The eMortgage Alliance unites the capabilities of DocuTech, Wave Systems, VirPack, SwiftView and Rekon Technologies, to enable customers to produce an eMortgage today.  The eMortgage Alliance's members each specialize in separate steps of the mortgage process, including the creation of SMART Docs, eSigning, ePackaging, eMessaging, eRecording, and eVaulting.

"With these leading companies working together," said Tim Anderson, executive vice president of eMortgage Solutions at DocuTech, "customers have all the tools they need to effectively produce an eMortgage today.  Whether going completely paperless, the traditional paper-based route, or any variation in between, customers can leverage the capabilities of the eMortgage Alliance to automate traditional paper-based processes and eliminate steps, offer a competitive advantage, better service and lower operational costs."

MISMO's recent release of new industry guidelines and recommendations for eMortgages provides a foundation for lenders to evaluate eMortgage services and technology to offer a better way of doing business.  The new eMortgage Alliance reports its immediate ability to support and implement a complete eMortgage solution that meets the new MISMO guidelines.

"DocuTech and Wave have been involved in eMortgages for many years," said Jim Horne, Vice President of Financial Services at Wave Systems.   "We've been waiting for the industry to set standards that validate our technology and allow us to move forward with implementation.  Now that MISMO has done that, we're coming out with an end-to-end solution involving those vendors who can support the requirements and deliver a viable answer that turns all the e-talk into action."

As experts in the industry gather to consider technology options, the benefits of eMortgages that are completely or even partially electronic become clear.   According to first-half results from the 2002 MBA/Stratmor Peer Group Roundtable study, lenders are spending between $800 and $1,000 to process, underwrite and close/fund a loan.  In addition, they are spending $130-175 to post-close, ship and put a loan through quality control.  "One of the more effective ways to reduce these costs," said Linda Simmons, Industry Consultant with the Stratmor Group, "is to reduce the need to screen the data and documents and enhance the means to keep data and documents in sync and deliverable simultaneously.   The answer is eMortgages and SMART Docs."

"Many lenders are ready to jump on board with the eMortgage process," said Mr. Anderson.  "They realize the potential advantages in reduced costs and increased accuracy, but they're having difficulty finding vendors who are ready to implement the changes necessary to make it a reality today."

Founding members DocuTech and Wave have been evaluating companies' technology solutions and working toward an alliance for months, emphasizing the need for a team effort to make the electronic dream come true.  DocuTech has utilized its team of expert XML engineers to create an enterprise solution that delivers compliant SMART Docs for all production channels and all mortgage products in all 50 states.  Wave Systems adds its expertise through an eSignature and eVaulting solution for digital signing, tracking, storing and receiving electronic documents.

Other alliance members include SwiftView, handling electronic delivery of mortgage document packages; VirPack, offering ePackaging, bar code, imaging, eDelivery and management systems; and Rekon technologies, providing a platform solution for electronic county recordings of releases and satisfactions.

"The key to this alliance," said Ty Jenkins, CEO of DocuTech, "is that a lender can pick and choose any part of the process that they want to automate today.  We understand that making the move to eMortgages is typically not an all-or-nothing prospect.  Companies may opt to roll out piece by piece, and we're providing a menu of choices.  If you want to implement the entire eMortgage process today, we can do that today as well.   But if you want to start with just SMART Docs and eSignatures, we can deliver that as a key starting point.  It provides lenders the chance to take advantage of the electronic process, in whatever capacity needed."

"Many lenders have been in a "wait-and-see" mode on eMortgages," added Mr. Anderson.  "MISMO's release of eMortgage standards and support from the GSEs has put the ball back in our court to deliver. Now lenders are looking to us-the providers-and saying, 'Are you ready to help us take advantage of this?' This alliance proves that we are."

About DocuTech
Founded in 1991, DocuTech Corporation is a mortgage software technology company that specializes in compliant documentation that produces legal mortgage loan packages for loan origination, closing and investor delivery.  DocuTech's software, designed and developed in-house by an expert team of engineers, simplifies the process of preparing and printing required documents.  The program resides on a customers' desktop, is available in a variety of pricing options, and has the ability to interface with leading loan origination systems (LOS) including Byte, Calyx, Contour, DataTrac, Genesis, MortgageWare, and more.  DocuTech manages and secures all information needed for a loan, guaranteeing accuracy, data integrity, delivery, security and compliance.  For more information on DocuTech, visit the company's web site at www.DocuTechCorp.com.

About Wave Systems
Wave Systems is a leader in trusted computing solutions and services, including its SignOnline® Suite of Services, a complete web-based digital signing and document storage solution.  Wave Systems has developed hardware-based EMBASSY® Trusted Client technology, a Wave TrustEdge® brand of products and the software-based SignOnline Suite of Services as foundation elements for trusted computing.  For more information, visit the company's web site at www.WaveSys.com.