eSign: Now It's Real

As one leading eSigning platform vendor asks, "What if your customers could sign their loan documents whenever they wanted to, even at 2:00 in the morning - in pajamas?" Dream no longer: Today's industry-leading electronic signing and closing platforms do much more than just imagine revolutionary workflows; they deliver. This article compares electronic closing and signing platforms and reports the results of surveys conducted with some of the major industry players (see Figure 1). Jacksonville, Florida-based Lender Processing Services Inc.'s (LPS') LSI Division's ClosingStream(TM), Brookfield, Wisconsin-based Fiserv Inc.'s eClosing and Houston-based Stewart Lender Services' eClosingRoom(TM) are among the vendor platforms now changing the way Americans buy and refinance homes. * But before digging any deeper, some lenders may be wondering whether they should develop their own electronic signing technology or license a solution from a third-party vendor. * Ted Adams, director of technology standards for Freddie Mac, addresses this question unequivocally: "We expect that our customers will use eMortgage systems provided by third-party vendors rather than custom build their own," he says.

With Adams' perspective in mind, the authors of this article have independently demoed, researched, ana- lyzed, vetted and compared eSigning platforms offered by third party vendors for their ability to solve the real estate finance industry's most vexing challenges. Those challenges include the costs and errors associated with paper processing; compliance with consumer-protection laws; logistical obstacles of signing and recording; delivery of mortgage loans to the secondary market and fraud.

A few comments from users of one of these solutions suggest their potential role in the business. "The most obvious reasons for using LSI's ClosingStream platform that come to mind are based on our customers telling us it was convenient and easy, the LSI staff was very friendly, and some customers actually say they will never close a mortgage loan again in any other fashion," says Sally Ann Mitchell, vice president/production manager, U.S. Bank. Minneapolis.

"ClosingStream is ideal for those transactions where one of the borrowers will be out of town on the day of closing. From U.S. Bank's perspective, we enjoy the benefits of ClosingStream as well. There are virtually no errors or document deficiencies, and zero notary issues. All the documents are explained in detail to the customer - thus...