| 9.5 Million Loans Underwritten by Loan Prospector in 2003
Freddie Mac says technology touched 2.6% of all mortgages last year February 10, 2004 By MortgageDaily.com staff |
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| One of the country’s secondary lenders says its technology helped underwrite 2.6 percent of the mortgage industry’s loans in 2003.
Freddie Mac recently announced that Loan Prospector — its automated underwriting system — assessed a milestone 9.5 million individual mortgage loans in 2003, up from 8.2 million the prior year. “It’s no surprise that technology, including automated underwriting, enabled the industry to handle record mortgage volumes,” said vice president Marcia Davies in the announcement. “The industry originated three times the volume during the 2001-2003 refinancing boom than it did during the refi boom of the early 1990s.” With Loan Prospector, lenders input a borrower’s credit, loan and property information and the system provides risk assessment based on the past performance of loans with similar characteristics, said the McLean, Va.-based company. Since its launch in 1995 — when it reviewed 38,248 loans and three years later 2.07 million — the system has reportedly handled over 35 million individual mortgage loans.
“Now that the refi boom is over and the industry is operating in a purchase mortgage market, lenders are focusing on new ways to source loans,” added Davies. “The speed of Loan Prospector’s decisions enables lenders to spend less time processing a loan application, while increasing their time to spend with potential customers and help homebuyers to get the mortgage that best meets their needs.” Although the government sponsored housing enterprise is touting record annual Loan Prospector activity, recent activity has fallen significantly. Freddie reported December new business purchases of $44.2 billion — the worst level in eighteen months. |
