How Lenders Can Optimize the Loan Process with MISMO Data Standards

In today's ever-changing mortgage industry, lenders are on the hunt for various tools and solutions to improve efficiency and maintain compliance with latest regulations from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The challenge with using multiple technologies to improve business is ensuring that systems work smoothly together.

All too often, vendors build interfaces using proprietary interface specifications. The complexity of supporting these multiple data formats becomes a significant and costly challenge for lenders. These proprietary formats hinder the flexibility of selecting their preferred vendor for a specific service.

Each vendor has its own requirements for maintaining proprietary data and file formats, though not using an industrywide standard can carry a high risk for lenders. Required specifications may change over time, leaving the lender with few system and vendor options. But, by leveraging industrywide data standards, there is a better way to ensure the lender's LOS and technology providers will interface smoothly.

Benefits to Standardized Data
To improve communication between various parties and vendors in the loan process, the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization began the process of establishing industry-wide standards in 1999 as computer-based LOS and underwriting engines began to enter the workforce. Over the years, MISMO has put into place a series of standards designed to more securely, economically and efficiently exchange loan information between different parties. More recently, this has included helping lenders establish data standards for the vast number of regulatory changes introduced by the Dodd-Frank Act and adoption of eMortgages.

Rather than continuing to abide by multiple data formats, adhering to latest MISMO standards ensure that the entire mortgage industry, as well as technology vendors, are all speaking the same data "language." Adopting these standards confers some key benefits to establishing an effective technology foundation.

For the complete article, visit the MBA website.