QuestSoft has announced an upgrade to its HMDA RELIEF software in preparation for the 2011 submissions. The upgrade implements new geocoding tools, including integrated support for both 2000 and 2010 Census tracts and adds additional quality control (QC) audits to prepare for regulatory exams. The primary benefit to lenders using the upgraded HMDA RELIEF is higher quality data scrubbing tools and more efficient tools for analyzing the file.
"Lenders must do more with their HMDA data than just submit an annual report," said Leonard Ryan, founder and president of QuestSoft. "HMDA RELIEF has been enhanced to provide the additional analysis needed to interpret the data, identify potential errors and better prepare for regulatory exams."
Ryan also said the addition of regulations, such as the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) quarterly call reports, means that lenders are required to use HMDA-related data year-round. To support these needs, the software now includes:
►A Geocoding Audit Summary that provides a comprehensive analysis of geocoding for the various methods used by the lender, enabling lenders to better document and support the accuracy of their data to examiners.
►LendingPatterns Pricing Analysis integration which enables lenders to import current year fair lending pricing analysis within the LendingPatterns Fair Lending module. This report includes pricing information for all loans, which facilitates mid-year analysis of potential fair lending issues by identifying loans that may be below the spread reporting threshold for pricing corrections.
►Macro Quality Edits which provide the same analysis that the Federal Reserve performs on loan data after submission. These end-of-cycle Quality Edits help to identify outliers and better prepare reports each quarter.
►Expanded Loan Application Register (LAR) reporting capabilities to help lenders filter, identify and correct errors in the familiar LAR report format in advance of each submission or audit.
Ryan said HMDA RELIEF has also introduced new and upgraded LOS interfaces, bringing the total number of integrations to the industry's top loan origination systems to 42. New interfaces include FIS' FLO and ISGN's Catapult, along with enhancements to fair lending data imports for BytePro and Ellie Mae Encompass.
HMDA RELIEF offers lenders a compliance solution with enhanced features to accurately prepare and submit HMDA data. Features include summary performance reports and rate spread analysis reports by race, ethnicity and gender. Fair lending fields are also collected and available for analysis, especially important with the Dodd-Frank legislation looming. QuestSoft's HMDA RELIEF managed the submission of roughly 25 percent of all funded applications in 2010.
QuestSoft also offers Compliance EAGLE, an automated compliance review tool that helps financial institutions evaluate loan files for adherence to the full range of mortgage lending regulations, including Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), HMDA, Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA), Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), flood determination requirements and other consumer and predatory lending laws. The company also offers CRA RELIEF, which provides banks and other lenders specific tools designed to ease the collection, analysis and reporting of CRA data.
