— Expanded capabilities significantly enhance social media oversight solution —

Leading provider of secondary marketing automation and services in the mortgage industry, Optimal Blue, announced today the launch of real-time social media compliance monitoring – the subsequent phase of its unique and leading-edge service to address the growing industry need to monitor social and digital media communications within a regulatory framework. This release of fully-automated monitoring functionality complements the current compliance auditing capabilities by providing a thorough solution set to seamlessly manage the inherent compliance risks associated with the rapid growth of social media usage in the mortgage industry.

The new real-time monitoring functionality is unlike any other service being offered in the mortgage space today. Relevant mortgage ‘trigger terms’ are built in to the Optimal Blue platform enabling the system to crawl the internet in search of potential infractions across corporate digital properties or a loan officer’s social networking profile. Customized trigger terms can also be added for specific organizational needs. When identified, an automated alert is delivered in real time to encourage quick resolution and remediation, lowering compliance risk and limiting reputational damage.

“In today’s social media landscape, it is imperative to take a proactive approach,” explained Scott Happ, CEO of Optimal Blue. “By introducing a comprehensive monitoring module, clients can easily detect and resolve issues before they become costly. This also creates a phenomenal opportunity to train staff and loan officers regarding the compliance responsibilities related to social and digital media.”

Originators looking to create an efficient and scalable social media monitoring program value Optimal Blue’s social media compliance system because it enables them to combine periodic audits with ongoing monitoring. Additionally, the system delivers comprehensive trend reports and provides users with valuable insights into social media risk factors. “The Optimal Blue social media platform has completely altered the way we manage our loan officer’s social activity,” said Laura Kardow, Director of Compliance with Open Mortgage, LLC. “The addition of monitoring to an already progressive audits program has created more transparency into digital risk assessment and allows us to address any potential issues – immediately.”

For additional information on maintaining compliance and your corporate reputation while promoting the use of social media to grow business, Optimal Blue has developed a resource titled, “Monitoring Your Employees’ Social Media Activity.”

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PRESS CONTACT FOR OPTIMAL BLUE
Robert J. Brandt
Vice President, Marketing & Strategic Alliances
(469) 609-5585
bbrandt@optimalblue.com

In 2016, Optimal Blue made a strategic decision to an open its platform to third-party systems by building a series of APIs designed to provide comprehensive access to system data and workflow functionality. Several factors drove this strategy, including the notion that while loan pricing information must be consumed by a myriad of systems, customers prefer to maintain a single implementation of product eligibility and pricing data. A second factor was the growing interest by third-party applications in embedding product eligibility, pricing data, and secondary marketing workflows. And finally, the digital mortgage movement and demand for greater information transparency was increasing the need to present consistent, real-time product and price data throughout the consumer engagement process. Now, roughly one year after Optimal Blue released its first transaction sets, the company finds itself at the center of a large and growing ecosystem of mortgage technology providers that rely on Optimal Blue APIs.

More than forty vendors have integrated with Optimal Blue’s API platform, offering a wide variety of services to the company’s customers, including solutions for customer relationship management, marketing, point-of-sale, mobile, loan origination, and lead generation. Now, for the first time, Optimal Blue clients can confidently rely on a single source of accurate pricing to power an array of systems. Hundreds of Optimal Blue clients are taking advantage of the connectivity that now exists between the product and pricing data they maintain within the Optimal Blue platform and connected vendors.

“Optimal Blue is fast becoming a utility for the industry now that our customers can simply plug their price data into nearly any technology solution,” explained Scott Happ, CEO of Optimal Blue.

Through its RESTful API platform, Optimal Blue supports a growing variety of transactions including product eligibility, complete price results, and locking. Because third-party applications are all connected using Optimal Blue’s common API framework, product eligibility and pricing is handled consistently by each application and APR calculations, payment disclosures, and mortgage insurance quotes are always correct. To ensure third-party applications comply with data and connectivity standards, Optimal Blue maintains a rigorous vendor certification process.

The success of Optimal Blue’s API initiative has been bolstered by the industry’s growing interest in bringing price transparency to consumer interactions. Today, nearly all consumers begin the mortgage loan process online and have come to expect on-demand, transparent, and consistent information. These evolving consumer expectations paired with the industry’s highly competitive environment are causing a rush by originators to adopt digital capabilities. In the process, originators must grapple with how to integrate digital mortgage technologies, deliver information to the consumer in a real-time and compliant manner, and ensure consumers have a consistent experience across channels and throughout the origination process.

Optimal Blue ‘s ecosystem of API-connected vendors provides a solution for originators wishing to bring price consistency and transparency to their entire mortgage process. Clients are using these third-party vendor connections to jumpstart their entry into the digital mortgage arena and are realizing significant operational and compliance benefits from using Optimal Blue as a single source for loan pricing.

“In creating a platform supporting third-party applications, Optimal Blue has crushed the barrier to the digital mortgage,” added Happ. “By connecting virtually every vendor in the digital mortgage space to the Optimal Blue platform, we have paved the way for originators to join the digital mortgage movement.”

Looking forward, Optimal Blue intends to extend the success of its API initiative by aggressively adding transactions supporting an even deeper integration of data and workflows. Currently in development are a set of transactions that will support advanced lock desk functionality, including re-locks, lock extensions, worst case pricing, and change requests.

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PRESS CONTACT FOR OPTIMAL BLUE
Robert J. Brandt
Vice President, Marketing & Strategic Alliances
(469) 609-5585
bbrandt@optimalblue.com

— Fifth consecutive recognition as a technology leader in the housing economy —

Optimal Blue, the leading provider of secondary marketing automation and services in the mortgage industry, was recently named to HousingWire’s HW Tech100™ for the fifth consecutive year. The HW Tech100 takes a broad focus approach to innovative technology across the U.S. housing economy, spanning real estate to mortgage lending and servicing, as well as investments, recognizing industry leaders in a new, unique, and powerful way.

As explained by HousingWire’s Online Editor, Caroline Basile, “These companies provide innovative solutions and are moving the housing finance industry forward as technology rapidly changes how the landscape operates.” Since 2002, Optimal Blue has been a pioneer of mortgage technology innovation – known to provide the scale and experience that many in the industry rely upon for results every day.

Thousands of leading originators, investors, and providers rely on Optimal Blue’s technology and together, create a unique, multi-sided network referred to as the Digital Mortgage Marketplace. Through this single, unified technology and value-added services platform, originators can automate their entire secondary marketing operation, from content through commitment, while investors are empowered with network access and an array of compliance and business intelligence tools. By providing innovative mortgage technology firms with API-based access to the Digital Mortgage Marketplace, Optimal Blue has connected virtually every vendor in the digital mortgage space.

“Optimal Blue supports an extensive ecosystem of digital mortgage providers and has helped bring positive change to the industry by reducing the barriers to collaboration,” explained Scott Happ, CEO of Optimal Blue. “What an honor to be a part of this incredible revolution, and to be recognized as a technology leader in the HW Tech100. Together, we are helping move our industry forward.”

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PRESS CONTACT FOR OPTIMAL BLUE
Robert J. Brandt
Vice President, Marketing & Strategic Alliances
(469) 609-5585
bbrandt@optimalblue.com