Mid America Mortgage reports that it has completed its first e-closing and e-note through its retail origination channel.
From here, the lender intends to expand its use of e-closings to all of its retail businesses, executing e-notes and utilizing electronic documents where allowed by local jurisdiction, Mid America says in a release.
“Mid America’s vision for its future is to conduct e-closings with e-notes for all loans across all origination channels,” says Jeff Bode, president and CEO of Mid America Mortgage. “Furthermore, this strategy aligns Mid America with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s [CFPB] initiatives, as the CFPB has signaled its position that e-closing should be an option for all borrowers.”
To originate end-to-end e-mortgages, Mid America is using solutions from e-document technology firm DocMagic and e-sign technology from eSignSystems, in addition to its proprietary loan origination system, Mortgage Machine.
In addition to enabling greater efficiency and cost savings for lenders, e-closing also offers demonstrable benefits to borrowers and closing agents.
“The biggest benefit we saw from doing our closing electronically was being able to receive and review the full closing package days in advance,” reports Megan Adkins, the borrower for whom Mid America conducted its first e-closing. “Overall, the process was easy and didn’t feel too totally different from when we signed the original loan application and first set of disclosures earlier in the process.”
“From my perspective, the great thing about e-closing is, after the list of documents to sign is cleared, we know we have a properly executed closing set,” says Lisa Helmbrecht, branch manager and escrow officer with Homeland Title Co. and the closing agent for the transaction. “Plus, we didn’t have to scan or ship the documents after closing, which is a huge time- and money-saver.”
In addition to its warehouse partners, Mid America has also been working closely with MERSCORP Holdings Inc. and Fannie Mae on its e-note strategy.
“MERSCORP Holdings Inc. is pleased to see Mid America Mortgage in production with e-notes,” says Katie Paolangeli, vice president of e-commerce and industry initiatives with MERSCORP Holdings. “Their integration effort showcases what a lender, vendor and investor can accomplish when everyone is working toward the same goal. This is an important step for them and for the industry.”