HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation
HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation uses Microsoft’s BizTalk Server for Trading
Partner Integration (TPI) solution.
HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation was ranked first in volume of mortgage lending in the
Atlanta market from 1998 to 2002. By 2003, HomeBanc had reached almost $6 billion
in mortgage loan production through its strategic growth initiatives. In January
2005, one of the largest retail residential mortgage lenders in the Southeast, they
were ranked No. 20 on the 2005 annual FORTUNE magazine “100 Best Company’s
to Work For” list (up from No. 39 last year). HomeBanc is well positioned
to take advantage of the market’s rapid growth, with the confidence in their
ability to out perform all other mortgage lenders by offering an unconditional customer
service satisfaction guarantee to every customer.
With their new web-based loan system, HomeBanc needed systems to retrieve underwriting
information in an automated fashion from two major underwriting services, Freddie
Mac and Fannie Mae. The existing process utilized two different providers for costly
“leased line” communication with external vendors. In addition the system
was based on custom code that was difficult to manage with little enterprise visibility
into the process. They expected to be able to quickly and efficiently integrate
the new system, by implementing Microsoft® BizTalk® Server to accelerate and standardise
its file transfer formatting procedures. As a consequence, the mortgage company
has seen its file transfer processes cut tremendously. They can now provide customers
with the greater value-added service that is a key differentiator for companies
in this industry.
“HomeBanc has greatly improved their automated underwriting process and saved
operating costs. BizTalk provided a lower cost integration solution, a more effective
support infrastructure, and replaced systems built on custom code and non-standard
communication protocols.”
– Adam Brannon, Innovative Architects
Overview
- County or Region: United States
- Industry: Financial Services
- Customer Profile:
Started in 1929, HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation has loaned money to SE Homeowners
for almost 100 years. By 2003, HomeBanc had reached almost $6 billion in mortgage
loan production through its strategic growth initiatives, expanding throughout the
Southeast.
- Business Situation:
HomeBanc needed to integrate their webbased loan system to have loans be underwritten.
Their existing system utilized costly leased lines and custom code to integrate
with external vendors.
- Solution:
HomeBanc implemented Microsoft® BizTalk® Server to integrate their new web-based
loan application with automated loan underwriting vendors to include Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac.
- Benefits:
Underwriting process time reduced tremendously
Automates underwriting from two major services: Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac
Easier to add and remove information, with little to no impact to the application
Gives enterprise level monitoring capabilities
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Case Study
- Situation
Despite its position in the market, HomeBanc’s underwriting process needed
to be improved to integrate with a new web-based loan system. The problem was a
largely manual process until now. Whenever a loan was processed through the web
system, information had to be retrieved from the two major underwriting services,
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Help was needed to interface and upload information
from these services. This was a complicated procedure, adding to the cost and time-scale
of the implementation procedure.
In addition, communication suffered as a result of a lack of automation, meaning
timesensitive information was often delivered much later than was needed.
With so many corporations turning their attention to the market, and with a host
of competitors, HomeBanc had to upgrade its file transfer system if it was to maintain
its marketleading position.
- Solution
Having consulted business solutions provider Innovative Architects, HomeBanc began
a selection procedure that culminated in it selecting Microsoft® BizTalk® Server
to accelerate and standardize its file transfer formatting procedures. BizTalk Server
proved extremely simple to implement.
With BizTalk Server successfully installed, underwriting information is retrieved
in an automated fashion through a common message sent to the BizTalk server that
is processed and sent to the appropriate underwriting service, creating a response
that is then returned to the loan system. It builds a service oriented interface
to this new system, making it easier to add and remove underwriting providers as
business needs dictate. There is little impact to the application and it is given
an enterprise level monitoring of the health and activity of the integration process.
This translates into significant savings with this automation of a formally manual
process. In turn, loan and underwriting relationships are improved, as well as customer
generation and retention for HomeBanc.
- Benefits
Underwriting Cost Reduced Tremendously
BizTalk Server has slashed the time it takes for HomeBanc to establish a file transfer
processes with its underwriting services. Prior to the implementation, the integration
process required a recurring cost of leased lines to communicate with external vendors.
But with BizTalk Server automating the process, the communication with external
vendors leverages standard HTTP communications negating any additional recurring
cost.
Automates underwriting from two major services: Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac
The automated nature of the solution means the total cost of ownership of underwriting
is reduced. In addition to eliminating recurring cost the BizTalk uses standard
artifacts in the place of custom code and makes managing and monitoring the integration
easier.
Easier to Add and Remove Information, with Little to no Impact to the Application
The new solution significantly bolsters the entire process. In the past, when end
point information changed or an additional vendor was required, not only the integration
but the entire application was affected by code updates due to the tightly coupled
custom code solution. With BizTalk Server in place, end point information can be
changed with little to no impact to the application due to the Service Oriented
model of BizTalk Server.
Enhanced Customer Service
Thanks to the automated nature of the new integration, HomeBanc is now able to provide
more information of a higher quality. It can provide regular confirmations at each
step of a process, be that retrieving, tracking, confirming, or monitoring the process.
Any errors can be spotted and returned immediately reducing bottlenecks and saving
both HomeBanc and its customers significant time and costs.
- Software and Services
• Microsoft BizTalk Server
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