Black Knight Financial Services reports that its loan origination system (LOS), Empower, is now up-to-snuff with regard to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) new integrated disclosure rules going into effect Aug. 1.
With Empower version 5.0, lenders can begin testing their processes for getting these new integrated disclosures into borrowers' hands ahead of the implementation date. (However, it should be noted that they cannot start using the actual forms until that date).
In so doing, lenders can gain insight into how the changes will impact their operations, processes, training requirements and workflow, and will allow them to make any necessary changes.
Black Knight points out that Empower comes in both hosted and Web-based versions. Both include a Web portal solution that supports retail, wholesale and consumer direct channels and helps lenders electronically capture, process and close loans.
In addition to supporting the new forms, the new version of the LOS adds hundreds of database fields, includes new fee functionality, and offers new flexibility to allow lenders to create new automated tasks and workflows.
It also sports updated consumer and wholesale portals, tracking for the new disclosure requirements, enhanced disbursement management and updated integrations to many third-party providers, the company reports.
What's more, the new version of Empower features a task-based workflow orchestration engine to support the coordination, assignment, monitoring and processing of tasks within the system to improve operational efficiency and to mitigate risk.
Black Knight adds that the new version can be readily integrated with Closing Insight's collaborative closing portal, which aids communication among all parties involved in the closing process.
Once in production, Closing Insight will provide an electronic, workflow-driven approval process and a collaborative closing service that will streamline the reconciliation of fees for initial and final loan closing disclosures between lenders, settlement agents and other service providers. Using a proven, client-configurable rules engine, lenders will have the ability to generate and review disclosure documents, which will help them meet loan-closing timeline requirements.
‘The [new integrated disclosures] rule is, hands down, the most extensive set of regulatory changes we have seen in our industry, and the CFPB has been very clear about the ramifications of missing the Aug. 1 deadline,’ says Jerry Halbrook, president of Black Knight's origination technologies division, in a release. ‘As a result, starting back in 2013, Black Knight began work on updating Empower to give our clients the most lead time possible for preparation. We are pleased to roll out many of these capabilities now, which gives our clients several months to test these enhancements and put processes in place to become compliant with the [new rules].’