Author Archive
Innovation enables lenders to validate UAD compliance before UCDP delivery
Palm Coast, Fla. — Dec. 1, 2011 — ACI, a leading innovator in valuation technology for the mortgage industry, announced at the Valuation Expo 2011 the release of a new Appraisal Reader powered by Appraisal.com. The new technology helps lenders and reviewers view and validate appraisal reports prepared by any appraisal software vendor that supports the new MISMO XML format.
Appraisal.com is an ACI brand that serves the appraiser and lender communities. The Appraisal Reader is compact and provides mortgage professionals with a critical tool to conduct a review while keeping all the components of the appraisal report intact. The review is performed using ACI’s PAR®Logic rules, a comprehensive library that checks the appraisal report for compliance. Custom client-specific rules can also be applied on demand using PAR Logic to highlight errors and omissions.
The Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) information embedded in the PDF appraisal report is also available in a concise, organized manner using the QuickView™ Summary Report within the Appraisal Reader. The QuickView Summary Report presents the UAD information in a form and helps streamline the review and validation process prior to submission to the Uniform Collateral Data Portal® (UCDP®).
“With the advent of the UCDP, ensuring regulatory compliance before submitting appraisal reports to the portal is increasingly important for lenders and appraisers,” said Dave Roberts, president of ACI. “We’ve developed a sophisticated, yet free, solution that enables lenders, credit unions, and community banks to easily view and validate MISMO XML appraisal reports using Appraisal.com technology.”
About ACI
ACI, a pioneer in crafting technology solutions for the mortgage valuation community, has gained industrywide recognition and support from leaders in the field. ACI’s highly scalable appraisal solutions are tailored to the needs of the organizations ACI serves. The ACI client base features many of North America’s premier lenders, national appraisal companies, and real estate brokerage firms. From connecting appraisers nationwide to streamlining quality control, ACI enables organizations to process appraisals and manage exceptions in a consistent and efficient manner. Headquartered in Palm Coast, Florida, ACI (www.aciweb.com) is a division of Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK).
About Verisk Analytics
Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK) is a leading provider of information about risk to professionals in insurance, healthcare, mortgage, government, and risk management. Using advanced technologies to collect and analyze billions of records, Verisk Analytics draws on vast industry expertise and unique proprietary data sets to provide predictive analytics and decision-support solutions in fraud prevention, actuarial science, insurance coverages, fire protection, catastrophe and weather risk, data management, and many other fields. In the United States and around the world, Verisk Analytics helps customers protect people, property, and financial assets. For more information, visit www.verisk.com.
Largest Appraisal Companies in North America to Use Appraisal.com Technology for UAD XML Appraisal Delivery
August 2, 2011 – Palm Coast, Fla. – ACI, a leading innovator in technology for the mortgage valuation industry, announced today that Appraisal.com is integrating as an appraisal delivery platform to the Uniform Collateral Data Portal® (UCDP®). The UCDP is a single portal for the electronic submission of appraisal data files for loans sold to either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the GSEs (Government-Sponsored Enterprises), and facilitates the electronic collection of appraisal report data.
The following conventional appraisal report types are required to be submitted
to the UCDP:
- Uniform Residential Appraisal Report*
- Exterior-Only Inspection Residential Appraisal Report*
- Individual Condominium Unit Appraisal Report *
- Exterior-Only Inspection Individual Condominium Unit Appraisal Report*
- Manufactured Home Appraisal Report
- Individual Cooperative Interest Report
- Exterior-Only Individual Cooperative Interest Report
- Small Residential Income Property Appraisal Report
*Indicates UAD standardization applies
Lenders and their designated agents may access the UCDP through vendor-provided solutions like Appraisal.com that provide an integrated system interface to the UCDP, allowing lenders to browse and upload XML or first-generation portable document format (PDF) files to the portal.
“The ability to provide our customers with Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD)-compliant appraisal reports and XML delivery to the UCDP using Appraisal.com is a natural extension for the services that we currently provide to the appraisal industry,” said Dave Roberts, president of ACI. “For more than 20 years, ACI has worked in conjunction with the industry’s largest appraisal companies to streamline the appraisal quality-control process and facilitate the delivery of data to their lender clients.”
Appraisal report forms for all conventional mortgages delivered to the GSEs on or after March 19, 2012, must be submitted to the UCDP if:
- the loan application is dated on or after December 1, 2011, and
- an appraisal report is required.
The appraisal report must be submitted to the UCDP and must include all exhibits, addenda, and photographs. Either an XML data stream (output from appraisal forms software) with an embedded first-generation PDF file or first-generation PDF file without the corresponding XML data must be submitted to the UCDP. The UCDP supports the following XML formats for appraisal deliveries, and all are available in both the ACI and Lighthouse™ software:
- MISMO 2.6 Errata 1 GSE Extended format (preferred format)
- ACI format
- AI Ready format
“ACI has been a leader in the development of the MISMO [Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization] standard within the property and valuation services work group,” said George Opelka, senior vice president of ACI. “This experience, coupled with the ACI format being named one of the accepted delivery standards to the UCDP, provides our clients with flexible and proven options for GSE compliance.”
To facilitate the adoption of the new Uniform Appraisal Dataset, ACI is offering clients access to both a technical-focused and a practitioner’s seminar. The training will be provided at no charge to ACI customers who have a current Premier Service subscription. For more information, contact ACI Sales at 1-800-234-8727.
About ACI
ACI, a pioneer in crafting technology solutions for the mortgage valuation community, has gained industrywide recognition and support from leaders in the field. ACI’s highly scalable appraisal solutions are tailored to the needs of the organizations ACI serves. The ACI client base features many of North America’s premier lenders, national appraisal companies, and real estate brokerage firms. From connecting appraisers nationwide to streamlining quality control, the flexibility ACI provides organizations the means for processing appraisals and managing exceptions in a consistent and efficient manner. Headquartered in Palm Coast, Florida, ACI (www.aciweb.com) is a division of Verisk Analytics.
About Verisk Analytics
Verisk Analytics is a leading provider of information about risk to professionals in insurance, healthcare, mortgage, government, and risk management. Using advanced technologies to collect and analyze billions of records, Verisk Analytics draws on vast industry expertise and unique proprietary data sets to provide predictive analytics and decision-support solutions in fraud prevention, actuarial science, insurance coverages, fire protection, catastrophe and weather risk, data management, and many other fields. In the United States and around the world, Verisk Analytics helps customers protect people, property, and financial assets. For more information, visit www.verisk.com.
ACI Publishes UAD Compliance Software and UAD Webinar Series
July 12, 2011 — Palm Coast, Fla. — ACI, a leading innovator in technology for the mortgage valuation industry, announced today an upgrade to the ACI2010TM software that includes enhancements for the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD). The upgrade is available for appraisers to download immediately. The update equips ACI users with functionality that promotes compliance with the UAD, a required library of standardized responses and elements to be used in appraisal reports delivered to government-sponsored enterprises (GSE).
ACI2010 UAD includes several innovative features that promote compliance with the new GSE requirements. Appraisers that leverage the intuitive efficiencies of ACI2010 into their workflow are able to produce UAD-compliant reports with minimal effort.
- Built-in Guidance is provided using compliance dialogs and alerts designed to assist appraisers in meeting UAD requirements. These features are configurable and available at the field level.
- UAD Report Paks for URAR form 1004/70, URAR Exterior-Only form 2055, Individual Unit Condominium form 1073/465, and Exterior-Only Individual Condominium form 1075/466 are prebuilt to include the standard addendums that make adoption simple and fast. Each UAD Pak also includes a UAD definitions page that contains details of code definitions, abbreviations, and UAD-specific handling.
- Field-Level Data Validation provides validation business rules to ensure that appraisers type data in accordance with specific field formats.
- Address Validation is built in to ensure that all addresses conform to USPS address standards for street number, street name, city, state, and ZIP code.
- Automated Tools for lot size assist in automatically converting square feet to acres or acres to square feet based on entry.
- Change Form Type to easily switch form templates for orders originally requested on a non-UAD form, or vice versa.
- Interactive Features for complex entries — that require the use of the UAD as well as comments — are supported with intuitive, interactive dialogs and feature alerts.
- UAD Compliance Rules ensure appraisal reports meet UAD compliance prior to appraisal delivery.
“The transition to UAD will be a smooth process for ACI2010 users because we’ve ensured compliance while leveraging templates, picklists, and rules — all existing functions that ACI appraisers have already mastered,” said Elizabeth Green, ACI director of valuation technologies. “ACI appraisers can learn about the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of UAD through ACI’s UAD training sessions. Both classes are free to all ACI clients who have an active premier service agreement.”
The UAD update for ACI2010 is available at no cost to ACI clients with an active premier service agreement. Clients interested in additional online training may visit www.AppraisersChoice.com/training to view available sessions on ACI products.
About ACI
ACI, a pioneer in crafting technology solutions for the mortgage valuation community, has gained industrywide recognition and support from leaders in the field. ACI’s highly scalable appraisal solutions are tailored to the needs of the organizations ACI serves. The ACI client base features many of North America’s premier lenders, national appraisal companies, and real estate brokerage firms. From connecting appraisers nationwide to streamlining quality control, ACI provides organizations the means for processing appraisals and managing exceptions in a consistent and efficient manner. Headquartered in Palm Coast, Florida, ACI (www.aciweb.com) is a division of Verisk Analytics.
About Verisk Analytics
Verisk Analytics is a leading provider of information about risk to professionals in insurance, healthcare, mortgage, government, and risk management. Using advanced technologies to collect and analyze billions of records, Verisk Analytics draws on vast industry expertise and unique proprietary data sets to provide predictive analytics and decision-support solutions in fraud prevention, actuarial science, insurance coverages, fire protection, catastrophe and weather risk, data management, and many other fields. In the United States and around the world, Verisk Analytics helps customers protect people, property, and financial assets. For more information, visit www.verisk.com.
ACI format identified as an accepted appraisal delivery format
July 14, 2009, Palm Coast, FL. ACI, a leading technology innovator for the valuation industry, has announced its support of Fannie Mae’s Announcement 09-14. The announcement requires lenders to submit appraisal reports electronically for all loans sold to Fannie Mae beginning March 1, 2010. The appraisal delivery initiative benefits consumers and the industry by mitigating the effects of poor appraisal quality and appraisal fraud.
Based on Fannie Mae’s Announcement 09-14, the ACI format has been identified as one of the accepted standards. Compliant with the new Fannie Mae requirement are ACI2009™ (ACI’s flagship appraisal software), and Lighthouse™ (ACI’s universal appraisal delivery program that enables appraisers to open, review, and deliver appraisals created by many of the industry’s appraisal software programs).
ACI’s appraisal format has been adapted and recognized as a delivery standard by many of the nation’s largest appraisal firms and vendor management companies. The ACI format provides security and the ability to quickly and efficiently perform appraisal reviews using ACI’s PAR Logic® rules engine — one of the industry’s most widely used underwriting and fraud mitigation platforms.
“ACI’s technology is continually designed with a forward-thinking methodology, allowing our clients to easily comply with the industry as changes occur. In this case, our clients will not have to purchase any new technology or worry that their reports are not compliant when the new requirement goes into effect,” said
ACI President Dave Roberts.
About ACI
ACI, a pioneer in crafting technology solutions for the valuation community, has gained industry-wide recognition and support from leaders in the field. ACI’s highly scalable appraisal solutions ensure a partnership tailored to the needs of the organizations the company services. The ACI client base features many of North America’s premier lenders, national appraisal companies, and real estate brokerage firms. From connecting appraisers nationwide to streamlining quality control, the flexibility provided gives organizations the means for processing appraisals and managing exceptions in a consistent and efficient manner.
Headquartered in Palm Coast, Florida, ACI’s management and development team garner the type of experience coveted by decision makers responsible for bringing synergy to their daily workflows and processes.
ACI is a division of ISO, a leading source of information about risk. ISO provides data, analytics, and decision-support services to professionals in many fields, including insurance, finance, real estate, health services, government, human resources, and risk management. The company draws on vast expertise in actuarial science, insurance coverage, fire protection, fraud prevention, catastrophe and weather risk, predictive modeling, data management, economic forecasting, social and technological trends, and many other fields. To meet the needs of diverse clients, ISO employs an experienced staff of business and technical specialists, analysts, and certified professionals. In the United States and around the world, ISO helps customers protect people, property, and financial assets.