In today’s Digital Age, borrowers expect the experience they have with their lender to be as seamless, straightforward, and simple as watching a show on Netflix. Of course, we all know that in reality, private lending is much more complicated. However, to remain competitive in this marketplace, lenders must make the experience feel easy to the borrower. Fortunately, technology has advanced to offer many tools that enable automating time-consuming tasks like generating documents and conducting financial calculations.

1. Loan Origination Software
In today’s market, speed is one of the most valuable factors to borrowers. However, loan origination can be quite slow. Achieve greater efficiency by automating much of the process using loan origination software. Loan origination software makes it easy to generate loan documents, pull credit reports, and easily send documents out for e-signature. These are just a few of the features that can cut the loan origination time down significantly.

2. Loan Servicing Software
Easily manage more loans by streamlining loan servicing. Precisely track loan charges and advances and integrate directly with the tools you use every day. A system that integrates and tracks all the relevant information helps everyone involved stay organized and prevents missteps. You can even electronically collect borrower payments and directly deposit funds to your lenders via ACH!

3. Mortgage Pool Software
Manage pools, partnerships, REITs, mortgage funds, LLCs, MICs, and non-performing loan pools more easily by automating these tasks. Access professionally designed, accurate, up-to-the-minute partnership statements whenever you need them through an intuitive and user-friendly platform. Software also makes it possible to streamline annual reporting including Section J of the IRS Schedule K-1, 1099-INT, and more. These capabilities make your mortgage operations more efficient and compliant.

4. Trust Accounting Software
Reconcile your trust accounts to your bank statement easily and automatically with trust accounting software. Maintain multiple trust accounts with as many clients as you need to accommodate. Your potential to scale becomes unlimited because it’s easier than ever to generate reports, issue checks, and stay organized no matter how many trust accounts you’re managing.

5. Escrow Administration Software
Escrow administration requires following stringent requirements set forth by the Federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). Software can make it easier to manage accounts and stay organized, ensuring you meet these requirements. The Escrow Administration module lets you collect and track payments, schedule payables and manage payments, and handle shortages, surpluses, and deficiencies.

6. ACH Express
Loan payments and disbursements can become a major headache for private lenders. With the right software, you can automate the process and transfer funds directly to and from your bank account. Send automated notifications and more to avoid missed deadlines and manage expectations on both ends.

7. Consumer Credit Reporting Software
Consumer credit reporting is another area that can be extremely difficult for private lenders to navigate. After all, credit reporting is very complex, and mistakes can result in very unhappy customers. Choose a software partner that offers step-by-step guidance on generating a Federal Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Metro 2 compliant file. Choose the credit bureau(s) you’d like to send the file to and complete the process in a few easy steps!

8. Financial Calculator Software
When it comes to calculating loan terms, accuracy is critical. Calculating APRs, producing amortization schedules, and showing both gross and net interest rates are all important tasks that borrowers trust lenders to execute correctly. As a private lender having software that ensures you get it right every single time is incredibly valuable and a worthwhile investment.

9. BRE Reporting Software
BRE licensing requires certain forms that lenders must produce to document the lending process. A quality BRE reporting software will produce accurate statistical information required by the CA BRE Mortgage Loan/Trust Deed Annual Report form RE881 and the CA BRE Trust Accounting Report RE852 for multi-lender transactions. This significantly reduces the complexity of managing this process for private lenders. As an added bonus, you can decrease your CPA auditing and preparation fees because everything will be organized and documented in advance.

10. Web Publishing Central Software
One reason many borrowers turn to large lenders is that they usually offer more robust online capabilities. Borrowers want the ability to access their accounts online and see their loan information anytime, anyplace. With the right tools, private lenders can offer the same functionality. Offering information online also reduces customer calls since borrowers can resolve their own issues, freeing up employees to focus on more complex tasks.

The Mortgage Office® offers these tools and so much more. We cater specifically to private lenders, so we understand your unique needs and how to boost your bottom line quickly. We offer the most powerful and personalized private lending software solutions on the market today. If you’re ready to take your private lending business to the next level, schedule a demo today.

If you are servicing your loans in-house, you probably have outgrown your excel spreadsheets, or worse, found a mistake. Maybe you went the custom software route and have spent a small fortune already, not to mention you now are becoming a software company. Maybe you already bought something and realized it does not do what you expected it to, or what was promised it would do. Now you must choose a software that will automate your back office and give you more time to do the things you like to do – fund more loans.

By: Carlos Nodarse,
Chief Executive Officer
Applied Business Software, Inc.
We live in a world that revolves around and depends on the Internet. Our personal and professional lives depend on it. I wrote this article on a computer and delivered it to the editor electronically. Odds are you are reading it on some sort of electronic device connected to the Internet. Can you imagine how difficult it would have been to make this all happen without our connected world? Extremely inefficient. But, as wonderful as this all is, it comes with a price. By being “connected”, you expose yourself to individuals looking for opportunities to take advantage of you. Disconnecting yourself and your business from the rest of the world is not an option. So what is one to do? Turns out there are quite a few things you can do.
Web Browsing. We spend a good chunk of our day browsing the Internet. It is therefore a good idea to follow some simple guidelines.
1. SSL Sites. When visiting sites, make sure the site is protected by an SSL certificate. SSL certificates provide an encrypted, secure tunnel of communication between your browser and the site you are visiting. It also serves to authenticate the owner of the site. Depending on your browser, sites using SSL are identified by the letters “HTTPS” at the beginning of their URL as well as a “lock” symbol near the URL. If you can avoid sites not using SSL, do so.

We’ve seen this movie, back in 2007.  A lot of customers had institutional capital, and money was easy to come by. Once the banks pulled their warehouse lines, lending came to a grinding halt.  You all know what happened after that – the great recession.

Private lending is not as burdened with the abundance of federal regulations that apply to bank lenders. However, that being said, there are still critical regulatory requirements with which lenders must comply, namely Anti-Money Laundering (AML) verification. Just like bank lenders, private lenders are also susceptible to loan application fraud, of particular concern is identity theft.