As the credit crisis has rolled on, many loan originators — and the technology companies that serve them — are refocusing their efforts on local, community banks. Mortgage Builder Software, Inc., one such tech provider, proved that adage true by announcing Tuesday that it had signed Clarksville-Tenn.-based F&M Bank up to use its Mortgage Builder LOS. With $650 million in assets, serving the residents of middle Tennessee, F&M Bank operates 13 full-service banking offices. The bank said it was forced to look for a new LOS after its current provider went out of business. “Our current LOS vendor no longer offered a viable future, so we began looking for a suitable replacement,” said Tammy Trice, assistant vice president of F&M and underwriter. “After our initial research, we thought we had finalized our next LOS vendor. Then at the last minute, Mortgage Builder contacted our bank to promote and sell their LOS system. We decided to take a look because our vendor of choice at that time was not responsive to our final inquiries. After a thorough review and feature comparison, we concluded that Mortgage Builder was actually the best system in terms of features and value. We were lucky that Mortgage Builder happened to cross paths with our bank prior to any commitments with the other software vendor.” Mortgage Builder interfaces to many core banking systems, the major automated underwriting systems such as Fannie Mae’s DU and Freddie Mac’s LP, numerous vendors for ordering credit, flood, title, mortgage insurance, as well as accounting and servicing systems. ”The residential lending module is often the redheaded step-child of the core banking system, offering mediocre loan origination functionality,” said Keven Smith, president of Mortgage Builder Software. “If a community bank is doing a handful of loans a year, the built in origination systems are adequate. But if they are serious about increasing their loan volume, they need a system that specializes in that department.” “Over 80 percent of Mortgage Builder’s new business comes from community banks and credit unions,” Smith said.

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