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Tackling the Problem of Changing Closing Fees By Anthony Garritano Oftentimes the closing fees quoted a borrower change before and during the actual closing. This is a source of major frustration for borrowers looking for greater transparency. To this end, a recent partnership has sought to end this problem and integrate exact closing fees directly into the broker's core system early in the mortgage process. Specifically, origination vendor Ellie Mae and First Title and Escrow Inc., a nationwide provider of title and closing services to mortgage lenders and brokers, have collaborated so that users of Ellie Mae's Encompass Mortgage Automation System will receive instant and exact closing fees, directly from First Title, prior to printing the good faith estimate. Because these figures are imported at an early stage in the loan, originators can price their loans more accurately earlier, streamline the origination process, and avert the possibilities of fee inaccuracies that can result in lost loans or costly compliance violations. The closing fee data provided to Ellie Mae by First Title include abstract fees, title premiums, recording and release fees, closing fees, and city, county and state transfer taxes. The figures are not only exact and instantly available, but are also able to be imported directly into users' Encompass files from First Title's Web interface, www.FirstTitleServices.com. The Encompass system automatically populates the fees into the GFE, saving the customary excessive time and effort involved in acquiring the figures manually. Without direct integration between providers of closing fees and the brokers' or lenders' loan origination systems that incorporate those fees into the GFE, loan professionals are left to channel through multiple sites and make numerous phone calls to secure the fee information associated with their loans. As a result, many loan professionals are forced to make estimates that could result in lost loans or potentially costly compliance violations. "This collaborative arrangement is an absolute necessity in order to comply properly with RESPA and good faith estimate regulations," stated Gloria Freifeld, CEO of Clearwater, Florida-based Superior Mortgage Group, the first mega-user of the Encompass/First Title GFE fee system. "We're using the service and it performs exactly the way First Title and Ellie Mae said it would. We couldn't be more pleased with the impact on our compliance and accuracy levels." By working together, Encompass and First Title are empowering users to reduce the processing costs associated with faxes, phone calls, emails and data entry errors. "This collaboration is going to transform the arduous, error-prone and time-consuming way that originators and processors have had to secure fee information," reported Jonathan Corr, chief strategy officer of Ellie Mae. "Our single, unified solution provides all of the critical elements of a comprehensive, effective data integration solution, instantly, at the point origination." In addition to delivering the impact of higher accuracy to the individual broker and lender, the collaboration also holds implications for enhancing compliance industry-wide. "First Title is excited to be able to offer its products to the incredible number of Encompass users through the ePASS Network and Encompass," said Stephen Papermaster, president and CEO of First Title. "Together with Ellie Mae, we're providing a solution that can really make a difference in compliance for the entire industry."

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