Black Knight Financial Services (BKFS) says it has significantly enhanced its Empower loan origination system with more technology capabilities to help lenders automate many of the manual processes associated with originating a loan.
Used by six of the top 20 lenders in the U.S., Black Knight says, Empower is available as both an ASP and lender-hosted loan origination and Web portal solution that supports retail, wholesale and consumer direct channels and helps lenders electronically capture, process and close loans.
The system's new functionalities include the following:
- A new task-based orchestration engine to support the coordination, assignment, monitoring and processing of tasks within the system;
- Expansion of the income calculator to better support multiple calculation methods for various income sources;
- Validation of whether properties are located in disaster areas, so lenders can be alerted to determine if further inspection may be required;
- Integration with Black Knight's Driver, a Web-based reporting, dashboard and ad hoc query solution that accesses loan origination data in Empower to support analysis and performance metrics;
- A new consumer portal redesign with improved navigation elements and an updated user interface;
- Better integrations with mortgage insurance (MI) companies to facilitate the electronic delivery of MI packages; and
- Integration with BKFS' Quality Insight, a comprehensive loan quality tool that assesses loan data and document accuracy.
‘The new capabilities being deployed in Empower will improve the platform's ability to support the regulatory changes impacting our clients' operations and help them run their operations more efficiently,’ says Jerry Halbrook, president of Black Knight's origination technologies division.
The next generation of the loan origination platform will also provide the foundation for Black Knight to deliver system updates to help lenders meet their obligations under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) Integrated Mortgage Disclosure rule, going into effect Aug. 1, 2015.Â
‘Lenders are facing a complex new loan origination process, and this next generation of Empower equips them with enhanced automation and tighter integrations needed to support every step of the process, as well as help them better manage risk and overall loan quality," he adds.
BKFS says it is scheduled to begin deploying changes impacted by the CFPB's new Integrated Mortgage Disclosure rule by the end of the year to provide clients with several months to implement the enhancements and train their staff on the new processes.
The company adds that it is also actively monitoring and preparing for the next wave of lending industry regulatory changes, including new data requirements for the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, as well as new requirements for the Uniform Residential Loan Application.