InHouse Inc., an appraisal management company (AMC) and provider of appraiser management technology for banks, lenders, servicers, credit unions and other mortgage originators, has announced that its Connexions appraisal management system now offers a new feature for conveniently processing appraisal payments online. Through a secure online link to the Connexions Web-based software platform borrowers can directly enter their credit card or automated clearing house information to pay lenders on the system for appraisals.
The new payment processing feature notifies borrowers and lenders that payments have been approved and accepted. Also, lenders will know immediately if there are any payment issues in the appraisal process needing to be addressed and they can make appraiser payment adjustments more easily when additional work is required in an appraisal order. With the Connexions feature, lenders no longer have to manually pay appraisers and worry about possible missing invoices and delayed payments to vendors.
After accessing a borrower’s credit card payment, lenders then can pay appraisers directly on Connexions, giving them the opportunity to lower accounting expenses. And there is no need for lenders to incur the expense of setting up a payment storage plan in a separate database when processing payments on Connexions. The new payment option also enables lenders to make refunds and readjust payments for appraisals, and to address vendor-specific refund policies.
“The payment processing feature will help lenders improve their margins by giving them better control of their cash flows,” said Jennifer Creech, president of InHouse Inc. “Lenders will know immediately on Connexions what payments are coming in, which appraisers need to be paid and when they need to be paid. InHouse can hold the funds for them and handle the process from beginning to end, or lenders can set up an account in their name and be responsible for the management of the funds.”
InHouse’s Connexions platform gives financial institutions the freedom and agility to run the appraisal process in any way that works best for them, from self managing their appraiser panels, working with multiple AMCs, to a combination of both self-management and AMC outsourcing.
