Snapdocs and Freddie Mac teamed up on a new program designed to push originators towards using digital mortgages and electronic promissory notes.
The software aims to address some of the key issues that have hindered the adoption of eMortgages and eNotes, such as the unique technical components required to store and manage the note, the variability in counterparties' digital closing acceptance policies and the complexity of implementing and managing the process changes required.
With the quickstart program, Snapdocs provides the technology necessary to generate, store, manage, and transfer eMortgages that is agnostic to point-of-sale, loan origination or doc prep systems. It also involves creating streamlined implementation processes between counterparties with the aim of reducing complexity and facilitating eMortgage approvals.
"Freddie Mac is the first investor to support the program, but expanding upon the ecosystem of lenders, investors, agencies, warehouse lenders, and servicers that participate is a key objective of the program," said Camelia Martin, Snapdocs' head of industry and regulatory affairs. "We look forward to the inclusion of every partner that our lenders work with as it will only compound the value the program offers the industry and, ultimately, its impact on eMortgage adoption."
Some companies have moved forward more quickly than others with digital mortgage adoption. Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group of Torrance, Calif., went from seven eNotes executed as of January 2020 to more than 7,000 registered with
Separately, Amrock, the title and settlement subsidiary of Rocket Cos., just announced its 1 millionth eClosing ever. The same announcement noted the company was a part of more than 80% of all eClosings done.
But others apparently need a little more coaxing, even as hybrid eClosing use was
The Snapdocs quickstart announcement follows
Other mortgage technology companies share the same broader goal on digital mortgage adoption, with several noting they have similar programs in place.
"[It's] great that other companies are now coming into the space to support an eMortgage platform," said Tim Anderson, Evolve Mortgage Services eMortgage division president. The company "has been providing a full end-to-end eMortgage platform, including our own eNote and eVault, which provides everything discussed in the Snapdocs announcement, and has been approved by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for years."
DocMagic will be coming out with its own eEligibilty tool shortly. As for some of the specifics mentioned in the Snapdocs release, when it comes to integrations with counterparties, "We go through that process with every single lender that we set up for eNotes, we get involved with talking to the warehouse bank to their sub servicers to their investors or aggregators," said Dan McGrew, president of Elite Digital Advisors, who is a consultant for DocMagic and other companies. "We take a very consultative hand holding shepherding process with our lenders."
While companies have subject matter experts in other areas of the process, they don't have one for eClosings, McGrew said. Lenders want to produce an eNote but don't have a clue on how to do it.
DocMagic also has longstanding relationships with both of the government-sponsored enterprises.
"We have our certification processes. We tie into their certification process and guide our customers through what processes to help them and educate them along the way and what they need to have happen," added Brian Pannell, its chief eServices executive.
SimpleNexus recently announced its Nexus Closing eMortgage product has been integrated with DocMagic' eVault and eNote technologies.
"There is an industry-wide effort to finally look at this not just from a borrower experience perspective, which has been a focus of the last year, but from the perspective of the huge lender and industry benefits," said Jay Arneja, principal product manager for SimpleNexus.
SimpleNexus has a white-glove service to help lenders get ready.
"The components are very similar," Arneja said. "We assess a lender’s readiness, we run a custom ROI calculation, and then we build their roadmap to production."
The eMortgage Quickstart Program is live now. Snapdocs is in the process of enrolling initial lender participants as well as their partners such as warehouse lenders and servicers.
"As an industry, we've always been able to accomplish more together through collaborative efforts such as this program and we're thrilled to work with Freddie Mac and other industry participants to make eMortgages more accessible to everyone," Martin said.
