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Eye on the Industry: Updates on Gateway, Fidelity National, and More

From announcements of key hires to joint ventures and new tech, catch the latest from the mortgage industry in this update.

Oklahoma-based Gateway Mortgage Group [1], LLC, a full-service mortgage company licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia, announced Gerald Buckley as its new Digital Marketing Executive. In this role, Buckley will be responsible for driving implementation, operationalization and ongoing delivery of Gateway’s digital channel strategy.

Gateway’s new digital strategy, set by the executive leadership team, has been designed to provide a fully integrated customer experience. The strategy will ensure consistency across all key digital activities, spanning content management, marketing, messaging, optimization, data and client acquisition, all while lowering the cost of digital client acquisition and providing robust tracking and reporting.

“Gerald has a great reputation as an insightful leader in digital marketing. He will push the envelope and drive change—but in a collaborative way that respects the existing Gateway culture,” said Stephen Curry, CEO of Gateway. “He will be a strong asset to Gateway as we continue to grow and expand our businesses, and we look forward to benefiting from his contributions.”

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Florida-based Fidelity National Financial (FNF) announced the launch of a comprehensive digital closing experience for consumers closing in its title operations. Developed in partnership with Black Knight, Inc., this new closing experience supports both hybrid and fully digital closing options and is tightly integrated with FNF’s title production systems. Designed to digitally engage homebuyers and sellers in the process well in advance of the closing signature ceremony, the experience brings increased transparency, flexibility, and convenience to the final steps of real estate transactions.

“Today’s homebuyers and sellers have come to expect a digital experience that increases the transparency and convenience of the transaction,” said Jason Nadeau, Chief Digital Officer for Fidelity National Financial. “At FNF, we understand this. That’s why we’re committed to creating a totally redesigned real estate experience for the consumer. We’re also making sure our vast network of partners has access to the tools they need to compete effectively in an increasingly digital world.”

“We’re honored to have collaborated with FNF in developing a new closing experience,” said Black Knight President Joe Nackashi. “Black Knight is committed to our clients’ success, and we wholeheartedly support FNF’s mission to redefine the experience for the millions of consumers they work with annually.”

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OpenClose [2], a loan origination system (LOS) and mortgage fintech provider, announced that it is has scheduled a May release for the official rollout of its digital mortgage point-of-sale (POS) solution, ConsumerAssist Digital POS.

According to OpenClose, "as a single source vendor for digital POS, LOS, PPE and Business Intelligence, OpenClose is able to slash the loan manufacturing cost and complexity by eliminating the need to cobble together disparate systems with different SLAs, contracts and pricing models."

"The self-service POS capabilities that ConsumerAssist Digital POS provides are state-of-the-art and feature rich." Openclose states that enders can now automate and organize numerous tasks that would normally be performed in the back-office via the LOS, and push them closer to borrowers earlier in the origination process.

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Lansdale, Pennsylvania-headquartered Global DMS [3], a provider of cloud-based valuation management software, has rolled out SnapVal, an automated solution that utilizes the property address to return a guaranteed price on any residential appraisal in the U.S.

The company said that SnapVal integrates seamlessly with loan origination systems (LOS), digital mortgage point-of-sale (POS) systems, borrower-facing web portals, and propriety lending or servicing platforms. Global DMS provides a configurable RESTful API web service that facilitates swift and cost-effective integrations.

Under the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule, lenders are bound by the fees represented on the Loan Estimate (LE). Unlike static fees, appraisals are a variable cost that lenders constantly struggle to ensure pricing accuracy. If there is any change to the appraisal fee, TRID dictates that a revised LE must be issued to the consumer. This requirement, coupled with strong lender motivation to complete deals and close on time, often results in the lender absorbing appraisal fee discrepancies or scrambling to quickly re-issue the LE. 

“We identified a need in the marketplace to address a common problem that lenders are regularly challenged with for providing accurate appraisal quotes and then ensuring pricing on the Loan Estimate is consistent and compliant,” said Vladimir Bien-Aime, President and CEO at GlobalDMS. SnapVal is a piece of technology that lenders currently lack from their digital mortgage strategies. By leveraging SnapVal, they will save time and money, as well as increase their pull-through rates while elevating the borrower experience.”