Fiserv Lending Solutions, a unit of Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq: FISV), has announced that Fremont Bank, a $2 billion commercial bank based in Fremont, California, is using the Fiserv easyLENDER(R) suite of loan origination and processing software products to improve its operational efficiency and accelerate the lending process.
Founded in 1964, Fremont Bank is one of the oldest locally owned and controlled community banks in the San Francisco Bay Area. The bank operates 21 retail branch offices and seven Home Finance Centers. Fremont Bank also is one of California's leading residential lenders, having closed more than $5.5 billion in first and second mortgages in 2003. In October 2003, Mortgage Banking magazine ranked Fremont Bank as the nation's 47th largest lender in origination volume. Fremont has used the Fiserv easyLENDER Mortgage and easyLENDER Consumer/Commercial software systems since 1999.
"We needed a solution that would enable us to enhance performance, integrate with automated underwriting systems, and help us manage loan processing from the point of sale through loan funding," said Scott Coburn, Director of Lending Operations for Fremont Bank. "We also needed a system that would integrate with our Fiserv ITI Premier(R) loan-servicing system."
easyLENDER has met the bank's expectations. For example, Fremont's loan-processing staff benefits from the software's built-in user-friendliness. Visually appealing screens and an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) enhance usability, speed navigation and simplify data entry. According to Coburn, easyLENDER's usability and complete lending functionality give Fremont a significant business advantage.
"By deploying a comprehensive lending solution comprised of both easyLENDER Mortgage and easyLENDER Consumer/Commercial, we've gained efficiency in training and reporting, and we've streamlined system administration," Coburn said.
Support for integrated, "end-to-end" lending is a key attribute of easyLENDER's architecture, and Fremont Bank has successfully used easyLENDER to integrate a wide range of lending systems and services--from application to processing to closing and servicing.
Today, an automated download from the bank's loan-application Web site to easyLENDER eliminates duplicate data entry and reduces the time required to input a loan and confirm its compliance with regulatory requirements. And, through easyACCESS(TM) (easyLENDER's online gateway to third-party service providers), the bank can quickly order and receive automated underwriting decisions.
To further improve internal efficiency and provide better service to Web-based borrowers, Fremont Bank is implementing Mortgagebot(R) PowerSite(R), an Internet-based, consumer-direct loan-application system. Using award-winning middleware integration jointly developed by Mortgagebot and Fiserv, the easyLENDER/PowerSite integration will automatically and seamlessly transfer a uniquely robust loan-application dataset directly into easyLENDER - with no manual re-keying of borrower information.
Borrowers will benefit from having access to full-featured, user-friendly, Web-based lending functionality, including interactive rate searches, real-time quotes, and immediate underwriting decisions. In addition, the easyLENDER/PowerSite integration enables the bank to monitor and lock rates online, receive notification of outstanding documents, and return loan-status reports to borrowers in real time.
To improve customer service at closing, Fremont Bank turned to SwiftView(R) - Fiserv partner - for electronic document delivery. SwiftView's SwiftSend(R) solution enables the Bank to virtually eliminate document courier costs by giving staff the ability to instantly transmit complete loan-document packages to closing agents, title companies, borrowers and other parties via an ultra-secure, Web-based repository.
Fremont Bank plans to further accelerate the loan process by interactively integrating easyLENDER with the bank's ITI Premier core-processing solution, its ITI Director document-imaging solution and its data-warehousing system.
"With seamless integration between easyLENDER and these systems, we expect to further reduce the time required to move a loan to servicing and we expect to lower our error ratio, both of which will help us reduce our overall cost of doing business," said Coburn.