The 2012 CRIF Lending Solutions Forum is Heading to Colorado Springs

Home to Pikes Peak, the U.S. Olympic Training Center, the United States Air Force Academy and many other attractions, on September 30 - October 3, 2012, Colorado Springs will also be home to the CRIF Lending Solutions Forum.

This year, we're heading west and building on our first-year Forum success with compelling keynote addresses, entertaining evening events, great networking opportunities, and informative and engaging sessions on:

 

• CRIF ACTion division loan and account origination solutions

• CRIF ACTion loan and account origination system

• APPRO LoanCenter

• Teres SAIL

• Cypress CRIF Lending Solutions' Mark IV, BIzMark and AppMark

• CRIF Achieve analytics and decision management solutions

• CRIF Select (formerly Aimbridge and FLS) business process outsourcing

• CRIF Synergy (formerly Magnum) configurable business processing

• Legslative and regulatory updates

• State of the industry discussions

Stay tuned for further details on the 2012 CRIF Lending Solutions Forum! We will be announcing our venue and registration details very soon.

Click here to learn more about the 2012 CRIF Lending Solutions Forum.

CRIF Acquires Cypress Software Systems

 Move Supports Continued Expansion of CRIF in the

Financial Services Technology Marketplace 

ATLANTA – May 2, 2011 – CRIF, a global leader in credit services, today announced that it has acquired Cypress Software Systems of North Richland Hills, Texas. The purchase of Cypress Software Systems, one of the top providers of loan origination software for community and regional banks, credit unions and financial institutions, will further expand CRIF Lending Solutions technology offerings in the U.S. and abroad. http://www.go-cypress.com

CRIF Lending Solutions is the U.S. arm of CRIF and is comprised of a team of five leading automated lending technology and services companies: Aimbridge, APPRO, FLS, Magnum and Teres. CRIF Lending Solutions is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and supports over 500 of the most successful U.S. banks, credit unions and financial institutions.

Cypress Software Systems L.P. provides an array of software and services that help financial institutions automate their loan application, underwriting and decisioning processes. These tools help institutions enhance risk management efforts, ensure regulatory compliance and decrease costs through higher lending efficiency and quality. Currently, Cypress serves more than 100 clients in the U.S and 16 other countries. 

“We are honored to have Cypress Software Systems as the newest member of the CRIF Lending Solutions family,” said CRIF Lending Solutions Division Chairman, Larry Howell. “Cypress will bring our clients a unique and powerful set of technology products and services to help them more efficiently and effectively serve their clients’ lending needs.” 

“CRIF has assembled one of the most powerful suites of financial services technology available in the marketplace,” said Stephen G. Sargent, Co-founder, President and CEO of Cypress Software Systems L.P. “We look forward to working with CRIF Lending Solutions to help banks, credit unions and other financial institutions succeed in this changing lending landscape.” 

Cypress Software Systems will become a part of the ACTion business unit of CRIF Lending Solutions along with APPRO and Teres. Cypress technology offerings will be marketed and distributed under the CRIF Lending Solutions ACTion brand of loan and account origination system products and services.  For more information, visit www.criflendingsolutions.com.  

About Cypress Software Systems

Headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas, USA, Cypress Software Systems LP is a leading developer of automated credit application decision support technology. Cypress provides community and regional banks, finance companies and credit unions with loan application decision and tracking tools equivalent to those used by the largest national lending institutions. Clients, nationwide and in 16 countries, use the company’s flagship products, Mark IV and BizMark, to quickly and consistently process consumer and small commercial loan applications. Cypress Mark IV offers a flexible, risk-based processing approach that includes tracking consumer loan applications from point of entry to point of decision. Cypress’ BizMark loan automation software processes commercial loan requests within a customer relationship management environment. Both products may be licensed in the bundled Cypress Suite and are offered in either an application service provider (ASP) or traditional business model. The company’s product line also includes AppMark, an ASP-only consumer lending solution for community banks with assets of $250 million or less.

About CRIF Lending Solutions

CRIF Lending Solutions, comprising Aimbridge, APPRO, FLS, Magnum and Teres, supports over 500 of the most successful large and small U.S. banks, credit unions, credit card processing and financial institutions. Our complete suite of solutions increases productivity and profitability and are core system and data provider independent. These comprehensive offerings include loan origination systems for consumer, business, and point of sale lending as well as business process outsourcing for indirect lending, data aggregation, analytics and account opening. With over $100 million dollars in equity, CRIF Lending Solutions is part of CRIF, a global company specializing in the development and management of decision support systems worldwide. 

About CRIF

CRIF is a global company specializing in the development and management of credit reporting, business information and decision support systems. Established in 1988 in Bologna (Italy), CRIF has an international presence, operating over four continents (Europe, America, Africa and Asia). The company supports banks and financial institutions, insurance companies, utilities and general businesses in every phase of client relations. 

CRIF is currently the leading group in continental Europe in the field of banking credit information and one of the main operators on an international level concerning integrated services for business & commercial information and for credit & marketing management. More than 1,700 banks and financial institutions all over the world use CRIF services on a daily basis.

For additional information, please contact communication@crif.com or visit www.crif.com. 

Media Contacts:

Kevin Fleetwood
CRIF Lending Solutions
k.fleetwood@criflending.com
770.835.2257

Liz McBrayer
CRIF Lending Solutions
l.mcbrayer@criflending.com
770.835.2214

NADA Updates Auto Valuation Due to Impact from Japan's Earthquake

The earthquake and ensuing tsunami off the coast of Japan on March 11th, and the subsequent damage to the Fukushima Nuclear plant have caused a variety of automobile assembly and parts plants to suspend operations, interrupting the supply of vehicles and vehicle parts for export to the US Market.  As the news out of Japan developed over the last two weeks, it has become apparent that the already lean vehicle supply in early 2011 faces further reductions due to manufacturing interruptions abroad and here in the United States. 

Both the wholesale and retail markets have reacted to this news with increased sale prices.  Due to several rapidly-evolving global events, NADA has made an unprecedented decision to update many vehicle values for the April 2011 edition of the NADA Official Used Car Guide after our original values initially produced for April had been sent to our printer for publication. 

NADA's intention is to adjust vehicle values on vehicles affected by these events to best reflect current market conditions based on both the latest sales data we have collected and on our projections for the month of April. 

The newly updated values will be available in all of NADA's electronic products and databases and may differ from the values seen in our printed NADA Official Used Car Guide.  The values from their electronic products and data integration tools should be used instead of the values printed in the Official Used Car Guide if those values differ.  NADA will make PDF versions of the updated values available to all customers of the printed version of the Used Car Guide.

 

Federal Reserve Proposes New Regs for Dodd-Frank Act

This is still in a proposed state for a new Adverse Action Letter and revised Risk Based Pricing Notice

        

Release Date:  March 1, 2011

The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Trade   Commission (FTC) on Tuesday proposed regulations regarding the credit score disclosure requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The statute requires creditors to disclose credit scores and related information to consumers in risk-based pricing and adverse action notices under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) if a credit score was used in setting the credit terms or taking adverse action.

The Board proposes to amend Regulation V (Fair Credit Reporting) to revise the content requirements for risk-based pricing notices and to add related model forms to reflect the new credit score disclosure requirements. The Board is issuing this proposal jointly with the FTC.

The Board also proposes to amend certain model notices in Regulation B (Equal Credit Opportunity), which combine the adverse action notice requirements for both Regulation B and the FCRA. The proposed amendments would revise the model notices to incorporate the new credit score disclosure requirements.

Public comments on the proposed rules under Regulations V and B are due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, which is expected shortly.

The notices for the two proposed rules are attached.

Attachment #1

Attachment #2

 

Community Banks Prepare to Expand Mortgage Presence

                              

 

As the U.S. government struggles to scale back housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, community and smaller banks are preparing to expand their mortgage presence. It is not yet known what the government will do with the two government sponsored enterprises, as they currently guarantee more than half of all U.S. mortgages.

 

Executive Vice President of the American Bankers Association Robert Davis says the best way to help return the mortgage industry to profitability and make it more attractive to the private-sector is to raise guaranty fees. These fees currently max out at 25 basis points, but Davis argues that the rates should be raised to 50 marginal basis points so that private lenders and banks can compete and eventually take over the business.

 

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has asked Congress to overhaul the housing market in the next two years, but Davis claims it will take five to seven years for the government to slowly withdraw from the industry. "Those entities have to be managed in such a way as to put capital back into the market," says Davis.

From "Small Banks Prepare for Housing Reform"
The Street (03/06/11) Woehr, Maria

 

 

Cypress Software Systems provides financial institutions with loan automation software solutions. Our flexible and secure deployment options serve a growing client base of multi-national, super-regional, regional and community banks, finance companies and credit unions that produce anywhere from 100 to 20,000-plus consumer and small business credit applications per month. Whether you want software as a service, behind-the-firewall technology, a .NET system or another solution, Cypress offers the choices – and quality – you can always bank on. 

FDIC Lowers Assessments for Community Banks

Assessment Base Change Keeps Money Where It Belongs... In the Community The FDIC board of directors approved an ICBA-advocated final plan to impose parity in the deposit-insurance system and save community banks billions of dollars over the coming years. The agency’s final rule to base the assessment base on average total consolidated assets minus average tangible equity instead of domestic deposits will lower assessments for 98 percent of community banks with less than $10 billion in assets, saving them an estimated $4.5 billion over the next three years. This newly approved rate schedule would go into effect during the second quarter of 2011. ICBA was the only national banking trade association to support the new deposit-insurance system and has long advocated for the change. The association thanks its affiliated state and regional community banking associations and the nation’s community banks for their hard work in advocating for the new system. “ICBA led the charge throughout the Wall Street reform debate to create fairness within the deposit-insurance system,” said ICBA Chairman Jim MacPhee. Under the final rule, institutions with less than $1 billion in assets can report average weekly balances of their consolidated total assets rather than reporting average daily balances. The final rule will also allow institutions with less than $1 billion in average consolidated total assets to report the end-of-quarter amount of Tier 1 capital as a proxy for average tangible equity. Bankers’ banks also will have a modified assessment base. They will be able to deduct from the assessment base the sum of their average balances due from the Federal Reserve Banks (reserve balances) plus their average federal funds sold. Click here for the FDIC Future Assessment Calculator.

 

Cypress Software Systems provides financial institutions with loan automation software solutions. Our flexible and secure deployment options serve a growing client base of multi-national, super-regional, regional and community banks, finance companies and credit unions that produce anywhere from 100 to 20,000-plus consumer and small business credit applications per month. Whether you want software as a service, behind-the-firewall technology, a .NET system or another solution, Cypress offers the choices – and quality – you can always bank on.

Dodd-Frank Repeal Proposed... Can It Be Passed?

Congresswomen Bachmann has made a bold bid to end the sweeping financial reform bill.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota, has introduced legislation, H.R. 87, to repeal the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. "Dodd-Frank grossly expanded the federal government beyond its jurisdictional boundaries," Bachmann said in a statement. "It gave Washington bureaucrats the power to interpret and enforce the legislation with little oversight. Dodd-Frank also failed to address the taxpayer-funded liabilities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in loan origination. Real financial regulatory reform must deal with these lenders who were a leading cause of our economic recession. True reform must also end the bailout mindset that was perpetuated by the last Congress. I am proud to work towards repeal of Dodd-Frank because Congress must protect the taxpayers, instead of handing out favors to Wall Street."

Bachmann's bill has been endorsed by four other Republican Congressmen: Darrell Issa, Todd Akin, Tom McClintock and Bill Posey.

Barney Frank, co-author of the Dodd-Frank bill, countered in a statement that the repeal's sponsors "yearn to return to the thrilling days of yesteryear, so the loan arrangers can ride again -- untrammeled by any rules restraining irresponsibility, excess, deception, and most of all, infinite leverage."

But Bachmann argued in a letter to Congressmen seeking support, "It is plain hubris to think that this government, with its $14 trillion dollar debt, annual deficits, and wasteful spending, is worthy of this plenipotentiary oversight."

It's possible that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives could pass this repeal, which would roll back a tidal wave of new rules for banks. But in the Democrat-heavy Senate, it's hard to imagine it getting through.

By Penny Crosman More

 

HMDA Threshold up to $40 million in 2011

The Federal Reserve Board has stated that mortgage lenders with assets up to $40 million as of December 31, 2010 will be exempt from Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data collection in 2011.

Exempt institutions are not required to maintain mortgage loan/registers for the year in which their exemption applies. In 2011, most mortgage lenders that have more than $40 million in assets as of December 31, 2010 and are located in metropolitan areas will be required to keep the registers and submit them by March 1, 2012, to their federal regulators.

HMDA, implemented by the Fed’s Regulation C, requires most federally regulated lenders above the exemption level and that operate branches in MSAs to collect, report and disclose data regarding applications, originations and purchases of home purchase loans, home improvement loans and refinancings.

In 2010, institutions with up to $39 million in assets as of Dec. 31, 2009, were exempt from the data collection requirement. The Fed’s revised exemption threshold (will link to rule) for 2011 will be published soon in the Federal Register.

Future changes in HMDA reporting under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act adds 12 data fields to the loan/application registers, but these won’t take effect until the January that follows issuance of a final rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. There has been no proposed rule.

 

Congress Approves IOLTA in TAG Extension

Late yesterday, the United States Senate acted on H.R. 6398 adding Interest on Lawyer’s Trust Accounts (IOLTA) to the 2-year extension of the Transaction Account Guarantee Program.  The legislation, which the House passed on November 30^th, was approved in the Senate by unanimous consent.  The Dodd Frank Act’s extension of the TAG Program did not include IOLTA.  Assuming the President signs the legislation, IOLTAs will be eligible for unlimited insurance protection during the two year extension.   IBAT and ICBA advocated this legislation.

A recent FDIC rule required banks participating in the TAG Program to disclose that IOLTAs are no longer eligible for unlimited insurance protection.  In the rule, the FDIC said that if Congress passed this legislation, it would act quickly to tell banks how to comply with the disclosure requirements.

For now, with respect to compliance, if your bank can segregate its IOLTA accounts, it might decide to send the disclosure to its other noninterest-bearing transaction account customers.  If your bank can’t segregate its IOLTA accounts, it probably should wait for the FDIC to issue something.  If you have already sent the disclosure to your IOLTA customers and subject NOW account depositors, you’ll probably want to wait for the FDIC to advise you on the next steps.

Banking Industry Requests Delay of TILA-RESPA Integration

The Mortgage Bankers Association, American Bankers Association, and six other trade groups representing the financial services sector recently sent a letter to Obama Administration policy makers calling for a delay in considering improved disclosures for mortgage borrowers under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).

The letter, addressed to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expresses concern that the government's intention to combine two disclosures into a single integrated document may be one change too many for financial institutions to manage in the current environment. 

The writers applaud the actions of the Federal Reserve and HUD to improve disclosures to borrowers and states that integrating them into a single document will greatly increase transparency and consumer understanding of the mortgage transaction, but states that the government must realize that the initiative, which is currently being managed by Special Advisor to the President, Elizabeth Warren and Treasury staff, is coming "in the midst of a surfeit of proposed and final regulations that require fundamental changes to the mortgage finance business model and a generation of systems which support it." 

Attached to the letter was a list of 28 rules affecting TILA, RESPA, loan officer compensation, the SAFE Act and other regulations that are in various stages ranging from proposal to comment to upcoming compliance deadlines.  The associations state that these "have stretched thin the compliance capabilities of financial institutions.  If these efforts are not coordinated, they state that the cumulative burden will "threaten the availability of housing finance options, and it will also be difficult for stakeholders to provide input to these changes.