Staircase, a fintech company that has been compiling an extensive suite of interconnected digital mortgage tools, unveiled new blockchain-based technology on Tuesday to service transfers.
The latest automation is designed to ensure that compliance-sensitive information is properly transmitted in the active mortgage servicing rights market. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has some specific requirements for this process, with a particular focus on ensuring that it does not disrupt ongoing modifications or other loss mitigation measures.
Adam Kalamchi, co-founder and CEO of Staircase, said: “Given the increased value of service rights, the transfer of MSR is increasing, so it is a natural market to spend more time now.”
More and more fintech companies have been looking to update the automation used by service operations, and automation has become more prominent as rates have risen. More recently, for example, Valon Partner with a Quality Control Provider called ACES to address needs in the space; and struggling mortgage tech provider Clarifire Integrate its platform with one of IndiSoft’s Guide the counselor through the service process.
At the same time, blockchain technology and its cryptocurrencies, which were originally designed for record keeping, are increasingly being used in mortgage lending and banking, albeit with some Regulatory prudence around the latter. Startup Moon Mortgage, a lender that plans to use cryptocurrencies to partially secure loans, recently $3.5 million raised On the seed funding front, the Bank of New York Mellon officially launched its digital asset custody service on Tuesday.
“We use an immutable ledger, so you can actually say we know every change in revenue, every change in loan balances, which adds to the richness of analytics, risk, and auditability of how loan documents are created, So that’s one benefit of using blockchain. Another is really secure data sharing,” Kalamchi said.
Staircase’s latest technology works with its Loanboarding platform, which uses machine learning to extract and classify data from loan documents, and then applies quality control procedures to it.
Other automation technology Staircase offers includes technology used by private mortgage insurers to automate unauthorised MI policies in conjunction with home loans. It also provides a tool for selective pre-approval, as well as a tool to connect lenders with credit report providers. It typically charges $50 per loan, or less if Loanboarding automation is combined with the new MSR transfer technology.
“We’ve attacked loan boarding, which is a very complex and low-cost process, for MI, and MSR transfers are just a natural extension of that,” Kalamchi said.