An industry leader that has experienced rapid growth from acquisitions, Sovereign Bank has been recognized with best-in-class designations from Freddie Mac and Fortune magazine. Sovereign Bank is a nine-year user of the MortgageServ loan servicing platform including its integrated default and workflow management functionality.

For the past two years, Freddie Mac has honored Sovereign Bank with a Tier One rating for superior performance related to investor reporting and default. Sovereign Bancorp has also ranked in the top 10 of Fortune magazine's list of Most Admired Financial Institutions for a third consecutive year under the category of Mortgage Services. The Fortune ranking is based on innovation, financial soundness, employee talent, use of corporate assets, long-term investment value, social responsibility, quality of management and quality of products and services.

Sovereign's marketplace success and leadership position result from its ability to harness technology to streamline operations, drive down costs and facilitate growth. Its expanded footprint due to acquisitions positions the institution to become the first name in mortgages for communities ranging from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire. "Our commitment is to provide excellent service in the markets we serve. The MortgageServ platform is a great enabler for our best practices," said P. Wendell Scull, Senior Vice President of Sovereign Bank.

The realtime MortgageServ allows Sovereign to share up-to-the-minute payment status with its customers, a factor that also aids in delinquency management. "With realtime processing we're aware when a payment is even one day past due," said Scull. "Then, depending upon the customer's payment habits, we can queue a collections call. As soon as a payment has been logged, the now-current customer drops out of the queue, preventing unnecessary calls."

Earlier this year, Sovereign Bank made the decision to convert its loan origination software to Fiserv's UniFi(R) PRO Mortgage eX. "When Sovereign - a proven leader in mortgage services - recommits to using the MortgageServ platform and adds UniFi PRO Mortgage eX to harness an end-to-end Fiserv solution, it really affirms the direction we've taken our software products," said John Tenuta, President of Fiserv's Loan Management Products division.

MortgageServ and UniFi PRO Mortgage eX are offerings of Fiserv Lending Solutions, a suite of products and services provided by Fiserv to mortgage and consumer lenders. Fiserv's comprehensive lending solution set includes mortgage and auto lead generation management and customer loyalty programs, industry-leading automated valuation model (AVM) products, auto leasing solutions, mortgage banking software and services, appraisals, broker price opinions, credit reporting, closing services and default management.