National Loan Auditors (NLA) has formed strategic alliances with two companies — Rapid Reporting and PLATINUMdata Solutions, Inc.– adding their cutting edge information technology solutions to US Court Audit™, the comprehensive, forensic analysis of mortgage loan files NLA has designed for participants in the bankruptcy process.
“Our alliances with these two innovative industry leaders add important and valuable dimensions to US Court Audit™,” August Blass, founder and CEO of NLA, said. Based on NLA’s nationally recognized Forensic Loan Audit Pro™, US Court Audit™ provides a detailed, independent analysis of loans and the underwriting process, identifying violations of state and federal laws and regulations by lenders, and uncovering evidence of fraud or other improprieties by home buyers, Blass explained. The audit includes a bottom-line recommendation for loan modification terms, providing a framework for negotiations between debtors’ and lenders’ counsel and a benchmark bankruptcy judges can use in evaluating modification requests.
“Verifications of the borrower’s information (provided by Rapid Reporting) and a current estimate of the property’s value (provided by PLATINUMdata Solutions, Inc.) are key components of both the loan analysis and the modification recommendations we make,” Blass noted.
PLATINUMdata’s collateral assessment tool, “Collateral Expert™” is a sophisticated automated collateral method that provides a real-time analysis of the subject and it’s comparables in the vicinity as well as market information, including declining value indicators. The analysis includes foreclosure activity and “Notice of Default” (NOD) data for the neighborhood, along with extensive comparable sales information — all updated weekly. Going well beyond any other standard collateral automation, Collateral Expert™ also spots crucial neighborhood details the original appraisal may have overlooked or excluded, verifies owner occupancy status, identifies relationships between buyers and sellers, and flags possible property flips and other illegal activities.
“With Collateral Expert™, we are able to give users of US Court Audit™ the most detailed and most accurate analysis of property values and market information available today,” Blass said.
“The idea behind US Court Audit™ is to provide a completely objective analysis and Collateral Expert™ fits perfectly with that goal,” Terry Cabaniss, assistant vice president for production at PLATINUMdata, said. “Like the loan audit itself, our property and market assessments are completely objective. The multiple data points on the Collateral Expert™ reports are provided from PLATINUMdata as a true third party conduit for collateral valuations” she added, “and the numbers and data don’t lie.”
Rapid Reporting focuses on the borrower side of the loan transaction. The company’s signature products — Direct Check and Income Check — “have made Rapid Reporting the acknowledged leader in mortgage fraud prevention efforts,” Blass said. “That’s why we are so excited about adding these premier identity, income and employment verification tools to the US Court Audit™ arsenal.”
Direct Check supplements Social Security number matches with information compiled from more than 150 proprietary databases encompassing 15 billion public and private records, making it the most comprehensive and definitive identity verification tool available. Income Check combines information from IRS taxpayer transcripts with merged reports from three major credit reporting agencies.
“We believe early authentication is the key to preventing mortgage fraud ” Jay Meadows, president and chief executive officer of Rapid Reporting, said. “We know that mortgage fraud contributed to the financial problems we’re seeing today,” he continued. “By adding our service to US Court Audit™, we can help ensure that these fraudulent activities won’t be repeated in the loan modification and bankruptcy process.”
The premier provider of forensic loan audits to financial institutions and attorneys nationwide, NLA created US Court Audit™ to address the anticipated surge in bankruptcy-related demands for court-ordered mortgage “cram downs” resulting from pending legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to modify mortgage loans as part of the Chapter 13 bankruptcy restructuring process.
But regardless of whether this legislation is approved, Blass noted, pressure for loan modifications will increase, encouraged both by the Obama Administration’s home owner assistance initiatives and by the efforts of struggling consumers to save their homes. “Lenders, servicers and homeowners are going to be dueling over loan modifications for some time to come,” Blass said, “and the independent, comprehensive analysis provided by US Court Audit™ will be an essential negotiating tool, equally useful to both sides.”
The strategic alliances with Rapid Reporting and PlatinumData follow NLA’s recent announcement of an alliance with SigniaDocs, which provides electronic document preparation and quality control management solutions for the residential mortgage industry.
“NLA’s alliances with these three companies — all innovative leaders in their fields — provide the information and technology building blocks that will make US Court Audit™ a uniquely valuable tool, both within the bankruptcy process and outside of it,” Blass said. “We’re providing what amounts to a loan modification in a box,” he added. “The audit includes all the information attorneys representing lenders, servicers and borrowers need to negotiate a modification solution for their clients, and it provides the objective analysis bankruptcy judges need to quickly review or order loan modifications, so they can clear crowded court dockets and provide the expeditious, equitable relief all parties in a bankruptcy proceeding are seeking.”
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