Solidifi U.S., a leader in “full fee” appraisal services, has announced the Solidifi CoverageMAX and Solidifi CoveragePLUS insurance programs to provide mortgage lenders and their investors unprecedented assurances of appraisal quality and value accuracy. The new programs are designed to specifically address weaknesses in previous appraisal insurance coverage concepts that have been tried without significant success in protecting lenders and those who buy their loans.
Working with A.M. Best ‘A’ (Excellent) rated insurer, Companion Specialty Insurance Group, and Wells Fargo Special Risks Inc., Solidifi has created two flexible representation and warranty programs that address the risk mitigation concerns of mortgage lenders and their investors. The process starts with the highest possible quality appraisal, enabled by Solidifi’s renowned approach of paying full fees to its appraisers and attracting the most qualified professionals to perform the valuations. Then a coverage level is selected based on the needs of the lender and its investors:
►Solidifi CoverageMAX protects lenders against loss incurred on foreclosures and most repurchase requests caused by valuation inaccuracies, and is available for virtually all loan types at various levels of LTV, credit score and loan amount.
►Solidifi CoveragePLUS protects lenders against losses incurred on repurchases and foreclosures similarly, but with some limitations and lower premiums.
Solidifi’s new coverages are portable, so investors and other assignees are protected. Most of the other appraisal warranty programs in the U.S. market today are self-insured or non-transferable to the holders of the security after origination. CoverageMAX and CoveragePLUS are also designed to reduce the barriers in claiming losses that have made previous insurance programs all but irrelevant.
“When you look at the other appraisal insurance concepts out there, you realize that they leave investors with little or no coverage at all,” says Griff Straw, president of Solidifi U.S. “These highly affordable programs have the combined result of protecting lenders from losses caused by faulty appraisals and covering those who buy their loans, too. They provide new levels of confidence in mortgages to the capital markets system, and will help bring greater liquidity to the industry.”
Straw also points out that the introduction of these two products serves to validate Solidifi’s philosophy of paying full fees to the best appraisers rather than assigning work to the lowest bidder, a consistent sore point for lenders using appraisal management companies to comply with appraiser independence mandates.
“Our quality is measurable and quantifiable as demonstrated in recent benchmarks with national appraisal management companies,” said Straw. “This is a validation of something we’ve been saying for a long time, that paying the appraiser his full fee creates tangible quality improvements that are recognized by the industry.”
For more information, visit www.solidifi.com.
