Simplifying the Hunt for Mortgage Rates : Banking: Laguna Hills firm’s software lets brokers access B of A rates through a wireless computer system.
Mortgage brokers can get up-to-the-minute interest rate quotes from Bank of America and borrowers can lock in home loan rates in minutes with a new wireless computer system developed by a small Laguna Hills software company.
The nation’s second-largest bank and Strategic Communications Corp. unveiled their collaborative effort Friday at the California Assn. of Mortgage Brokers Sales and Marketing Conference in San Jose.
American Mortgage Information Exchange--Amie for short--relies on a radio-frequency modem rather than a telephone modem. It is able to give mortgage brokers and lenders in California access to current B of A rate and product information using desktop or laptop computers.
The system, in development and testing for a year, updates B of A product and pricing information directly on the broker’s computer. Once brokers make their choices for customers, they can electronically lock in an interest rate and receive immediate confirmation, thus eliminating the 24- to 48-hour time lag typical in the industry now.
In addition, brokers can use Amie for immediate updates on the status of their loans as they move through the B of A approval process. They also will be able to communicate directly with B of A by electronic mail.
Principals of the privately owned, 2-year-old Strategic Communications still must work out the charges for use of their first product. For now, the company will charge a monthly subscription fee, said John Campbell, one of the principals.
B of A expects to make Amie available to 50 California mortgage brokers within two months and to a total of 200 by year’s end. It also plans to make the system available to its broker customers in the other states where it has wholesale lending operations.
Strategic Communications, meantime, hopes to market a version to others in the mortgage industry and to adapt the software to other industries, George Champ, the company’s engineering manager, said.
