Unrivaled industry eSigning adoption among mortgage clients fuels transaction spike

TORRANCE, Calif., May 11, 2015 -- DocMagic, Inc., the premier provider of fully-compliant loan document preparation, compliance, eSign and eDelivery solutions, announced today that its eSign platforms have now processed more than 100 million mortgage-related eSignature transactions. 

"We are very pleased with the sheer number of eSignatures that we are seeing executed among our client base," said Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO of DocMagic. "This is positive news for the mortgage industry as a whole. In previous years, eSign adoption was much lower among lenders working with borrowers. We have always encouraged clients to take advantage of our eSigning technology; this impressive number of transactions certainly reflects that."

DocMagic is the undisputed leader in the mortgage industry for eSign technologies. The company has a long-standing reputation for developing innovative eSign solutions that integrate seamlessly with mortgage workflows. 

DocMagic has two eSign solutions for clients to take advantage of. eSignSystems' SmartSAFE XL eSigning, eDelivery and eVaulting platform was added to the DocMagic family in 2014. DocMagic's eSign platform is a separate SaaS-based solution that features the company's proprietary ClickSign™ technology. SmartSAFE XL is ideal for companies that require more flexibility, extendibility and control over eSigning processes. DocMagic's eSign technology is highly intuitive, simple to setup, and walks signers through the entire document review process to efficiently, expeditiously and compliantly submit eSignatures. 

Notable is that in 2011, in an effort to encourage industry-wide adoption of eSignatures, DocMagic made its eSign technology available to anyone to sign any type of document at no charge. Users can visit DocMagic's website to quickly and easily eSign documents such as contracts, NDAs, proposals and more. 

Documents executed using DocMagic's eSign technology are as legally effective, valid and enforceable as documents printed and signed in ink.

About DocMagic:
DocMagic, Inc. is a leading provider of fully-compliant loan document preparation, compliance, eSign and eDelivery solutions for the mortgage industry. Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Torrance, Calif., DocMagic, Inc. develops software, mobile apps, processes and web-based systems for the production and delivery of compliant loan document packages. The company's compliance experts and in-house legal staff consistently monitor legal and regulatory changes at both the federal and state levels to ensure accuracy. For more information on DocMagic, visit http://www.docmagic.com/.

By Tony Garritano

To follow up on an earlier story, PROGRESS in Lending can now report that testing is done and DocMagic, has completed all  required TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule (TRID) software development and testing, and the new TRID enhancements have been officially released into DocMagic’s production environment.

The new TRID offering is available to all DocMagic clients and all LOS partners for in-depth testing. DocMagic wants each of its clients and partners to become acquainted with the TRID enhancements and functionality that was recently incorporated into its suite of web-based document production systems.

“We are giving our clients and partners the ability to be well-prepared for TRID far in advance of the Aug. 1 deadline,” said Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO of DocMagic. “After extensive internal testing, re-testing, and BETA testing by a select group of lenders, we perfected the changes required for TRID compliance and are now ready to open the flood gates.  We are confident that our systems are now fully compliant with TRID, and we are excited to have our clients and LOS partners access and get used to the new TRID screens and functionality.”

DocMagic provides a step-by-step TRID testing guide to all lenders and its support team has already successfully fielded hundreds of questions since the release last month. The company reports that lender testing with DocMagic has been going as planned and no software issues have been unearthed.

DocMagic says that it has already started client training sessions on the new loan estimate and closing disclosures, has made available detailed training videos, and is presenting regular educational webinars on TRID.

As featured by Progress In Lending, May 2015

By Rachel Williams

California based DocMagic, Inc. announced that it has completed all required TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule (TRID) software development and testing so that the company’s clients and LOS vendors can now take advantage of these enhancements and ensure they are prepared for the August 1 TRID deadline.

“We are giving our clients and partners the ability to be well-prepared for TRID far in advance of the August 1 deadline,” said Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO of DocMagic. “After extensive internal testing, re-testing, and BETA testing by a select group of lenders, we perfected the changes required for TRID compliance and are now ready to open the flood gates. We are confident that our systems are now fully compliant with TRID, and we are excited to have our clients and LOS partners access and get used to the new TRID screens and functionality.”

In order to help the industry prepare for TRID, DocMagic released a step-by-step TRID testing guide last month. The company reports that since the release of the guide they have already successfully fielded hundreds of questions. The company also provides detailed training videos and regular education webinars.

Tim Anderson, director of eServices at DocMagic, believes that while the industry has taken strides to be TRID compliant, there is still a long way to go before August 1. “In regards to making the minimal base requirement of being able to produce the new disclosure forms and have some sort of proof of receipt of delivery three days prior to consumption, I believe most are going to make it. However if you are asking the more important question of the disclosures—meaning the accuracy and compliance of the GFE/TIL and APR calculations on the forms—based on the limitations of how the systems I have seen apply the data, I would say absolutely not,” Anderson said.

When discussing what companies are doing missing as they prepare for TRID, Anderson points to treating the Closing Disclosure as a static template. “One of the critical mistakes most I’ve seen is treating the disclosure form as the user UI for inputting data. In the old days when most documents like the 1003 application form were static that worked. But in the new age where data is driving the output view, the new Closing Disclosure document is ‘dynamic’ meaning the view changes with specific changes in the data attributes or conditions,” Anderson said.

DocMagic is a provider of fully compliant loan document preparation, compliance, e-sign, and e-delivery solutions for the mortgage industry.

As featured by TheMReport, May 2015

Completed software updates now accessible online for users to become familiar with the new changes

TORRANCE, Calif., May 7, 2015 -- DocMagic, Inc., the premier provider of fully-compliant loan document preparation, compliance, eSign and eDelivery solutions, announced that it has completed all required TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule (TRID) software development and testing, and the new TRID enhancements have been officially released into DocMagic's production environment.

The new TRID offering is available to all DocMagic clients and all LOS partners for in-depth testing. DocMagic wants each of its clients and partners to become acquainted with the TRID enhancements and functionality that was recently incorporated into its suite of web-based document production systems.

"We are giving our clients and partners the ability to be well-prepared for TRID far in advance of the Aug. 1 deadline," said Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO of DocMagic. "After extensive internal testing, re-testing, and BETA testing by a select group of lenders, we perfected the changes required for TRID compliance and are now ready to open the flood gates. We are confident that our systems are now fully compliant with TRID, and we are excited to have our clients and LOS partners access and get used to the new TRID screens and functionality."

DocMagic provides a step-by-step TRID testing guide to all lenders and its support team has already successfully fielded hundreds of questions since the release last month. The company reports that lender testing with DocMagic has been going as planned and no software issues have been unearthed. 

DocMagic says that it has already started client training sessions on the new loan estimate and closing disclosures, has made available detailed training videos, and is presenting regular educational webinars on TRID.

About DocMagic:
DocMagic, Inc. is a leading provider of fully-compliant loan document preparation, compliance, eSign and eDelivery solutions for the mortgage industry. Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Torrance, Calif., DocMagic, Inc. develops software, mobile apps, processes and web-based systems for the production and delivery of compliant loan document packages. The company's compliance experts and in-house legal staff consistently monitor legal and regulatory changes at both the federal and state levels to ensure accuracy. 

For more information on DocMagic, visit http://www.docmagic.com/.

DocMagic Twitter: @docmagic - https://twitter.com/docmagic.

BLOG VIEW: Although electronic document (e-doc) and electronic signature (e-sig) technologies are coming to the fore and will be essential in helping lenders comply with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new integrated disclosure rules going into effect Aug. 1, it is going to take a while longer before the mortgage industry transitions to a purely e-originated mortgage.

That's because most lenders will continue to allow borrowers to download, print, fill in and sign "wet" documents then scan and upload them into the system - or flat mail them in for processing.

Why would lenders continue to offer these legacy systems, with all their latency and inefficiency? Simple: Customer satisfaction. There's still a fairly sizeable percentage of the population that isn't all that tech-savvy, and is wary of such advances as e-doc and e-sig technology. More important, there are still people out there who prefer to put pen to paper and sign - rather than click - when it comes to important life decisions such as buying a home, and lenders don't want to alienate these folks.

Further, as Tim Anderson, director of e-services for DocMagic and member of the Electronic Signature and Records Association, points out, "UETA and ESIGN require the lender to support 'opting out' to paper at anytime. So both options - wet or 'e' - must be presented and supported. Further, some jurisdictions may not support a total e-closing process."

Anderson says for now, most lenders will continue to take a hybrid approach, "where a majority of the documents and disclosures can be e-signed, and only the notary or recordable documents will be papered-out, wet signed and then scanned back in."

Of course, one could argue that this defeats the purpose of getting all borrowers to use e-documents - which is now the ultimate goal of lenders and regulators. But one must also consider that the number of "dinosaur" borrowers who insist on wet signatures is shrinking rapidly - so this is a case where the old technology will one day be obsolete. (However, that's also partly a question of how much lenders can steer more traditional borrowers away from wet docs and get them to embrace e-doc and e-signature technology.)

It's interesting to note that, according to Anderson, no lender, vendor or other organization is tracking how many borrowers use wet-docs versus e-docs - and of those, for which docs. However he estimated that about 40% of docs processed through closing are now electronic.

Part of the problem in tracking that statistic, he says, is there are so many different proprietary systems used in the origination process and it's hard to get a uniform data set that is a true representation of all activity.

"Of course with e-closing, all loans need to be submitted to MERS to be e-registered, so there are better stats on those loans," he says.

Other than that, lenders can basically only guess how big of a job they have, in terms of getting borrowers to embrace the new way of doing things.

Anderson says he is seeing rapid adoption and implementation of e-disclosure technology for the initial application package.

However, investors continue to want copies of certain docs "and these are often scanned and sent."

So it appears that OCR technology is going to be in need for quite some time longer. And that's too bad, because, as good as OCR is, it still requires lenders to continue to do manual checks of their scanned mortgage docs, using the old "stare and compare" technique, thanks to OCR's inherent shortcomings.

As the August 1 deadline for the Truth in Lending/RESPA Integrated Disclosures (TRID) nears, lenders are preparing for the multiple ways their loan operation will be impacted by the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau requirements.

This week, DocMagic, Inc., a provider of fully-compliant loan document preparation, compliance, eSign, and eDelivery solutions, announced it will be launching a Collaborative Closing Platform. The Collaborative Closing Platform is aimed at helping lenders streamline the flow of information between the key parties involved in the closing process, a necessity they will need to have in place when TRID goes into effect.

According to a press release, the Collaborative Closing Platform allows a real-time exchange of information between lenders, settlement agents, and their associates through a secure Web portal.

Once on the portal all parties involved can electronically access, edit, validate, and approve the data and documents.

“Our Collaborative Closing Platform brings all of the necessary closing components and parties together to effectively assist lenders in complying with TRID in a very efficient, timely fashion,” Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO of DocMagic said. “With one simple click, lenders can invite their settlement providers to view and update disclosure data, which is automatically analyzed by DocMagic’s comprehensive Audit Engine in preparation for final approval by the lender.”

DocMagic announced back in February that they had implemented MISMO 3.3 ahead of the August 1 deadline. Their Collaborative Closing Platform utilizes the MISMO 3.3 standard that is needed for “TRID to bi-directionally and securely pass data between parties”. DocMagic stated that their Audit Engine automatically tracks RESPA tolerance levels, changes in fees, and related approvals to ensure compliance with applicable regulations. Each step in the process is tracked and stored within the secure environment.

As featured by TheMReport, April 2015

It was like coming home. “The first moment Iwalked into this building, I knew it was the right place for our company,” Dominic “Don” Iannitti says.

Iannitti is president and CEOof DocMagic, the largest loan document production company in the U.S., and the building he’s speaking of is an impressive, 25,000-square-foot state-of the art technology center in Torrance, California. Within the mostly curved walls of this modern office space, more than 100 employees dedicate themselves to providing unparalleled service for their clients, some of which are the nation’s top lenders.

Iannitti founded DocMagic back in 1988, and as he explains the open-office concept of the building to us, he can’t help but reminisce over the company’s humble beginnings— three employees (including Iannitti) in a 1,000-square-foot office. The company’s first sales person joined the team as a part-time employee after successfully selling the company its first fax machine, a critical component in those early days of taking orders.

But while the company’s start may have been unassuming, its vision was always clear.

“The core of what I found interesting when forming DocMagic was taking data in and leveraging it to produce documentation that would otherwise take hours to type out,” Iannitti says. “It was amazing to me that we could now leverage a data point across many forms and reduce errors because there wasn’t any re-typing going on. Of course all this grew into much more.”

A source of great pride for Iannitti is the fact that a high percentage of the company’s 100+ employees have been with the company for the long haul. This not only includes his COO Alan Brisbane, who has been with DocMagic since day one, but many of the support staff as well. “

DocMagic as a whole understands the immense value of itsmost important resource—the people that make this place run,” Iannitti says. “A lot of companies get to the point of where they are patting themselves on the back for their own ingenuity, when the reality is it’s the people that make up the organization that make it happen. We take a lot of steps to make sure our employees are comfortable.”

When you look at the design of DocMagic’s headquarters, the high-esteem employees are held in is obvious. The open-office layout encourages workers to wander away from their desks, often convening together in one of the office’s many lounges. While each employee has their own individual workspace with big, dual monitors on their desk, anyone can grab a notebook computer and log in from another location in the building. It’s a type of collaborative design that’s borrowed from forward-thinking companies like Google, which pride themselves on breaking the mold in office design and employee culture.

Dramatic art, inspired by previous ad campaigns, adorns the walls,chronicling different periods in thecompany’s exponential growth. In between the art are large, dramatic windows that look out on the scenic greenery of the campus. Not just for gazing at, employees are encouraged to take advantage of all the amenities the building has to offer, including its outdoor space.

“We enforce breaks,” Iannitti confidently proclaims. “You can come and sit at your desk for the next eight hours and never move at another company, but that’s not the way it works here. The company is positioned specifically so that our employees can go outside and relax, walk around, and get anything they may need within one block of the office. We also have an on-site gym. We try to promote good, healthy behavior in the sense that we make sure you’re eating, taking breaks, and going out and walking. There are plenty of areas for play, such as our Ping-Pong table, where we have tournaments.”

It is this dedication to playing hard that Iannitti believes makeshis employees dedicated to working hard, too. And at a time when adoption of e-lending solutions is up and TILA-RESPA is on the horizon, this steadfast work ethic is crucial.

For DocMagic, the move to the paperless loan is nothing new, and as an early adopter of e-sign technology, they have made it their mission to promote it not only within the industry but among the general public as well. One way in which they have done this is to open up their e-sign tool for free, for anyone who wants to upload a document and use it.

“You can come to our website today, and within a couple minutes, upload your documents and send them to whoever you need to with your signature included,” Iannitti says. “The whole process is completely automatic and absolutely free of charge. This initiative demonstrates the fact that we are a technology companyand want to do everything we possibly can to help our clients and potential clients leverage the technology we create and do a better job extending their service to their clients.”

The company is currently gearing up for the adoption of TILA-RESPA on Aug. 1.

“It’s one thing to prepare from a technical perspective, but we have a lot of training sessions going on because, of course, our support people have to answer every question that will come in,” Iannitti says. “So already everyone is being trained to understand exactly how everything works and how to answer questions correctly. It’s a major undertaking but it’s exciting at the time—these things shake the industry up. For companies like us, we enjoy change, so we thrive in this type of atmosphere.”

In addition to helping clients ensure they are compliant with TILA-RESPA, DocMagic helps their clients adjust to changing MISMO, standards as well.

“Today’s clients needs are much more extensive. All of our integrations are based on the latest, greatest versions of MISMO.” Iannitti says. “Our clients have never dealt with this before, and it is radically different than the previous version, so having the ability to have a professional services arm has been critical to us to be able to help these clients with those types of needs.”

As demonstrated by the needs created by such regulatory changes, one of the greatest areas of growth for the company in recent years has been in the call center. With a magnifying glass on all the changes the industry is experiencing, Iannitti explains that there has been a substantial uptick in questions, calls, concerns, tweets and requests.

“From our call center perspective, we are now putting on a mid- and late-evening shift, so we are almost around-the clock,” he says. “There’s a lot of growth in this area, but that’s what is necessary to give our clients the quality of service that they expect from DocMagic.”

Despite these changes, Iannitti is quick to remind us that, at its core, DocMagic is and always has been a technology company.

“In every aspect of what we do we’ve leveraged technology to such an extent that it’s what allows us to be on the cutting, even arguably, bleeding edge of just about everything we do.”

As featured by TheMReport, April 2015

By Brena Swanson

Announces Collaborative Closing Platform

Torrance, California-based DocMagic launched its new Collaborative Closing Platform for the mortgage industry to help lenders comply with the new TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule that goes into effect on Aug. 1.

Through the new technology, users can streamline, real-time exchange of information between lenders, settlement agents and their associates through a secure web portal. As a result, the coordination of all closing costs and audits of critical disclosure details are addressed prior to closing and in full compliance with TRID.

“Our Collaborative Closing Platform brings all of the necessary closing components and parties together to effectively assist lenders in complying with TRID in a very efficient, timely fashion,” said Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO of DocMagic.

In addition, approved parties involved in the process can view a full electronic audit trail history of compliance, workflow and document management.

The Closing Collaboration Platform also leverages DocMagic’s eSign technology to deliver and facilitate the electronic signing of the closing disclosure and related documentation.

“TRID is 1,888 pages in length and affects every business functioning in the single-family mortgage market,” said Jeffrey Schummer, the Mortgage Bankers Association’svice president of education development.

The CFPB issued the rule and combined the mortgage disclosure regimes established by the Truth In Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act into one single rule.

As featured by HousingWire, April 2015

DocMagic, Inc. will launch a Collaborative Closing Platform for the mortgage industry. Why is this significant? The solution is comprised of a secure, seamless and dynamic web-based portal that efficiently and expeditiously helps lenders comply with the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule that becomes effective on August 1. Here’s how it works:

DocMagic’s Collaborative Closing Platform enables streamlined, real-time exchange of information between lenders, settlement agents and their associates via a secure web portal designed to electronically access, edit, validate and approve both data and documents. As a result, the coordination of all closing costs and audits of critical disclosure details are addressed prior to closing and in full compliance with TRID.

“Our Collaborative Closing Platform brings all of the necessary closing components and parties together to effectively assist lenders in complying with TRID in a very efficient, timely fashion,” said Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO of DocMagic. “With one simple click, lenders can invite their settlement providers to view and update disclosure data, which is automatically analyzed by DocMagic’s comprehensive Audit Engine in preparation for final approval by the lender.”

The solution utilizes version 3.3 of the new MISMO standard that is needed for TRID to bi-directionally and securely pass data between parties. DocMagic’s Audit Engine automatically tracks RESPA tolerance levels, changes in fees and related approvals to ensure compliance with applicable regulations. Each step in the process is tracked and stored within the secure environment.

Approved parties that are involved in the process can view a full electronic audit trail history of compliance, workflow and document management, which is securely captured and housed in a centralized area for easy access and reporting. Inside the secure platform parties with appropriate permissions can access shared documents, enter and adjust data, view the closing disclosure in real-time as it is modified, and communicate via an integrated chat system.

DocMagic’s Closing Collaboration Platform leverages its eSign technology to deliver and facilitate the electronic signing of the closing disclosure and related documentation. The solution also provides a bridge that can seamlessly integrate with title, closing and lender LOS systems. The company says that in addition to lenders and settlement providers being able to utilize the platform, other relevant technology vendors can also take advantage of the solution to review and share data and documents.

As featured by Progress In Lending, April 2015

New solution brings lenders and settlement providers together inside a secure collaborative portal to view and exchange fee data prior to closing

TORRANCE, Calif., April 23, 2015 -- DocMagic, Inc., the premier provider of fully-compliant loan document preparation, compliance, eSign and eDelivery solutions, announced that it will launch a Collaborative Closing Platform for the mortgage industry. The solution is comprised of a secure, seamless and dynamic web-based portal that efficiently and expeditiously helps lenders comply with the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule that becomes effective on August 1. 

DocMagic's Collaborative Closing Platform enables streamlined, real-time exchange of information between lenders, settlement agents and their associates via a secure web portal designed to electronically access, edit, validate and approve both data and documents. As a result, the coordination of all closing costs and audits of critical disclosure details are addressed prior to closing and in full compliance with TRID.

"Our Collaborative Closing Platform brings all of the necessary closing components and parties together to effectively assist lenders in complying with TRID in a very efficient, timely fashion," said Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO of DocMagic. "With one simple click, lenders can invite their settlement providers to view and update disclosure data, which is automatically analyzed by DocMagic's comprehensive Audit Engine in preparation for final approval by the lender."

The solution utilizes version 3.3 of the new MISMO standard that is needed for TRID to bi-directionally and securely pass data between parties. DocMagic's Audit Engine automatically tracks RESPA tolerance levels, changes in fees and related approvals to ensure compliance with applicable regulations. Each step in the process is tracked and stored within the secure environment. 

Approved parties that are involved in the process can view a full electronic audit trail history of compliance, workflow and document management, which is securely captured and housed in a centralized area for easy access and reporting. Inside the secure platform parties with appropriate permissions can access shared documents, enter and adjust data, view the closing disclosure in real-time as it is modified, and communicate via an integrated chat system. 

DocMagic's Closing Collaboration Platform leverages its eSign technology to deliver and facilitate the electronic signing of the closing disclosure and related documentation. The solution also provides a bridge that can seamlessly integrate with title, closing and lender LOS systems. The company says that in addition to lenders and settlement providers being able to utilize the platform, other relevant technology vendors can also take advantage of the solution to review and share data and documents. 

About DocMagic:
DocMagic, Inc. is a leading provider of fully-compliant loan document preparation, compliance, eSign and eDelivery solutions for the mortgage industry. Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Torrance, Calif., DocMagic, Inc. develops software, mobile apps, processes and web-based systems for the production and delivery of compliant loan document packages. The company's compliance experts and in-house legal staff consistently monitor legal and regulatory changes at both the federal and state levels to ensure accuracy. For more information on DocMagic, visit http://www.docmagic.com/.