Home - Grapevine - Ask the Experts - BrokerWire - Buyer's Guide - Classified Ads - Conference Calendar - Database - Free Newsletter - Making the Sale - Market Conditions - Marketing Tips - Mortgage University - The Paper Warehouse - Quality Time - Special Reports - SubPrime Lending - Technology News - This Week from Broker Magazine - What We're Hearing - WeirdLoans

Ellie Mae Releases New Custom and Banker Versions By Scott Kersnar Ellie Mae has released its Encompass Banker Edition 3.0 and Encompass Custom Edition 3.0 in an effort to both extend functionality and help ease broker-to-banker transitions. Encompass Custom is offered as an LOS with extensive configurability, while Encompass Banker is Ellie Mae's entry into the ranks of end-to-end systems designed for community banks, credit unions and other small to midsize mortgage lenders. Many of the enhancements were targeted specifically for Encompass Banker 3.0, the most feature-rich version of Encompass - and the most expensive by a factor of four or five - according to Ellie Mae chief strategy officer Jonathan Corr. At a time when mortgage companies generally are cutting IT spending, he said new users of the banker product are saying the higher price is worth it. "The tools we've added to Encompass Banker Edition 3.0 offer even more control over core banking functions," he said, "as well as easy access to the type of information that bankers need to make better decisions and reach higher profits. Now, mortgage bankers can service loans prior to selling loans on the secondary market, track their profitability on trades and configure notifications that alert them of key servicing activities, such as when statements must be sent out, when accounts go past due and when they're scheduled to make upcoming disbursements. And they can do all this right from within their Encompass systems." He said version 3.0 of the banker edition lets secondary marketing executives "track exactly where they stand in terms of pricing and selling their loans on both a flow and bulk basis, avoid late delivery and pair-off fees and make sure they're selling their loans at the best price, all as a part of their standard business practice." Mr. Corr called Encompass the "most integrated system in the marketplace," leveraging Web services enabling users to "never have to leave Encompass" to do their work. Some enhancements added to both the Custom and Banker versions include comprehensive audit trails, enhanced ability to control alert timing, improved mapping of contact fields to eliminate redundant loan file data entry, business rules enhancements that improve user control over access to loan fields, and user group enhancements offering flexible access to borrower contacts. Ellie Mae sold 19 copies of the Custom and Banker products last month, Mr. Corr reported. "We switched to Encompass Banker Edition because our previous solution didn't provide our loan officers with the tools they needed to succeed out in the field," said Bryan Wandel, vice president of IT at First United Bank. "We've been very pleased so far. From an IT standpoint, we like the way the system works and how easy it is to update. From a business standpoint, the ability to integrate with third-party technologies and ease of interface are big benefits." Chicago Bancorp commended both the feature richness and the configurability of the new Banker version. "We had many things on disparate systems, separate closing, accounting on spreadsheets, data on different servers," said COO John Calk. "The consolidation of all of our data was very important. Now, with Encompass Banker Edition, our data integrity for the first time is very solid. Overall, I've been really happy and am glad I made the decision. I don't say that about a lot of things I buy." Ellie Mae, Pleasanton, Calif., boasts that since its launch four years ago, it has come to be used by "nine of the top 10 brokerages and over two-thirds of the top 250 brokers nationwide, several of which operate as bankers."

Click here for advertising information.
For technical support, e-mail webmaster@brokeruniverse.com
For reprints, call Charlton Sanabria at 212-803-8377.
Privacy Policy
© 2008 Broker magazine and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
Use, duplication, or sale of this service, or data contained herein, is strictly prohibited.