their business in a more efficient
manner," said Del Mar president John Walsh. "We're also seeing a lot of users that have bought an end-to-end
solution and have had no success and turned to us. The demand for best-of-breed technology is at a high point."
DocumentTrac was released six months ago and was designed to act as an electronic
document management module for Del Mar's DataTrac application that offers lenders an integrated solution for the
imaging, archival, retrieval and distribution of all documents associated with a loan file.
On the heels of this success, Del Mar will add automatic document recognition
to its DocumentTrac offering with its new release due out at the end of January. Specifically, the latest version,
DocumentTrac version 1.2 was released on Jan. 31. The new release included three enhancements designed to further
automate the mortgage process.
First, the program automatically recognizes 15 common mortgage forms (including
the 1008, 1003, GFE, W-2, etc.). The forms in question are labeled, stored in the system and an e-mail notification
is sent to the responsible individual.
Second, the update makes it possible for lenders to expose documents directly
to the originator (broker, AE or loan officer) via WebTrac Pro. As a result, originators have immediate, direct
access to information in the file.
Lastly, the solution allows for direct delivery to Countrywide's imaging solution.
"The product has been out for about six months and 15% of our client base
has adopted it," said Mr. Walsh. "What makes it so powerful is that it increases the operational efficiency
of the lender because it allows multiple people to be in the same file.
"One of the problems in the mortgage banking process is that, for example,
if you want an underwriter to underwrite the loan that isn't in the office, that file has to be shifted somewhere
to give them access to it, whereas with this system everyone that needs to have access has access from anywhere
in the world," he continued. "Second, this system reduces costs significantly. One of our lenders said
that there were 10 copies of every file floating around his office. DocumentTrac allows lenders to stop the need
to print out the file so often, which saves printing costs, copying costs, storage costs and courier costs. The
last piece is that as investors like Countrywide now begin to accept electronic delivery, the process is simplified
further."
At present the docs that go through the Del Mar system are not in SMART Doc format
but that is the direction that the program is headed, according to Mr. Walsh. "If you're not a Del Mar client
this isn't for you, but if you use DataTrac this program is tightly integrated," he said. "If you're
a mega-lender you can buy an imaging solution and get it integrated within your LOS. It's going to cost you hundreds
of thousands of dollars but if you're Wells Fargo or Countrywide who cares?
"On the other hand, our customers are smaller and they can't afford that
but they still need the integration between the imaging and LOS systems," he continued. "If you're a
DataTrac client there's no need to pay for two solutions if Del Mar can provide it all in the same package."
In reference to the document recognition upgrade, Mr. Walsh said, "This addition
will allow our clients to automatically identify a portion of the documents in the loan file so no human being
will have to check if the 1003 is there for example. The system has workflow integrated throughout so the lender
can identify which new documents have been added and are currently in the file."
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