Origination News Feature Story

WKFS Creates Dedicated Settlement Services Unit

By Brad Finkelstein

MINNEAPOLIS-Over the years, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services here has expanded its operations through acquisitions and the creation of partnerships. Now the company has created a dedicated settlement services business unit to support its efforts in that area.

Sean DePamphilis, who has been with WKFS for 13 years, is the unit's vice president and general manager. Mortgage originators are able to access the various settlement services offered through a single website.

These services include credit and mortgage reports, automated valuation model reports, appraisals, flood determinations, order title insurance plus other settlement services.

Having settlement services as a single business line, Mr. DePamphilis said, allows the firm to offer them in a more integrated fashion than in the past. Most of WKFS business is from the flood determination product, which it added to in 2008 when it bought Stewart Lending Services' flood determination business.

That acquisition added Gary Kasper, an expert on flood and title determinations, as a business manager for WKFS.

Improving the offering from the technology perspective is where the company has been focusing its efforts in the past few years.

The website is the hub of WKFS' offering, where the user can pick and choose the settlement services desired. Furthermore, he added, it provides seamless access to WKFS partners' websites for the originator to place an order.

"It gives our clients an opportunity to get out in front of the settlement service process as soon as possible," Mr. DePamphilis said, adding that by having this capability, it makes it easier to resolve any disputes plus it allows for complete compliance with various disclosure laws and regulations.

The website is currently active with WKFS clients able to place orders through it.

"In today's tough economic environment, banks and lenders are looking to become more productive and efficient in any way possible," said Mr. DePamphilis. "The settlement services portion of the mortgage origination process has traditionally been disjointed and often disorganized, requiring financial institutions to go to many different sources to meet their needs. Our goal, through these enhancements, is to improve that process by providing a single, comprehensive solution to our clients by combining the services in one place."

But the move is also timely, as falling interest rates have helped to spur an increase in mortgage applications in recent weeks.

He noted that there was a "definite spike" in demand for various settlement services in January. With his 15 years of experience in the business, Mr. DePamphilis said he is well aware of the normal seasonal spikes in business. Normally there is a three- to six-month interval between application and the need for various settlement services.

Refinancings are a nice part of the business and something that is not normally counted on.

The settlement services area is something WKFS has been in for the past 15 years or so but the resources the parent company have dedicated to this area in the past six to nine months have really "changed our focus," Mr. DePamphilis declared.