TAMPA, Fla. – Don Charron, senior vice president responsible for mortgage and consumer lending for Suncoast Schools FCU has only one way to describe the $2.6 billion CU's mortgage operation post- vs. pre- implemention of Fiserv's easyLENDERT loan origination software – "It's like night and day," says Charron. After working with SSFCU for 25 years, Charron has a lot of years of experience to base his statement on. He recalls, for example, the tedious manual preparation of documents his department had to contend with. "The manual system couldn't keep up with the mortgage department's loan volume," says Charron. "Our workload was requiring us to work more and more overtime. Before, we had nothing in the way of reporting. If we needed new documents prepared, we had to ask VMP Mortgage Form in Fraser, Mich., to digitize and prepare the document. We had to order out for appraisals and fax copies of the mortgage forms to the title company. It was very tedious." In 1998 Charron realized the manual system was no longer usable for SSFCU, so the credit union formed a software evaluation committee to look into installing an automated loan origination system that would allow SSFCU's mortgage and consumer lending department to operate in a paperless lending environment. Charron said SSFCU selected easyLENDER because of its overall functionality and ability to handle documents, prepare disclosures and streamline SSFCU's entire loan process. The Windows-based, client/server solution automates every phase of the lending process – it can be set up for any type of loan – including calculating the closing costs of a sale and the net payment. The entire process takes about two minutes, and from there the CU can go straight to document processing for a good faith estimate. SSFCU offers a lot of types of loans that may not fit normal secondary market standards, such as LTV loans that don't require private mortgage insurance – and Charron said he likes having the ability to go into easyLENDER and be able to set up parameters to meet a particular product's requirements. Charron emphasized that easyLENDER doesn't make the loan decision. "The software will never reject a loan. Instead it will highlight certain areas, like an applicant's debt ratio. It's always up to us to approve or reject a loan application," he says. "That's one phase of the loan process that still has to be done manually." Charron and SSFCU's staff especially like easyLENDER's seamless interface with Fannie Mae's Desktop UnderwriterT solution. SSFCU eventually plans to interactively network its 26 branches that are equipped with easyLENDER. Until that time, mortgage applications will continue to be taken at the branches and then sent to a central office. SSFCU is also planning to expand its online lending solution and use the online mortgage lending solutions from Boeing Employees CU's joint venture with Prime Alliance Solutions. "I'm glad Suncoast Schools had the foresight to plan for this," Charron said. – [email protected]