Gateway First Bank [1], one of the largest banks in the state of Oklahoma, announced the appointment of industry veteran Stephen Staid as its Chief Servicing Officer. [2]
As chief of servicing, Staid will direct a team overseeing customer care, investor accounting, loss mitigation, escrow administration, and operations support. He will also spearhead a variety of initiatives, including technology enhancements, operations improvements and business development. Staid will report directly to Gateway CEO Stephen Curry.
“Staid brings unique industry expertise as a former executive with top-tier financial institutions. His wealth of knowledge in mortgage servicing will position Gateway to become one of the nations’ leaders in mortgage servicing businesses in a highly competitive environment,” Curry said.
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Simplifile [3], a tech provider for real estate documentation has announced that the town of Westerly in Rhode Island has joined its e-recording network [4] following the July 1 passage of a law authorizing e-recording statewide in Rhode Island.
“This is a terrific development for Rhode Island settlement agents and municipal recorders, who have long expressed an interest in modernizing their recording processes,” said Paul Clifford, President of Simplifile. “We’re ready to help additional municipalities get up and running—a process that usually takes only days—so they can take advantage of e-recording’s significant time and cost savings.”
Rhode Island joins 47 other U.S. states that have authorized e-recording of deeds, mortgages, and other documents to enable faster and more cost-effective land record transactions. Only Kentucky and Vermont have yet to begin e-recording.
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Austin-based fintech company, FirstClose [5] has announced the release of its SMART Select platform [6] for Title Search Reports and O&E Reports.
SMART Select uses intelligence logic to automatically select the title vendor with the best service, best price, and best turn-time for each financial institution’s unique lending footprint. This new technology chooses from six approved and vetted national title vendors to deliver title search reports.
Giving an overview of the need for this technology for lenders, FirstClose said that in today’s ever-changing mortgage market, lenders are faced with rising cost to originate loans, which is impacting their bottom line. This is especially true when trying to handle vendor due diligence and select the right title vendor for your business. Many factors need to be taken into consideration, such as service levels, pricing, and turn times. FirstClose's SMART Select instantly eliminates lenders’ title vendor selection headaches.