News | October 21, 2005

Flagstar Bank Announces Availability Of Digital Document Transfer Platform With Key Partners

Troy, MI - Flagstar Bank announced general availability of its Digital Document Transfer platform and specification for seamless electronic document exchanges with key mortgage industry partners.

Flagstar Bank has partnered with six mortgage technology providers to develop and implement a standards-based document exchange specification for electronic loan delivery. Collaboration between Flagstar and these partners will advance Flagstar's leadership position in moving the mortgage industry to a paperless environment. These partners include:

  • Advectis, Inc.
  • Investor Purchase And Delivery Services, Inc. (IPAD)
  • Pyramid Solutions, Inc.
  • Stewart Mortgage Information (SMI)
  • Tradewinds Mortgage Document Preparation Company, Inc.
  • VirPack

The Digital Document Transfer(TM) specification is based on the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization's (MISMO) SMART Document format. It includes the SMART Document DTD (Document Type Definition) and the ePackaging specifications. The Digital Document Transfer(TM) specification supports SMART Document Levels 3 and 4. Future versions will encompass higher levels of document security and will provide support for additional SMART Document levels. The Digital Document Transfer(TM) specification is available at no cost to companies that exchange electronic documents with Flagstar Bank and its partners and are interested in supporting this standard for document exchanges.

The initial partners have enhanced their electronic document management products or services to allow creation and/or acceptance of SMART Documents and ePackages that conform to the Digital Document Transfer(TM) guidelines. They also have demonstrated and tested electronic document exchanges with Flagstar using this standard. This allows brokers and correspondents using solutions from Digital Document Transfer(TM) partners to utilize single-click or automatic document submissions to Flagstar Bank. Additionally, the standard offers two-way communication among Digital Document Transfer(TM) partners to provide system-to-system statuses of the exchange process.

The specification supports transfers of both closing and credit documents. Credit documents received by Flagstar Bank via the Digital Document Transfer(TM) platform are immediately processed through Flagstar's Paperless Underwriting(TM) systems.

"Flagstar is proud to work with customers and partners who are committed to building a common electronic document exchange platform," said Charles Kirkpatrick, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Flagstar Bank. "Using MISMO's fine groundwork in electronic packaging and delivery, we have created a simple exchange platform for all participating companies. We're confident that as more companies support the standard, the entire industry will benefit from greater efficiencies."

Harry Gardner, Vice President, eMortgages, Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, Inc. said, "We are very pleased to see Flagstar Bank moving forward with an eMortgage implementation using the MISMO SMART Document specification and ePackaging XML standards. Using MISMO technology standards can save lenders and their business partners months of integration time, compared to one-off interface solutions, and builds a solid infrastructure for future enhancements."

SOURCE: Flagstar