Equity National Title recently completed the first fully digital closing to be initiated through its eWays portal. The closing took place in Sanford, Florida. This is the first time a mortgage lender has used the portal to identify a county where a fully electronic closing is possible and subsequently identified a loan applicant residing in one of those counties. Digital Federal Credit Union, based in Marlborough, MA, was the lender.
Equity National Title’s eWays is a first-of-its-kind “e-closing” hub for mortgage lenders designed to identify the types of electronic closings available at a zip code level. The portal serves mortgage lenders by clarifying whether key authorities in each zip code accept none, all or some combination of the four existing types of closing: fully digital; hybrid; remote notary or traditional. The website can be found at https://www.eclosingsbyequity.com/ and was launched in September at the Digital Mortgage Conference.
“This is a leap forward for lenders who want to pursue an e-closing strategy. Rather than waiting for state laws to change and recording offices to come online, lenders can execute an e-closing strategy in nearly 500 counties, and our lender found a few that matched borrowers in their pipeline,” said James K. O’Donnell, Esq., President of Equity National Title. “In those counties, there are nearly 6 million people, which means a pretty sizeable market exists eligible for e-closings. Digital Federal Credit Union took a great first step by using eWays to begin executing their e-closing strategy.”
“We had a goal of completing at least one fully electronic closing by the end of the year. Using eWays, we were able to hit our goal more than 2 months ahead of schedule and not just once, but three times this month alone,” said Jay Caldwell, Mortgage Operations Manager for Digital Federal Credit Union. “We were amazed at how quickly we were able to zero in on applicants eligible for an e-closing using eWays. It really simplified our e-closing roadmap, helped us deliver early on our pilot, and the members that took part in the pilot were impressed with the ease of utilizing eWays. There were high-fives all around at our management team meeting when we confirmed both closings!”
About Equity National
Founded in 1989, Equity National Title is a leading national settlement service provider which delivers superior customer service and support to lenders, homeowners and Realtors. The firm leverages its 26 years of experience in title and settlement services to help guide lender and realty clients through the process from the very beginning, all the way until closing. Headquartered in East Providence, Rhode Island, Equity National differentiates itself by having the products and processes in place to make sure things go smoothly for everyone at the closing table. The company is one of the few settlement services firms in the nation to achieve the American Institute of Public Accountants’ (AICPA) Service Organization Control 2 (SOC 2) Type II certification awarded for the highest standards of financial and data protection.
For additional information, please visit www.equitynational.com or contact 1.800.237.8489.
About Digital Federal Credit Union
DCU, the largest credit union in New England, is a not-for-profit financial cooperative serving over 680,000 members across all 50 states and by offering a full range of financial services to consumers and business.
For additional information, please visit www.dcu.org or contact 1.800.328.8797.