System and method for processing a loan

• US 7,653,592 B1
• Filed: 12/30/2005
• Issued: 01/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fannie Mae
• Original Assignee: Fannie Mae
• Inventors: Kobus, Anne M. Murphy, Koch, Michael W., Plofchan, Peter G., Pomeroy, Richard C., Flaxman, David R., Tantoco-Hobbs, Minerva L., Packer, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamilton; Lalita M
• Application Number:
  US11/322,734
• Time in Patent Office: 1,488 Days
• Field of Search: 708/35, 708/38, 705/35, 705/38, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A computer-implemented mortgage loan application data processing system comprises user interface logic and a workflow engine. The user interface logic is configured to receive mortgage loan application data for a mortgage loan application from a borrower. The workflow engine has stored therein a list representing tasks that need to be performed in connection with the mortgage loan application, including tasks for fulfillment of underwriting conditions. The workflow engine is configured to cooperate with the user interface logic to prompt the borrower to perform the tasks. The system is configured to provide the borrower with a fully-verified approval for the mortgage loan application. The fully-verified approval indicates that the mortgage loan application data received from the borrower has already been verified as accurate using information from trusted sources. The mortgage loan application may then be provided to different lenders with the different lenders being able to authenticate the fully-verified approval status.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented mortgage loan application data processing system comprising:

a machine; and

a memory having machine-executable instructions stored therein, the machine executing the instructions, the machine and instructions in combination implementing

user interface logic, the user interface logic being accessible by a borrower, the user interface logic being configured to receive mortgage loan application data for a mortgage loan application from the borrower;

a casefile data service configured to create a casefile identification number associated with the mortgage loan application and store the mortgage loan application data in a database, the casefile identification number usable to retrieve the mortgage loan application data from the database; and

a workflow engine, the workflow engine having stored a list representing tasks that need to be performed in connection with a mortgage loan application for a mortgage loan for the borrower, the tasks including tasks for fulfillment of underwriting conditions generated by an automated underwriting engine, the workflow engine being configured to cooperate with the user interface logic to prompt the borrower to perform the tasks represented in the list including the tasks for the fulfillment of the underwriting conditions;

wherein the system is configured to provide the borrower with a fully-verified approval for the mortgage loan application, the fully-verified approval indicating that the mortgage loan application data received from the borrower has already been verified as accurate using information from trusted sources, and the fully-verified approval being provided in a form that allows the mortgage loan application to be provided to different lenders with the different lenders being able to authenticate the fully-verified approval status of the mortgage loan application;

wherein the fully-verified approval pre-designates the mortgage loan application as being in immediate condition to be used to originate a mortgage loan that has been predetermined by a secondary mortgage market participant to be salable to the secondary mortgage market participant with no further documentation being required in order to fulfill the underwriting conditions, and wherein the automated underwriting engine that generates the underwriting conditions is provided by the secondary mortgage market participant; and

wherein the fully-verified approval comprises an authentication code provided to the borrower, the authentication code indicating the fully-verified approval status of the mortgage loan application and being useable by the different lenders to authenticate the fully-verified approval status of the mortgage loan application.

2. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the information from the trusted sources is received by way of a trusted information repository, the trusted information repository storing financial information for the borrower, including information from an employer of the borrower, information from credit agencies, and tax information for the borrower.

3. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the user interface logic is accessible to the borrower by way of the Internet.

4. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the system is configured to generate a data file that comprises the mortgage loan application and the authentication code.

5. A system as defined in claim 4, wherein the data file further comprises documents required to fulfill the underwriting conditions, and wherein the information from the trusted sources is embodied in the documents.

6. A system as defined in claim 5, wherein the user interface logic is configured to transmit the data file to a plurality of lenders.

7. A system as defined in claim 6, wherein the user interface logic is configured to receive bids responsive to the data file from the plurality of lenders.

9. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the user interface logic is configured to provide the borrower with screen displays comprising document checklists advising the borrower what documents are needed to complete the loan application.

10. A system as defined in claim 9, wherein the user interface logic is configured to provide the borrower with tools accessible by the borrower to upload documents required pursuant to the underwriting findings and to transcribe data from the documents into alphanumeric format.

11. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the automated underwriting engine is customizable by the different lenders to include lender-specific underwriting rules for underwriting mortgage loan applications.

8. A system as defined in 7,

wherein the system is associated with a third party intermediary, the third party intermediary being different than the plurality of lenders from which the bids are received and being different than the secondary mortgage market participant associated with the automated underwriting engine.

12. A computer-implemented mortgage loan data processing system, comprising:

a machine; and

a memory having machine-executable instructions stored therein, the machine executing the instructions, the machine and instructions in combination implementing

a workflow engine having stored therein a list representing tasks that need to be performed in connection with a mortgage loan application for a mortgage loan for a borrower, the tasks including tasks for fulfillment of underwriting conditions generated by an automated underwriting engine;

a service ordering engine configured to order services from service providers in connection with the mortgage loan application;

borrower user interface logic configured to provide a borrower user interface accessible to the borrower by way of the Internet, the borrower user interface being configured to receive the mortgage loan application data from the borrower and to provide the borrower with access to the workflow engine, the borrower user interface being configured to provide one or more display screens configured to

provide the borrower with information concerning the underwriting conditions,

prompt the borrower to perform the tasks for the fulfillment of the underwriting conditions generated by the automated underwriting engine,

provide the borrower with tools to upload documents required to fulfill the underwriting conditions, and

provide the borrower with tools to access the service ordering engine to order the services from the service providers; and

a casefile data service configured to create a casefile identification number associated with the mortgage loan application and store the mortgage loan application data in a database, the casefile identification number usable to retrieve the mortgage loan application data from the database;

wherein the system is configured to provide the borrower with a full-documentation approval for the mortgage loan application, the full-documentation approval indicating that the mortgage loan application is fully-verified and that no further documentation is required to fulfill underwriting conditions, the full-documentation approval being provided in a form that allows the mortgage loan application to be provided to different lenders with the different lenders being able to authenticate the full-documentation approval status of the mortgage loan application;

wherein the full-documentation approval pre-designates the mortgage loan application as being in immediate condition to be used to originate a mortgage loan that has been predetermined by a secondary mortgage market participant to be salable to the secondary mortgage market participant,

wherein the automated underwriting engine that generates the underwriting conditions is provided by the secondary mortgage market participant; and

wherein the full-documentation approval comprises an authentication code provided to the borrower, the authentication code indicating the full-documentation approval status of the mortgage loan application and being useable by the different lenders to authenticate the full-documentation approval status of the mortgage loan application.

13. A system as defined in claim 12, wherein the information is income verification information, and wherein the documents are income verification documents.

14. A system as defined in claim 12, wherein the borrower user interface is configured to provide the borrower with document checklists advising the borrower what documents are needed to complete the loan application.

15. A system as defined in claim 12, wherein the automated underwriting engine is customizable by the different lenders to include lender-specific underwriting rules for underwriting mortgage loan applications.

16. A computer-implemented mortgage loan application data processing method comprising:

providing a borrower access to user interface logic, the user interface logic being configured to collect mortgage loan application data from the borrower for a mortgage loan application, the user interface logic being implemented by a machine having a processor and machine-executable instructions executed by the processor;

generating a casefile identification number associated with the mortgage loan application;

storing the casefile identification number in a computer-implemented database;

processing the mortgage loan application for the borrower using a workflow engine, the mortgage loan application being processed in accordance with user inputs received from the borrower via the user interface logic, the workflow engine including a memory having stored therein a list representing tasks that need to be performed in connection with the mortgage loan application, the tasks including tasks for fulfillment of the underwriting conditions, the workflow engine being implemented by the machine having the processor and machine-executable instructions executed by the processor; and

providing the borrower with a fully-verified approval for the mortgage loan application, the fully-verified approval indicating that the mortgage loan application data received from the borrower has already been verified as accurate using information from trusted sources, the fully-verified approval being provided in a form that allows the borrower to provide the mortgage loan application to different lenders with the different lenders being able to authenticate the fully-verified approval status of the mortgage loan application;

wherein the fully-verified approval pre-designates the mortgage loan application as being in immediate condition to be used to originate a mortgage loan that has been predetermined by a secondary mortgage market participant to be salable to the secondary mortgage market participant with no further documentation being required in order to fulfill the underwriting conditions, and wherein the automated underwriting engine that generates the underwriting conditions is provided by the secondary mortgage market participant; and

wherein the fully-verified approval comprises an authentication code provided to the borrower, the authentication code indicating the fully-verified approval status of the mortgage loan application and being useable by the different lenders to authenticate the fully-verified approval status of the mortgage loan application.

17. A method as defined in claim 16, further comprising providing the borrower with document checklists advising the borrower what documents are needed to complete the loan application.

18. A method as defined in claim 17, further comprising providing the borrower with instructions for submitting the documents in the document checklists.

19. A method as defined in claim 16, further comprising generating a data file comprising the mortgage loan application and the authentication code indicating the fully-verified approval status of the mortgage loan application, transmitting the data file to a plurality of different mortgage lenders, and receiving bids from the plurality of different mortgage lenders for the mortgage loan application responsive to the data file.

20. A method as defined in claim 19, wherein the bids are all-in bids reflecting total closing costs for the mortgage loan application.

21. A computer-implemented mortgage loan application data processing system comprising:

a machine; and

a memory having machine-executable instructions stored therein, the machine executing the instructions, the machine and instructions in combination implementing

(A) user interface logic, the user interface logic being accessible by a borrower by way of the Internet, the user interface logic being configured to receive mortgage loan application data for a mortgage loan application from a borrower; and

(B) a workflow engine, the workflow engine having stored a list representing tasks that need to be performed in connection with a mortgage loan application for a mortgage loan for a borrower, the tasks including tasks for fulfillment of underwriting conditions generated by an automated underwriting engine associated with a secondary mortgage market participant, the workflow engine being configured to cooperate with the user interface logic to prompt the borrower to perform the tasks represented in the list including the tasks for the fulfillment of the underwriting conditions;

(C) a service ordering engine, the service ordering engine being coupled to a plurality of service providers by way of way of a network, the service ordering engine being configured to order services from the service providers in connection with the mortgage loan application by way of the Internet; and

(D) a casefile data service configured to create a casefile identification number associated with the mortgage loan application and store the mortgage loan application data in a database, the casefile identification number usable to retrieve the mortgage loan application data from the database;

wherein the user interface logic is configured to (i) provide the borrower with screen displays comprising document checklists advising the borrower what the documents are required to complete the loan application pursuant to the underwriting findings, (ii) provide the borrower with tools accessible by the borrower to upload the documents required to complete the application, and (iii) provide the borrower with access to the service ordering engine to order the services from the service providers in connection with the mortgage loan application;

wherein the system is configured to provide the borrower with a fully-verified approval for the mortgage loan application, the fully-verified approval indicating (i) that the mortgage loan application data received from the borrower has already been verified as accurate using information from trusted sources, the trusted sources comprising the documents provided by the borrower, and (ii) that no further verification documentation is required in order to fulfill the underwriting conditions, the fully-verified approval pre-designating the mortgage loan application as being in immediate condition to be used to originate a mortgage loan that has been predetermined to be salable to the secondary mortgage market

participant with no further documentation being required in order to fulfill the underwriting conditions;

wherein the system is configured to generate a data file that comprises the mortgage loan application, the documents required to fulfill the underwriting conditions, and an authentication code, the authentication code indicating the fully verified approval status of the mortgage loan application and being useable by a plurality of different lenders to authenticate the fully-verified approval status of the mortgage loan application;

wherein the information comprises income verification information for the borrower and the documents are income verification documents.

22. A computer-implemented data processing system for managing processing of mortgage loan applications, comprising:

a machine; and

a memory having machine-executable instructions stored therein, the machine executing the instructions, the machine and instructions in combination implementing

(A) an underwriting engine, the underwriting engine being configured to receive mortgage loan application data pertaining to a mortgage loan application for a mortgage loan for a borrower, the underwriting engine being configured to generate underwriting findings including underwriting conditions for the mortgage loan application;

(B) task manager logic, the task manager logic being configured to receive the underwriting findings from the automated underwriting engine, the task manager logic comprising rules logic including

(1) underwriting rules, the underwriting rules being useable to process the underwriting findings to generate a list representing tasks that need to be performed in connection with the mortgage loan application, and

(2) lender rules, the lender rules comprising lender-specific rules for processing the underwriting findings to configure which tasks are represented in the list in accordance with lender preferences;

(C) a workflow engine, the workflow engine being configured to receive the list from the task manager logic, the workflow engine being configured to prompt the borrower user to perform the tasks represented in the list and to track completion of the tasks represented in the list;

(D) a service ordering engine, the service ordering engine being connected to a plurality of different service providers by way of the Internet, the service providers being entities that perform services in connection with mortgage loan applications, the service ordering engine being configured to order services from the service providers in connection with the mortgage loan application;

(E) data capture services logic, the data capture services logic comprising logic for capturing data associated with documents received in connection with the mortgage loan application, the documents being received responsive to the tasks, the data capture services logic being configured to associate documents received from the service providers with the mortgage loan application;

(F) integration logic, the integration logic being configured to receive additional tasks from other sources such that the additional tasks may be integrated with the list generated based on the underwriting findings;

(G) user interface logic, the user interface logic including web-to-workflow engine middle tier logic, the middle tier logic being configured to provide a borrower user interface accessible to the borrower by way of the Internet, the borrower user interface being configured to cooperate with the workflow engine to prompt the borrower to perform the tasks represented in the list, the borrower user interface comprising screen displays which prompt the borrower to perform the tasks represented in the list, the screen displays prompting the borrower to perform the tasks by displaying the tasks and displaying status information for the tasks, the borrower user interface being accessible to the borrower to permit the borrower to perform the tasks represented in the list, and the borrower user interface being configured to access the service ordering engine to order a service in connection with the mortgage loan application; and

(H) a casefile data service configured to create a casefile identification number associated with the mortgage loan application and store the mortgage loan application data in a database, the casefile identification number usable to retrieve the mortgage loan application data from the database;

wherein the system is configured to provide the borrower with a full-documentation approval for the mortgage loan application, the full-documentation approval indicating that no further documentation is required to fulfill the underwriting conditions, the full-documentation approval being provided in a form that allows the mortgage loan application to be provided to different lenders with the different lenders being able to authenticate the full-documentation approval status of the mortgage loan application;

wherein the full-documentation approval indicates that the mortgage loan application data received from the borrower has been verified as accurate using information from trusted sources, the trusted sources including documents provided by the borrower, the full documentation including an authentication code indicating the full-documentation approval status of the mortgage loan application and being useable by the different lenders to authenticate the fully-verified approval status of the mortgage loan application;

wherein the information includes income verification information and the documents include income verification documents.