Introduction: ELS versus LOS

For more than half a decade I’ve been telling the industry that the future of the mortgage lending business will be built on a new kind of technology. I have argued that the traditional loan origination system (LOS) is an outdated tool that cannot meet the evolving needs of the industry. Over the last year or so, I have seen my predication come true. The days of the Loan Origination System have given way to those of the Enterprise Lending System (ELS), though not everyone understands why or how. Even more peculiar is not everyone even really understands the difference between a LOS and an ELS.

For those who don’t spend their days working to bring mortgage technology to market, this transition may not be as clear. Some still believe that I’ve been talking about a change in labels, but I’m really talking about a change in the entire philosophy of mortgage technology for the loan origination business.

The dust is still settling from the financial crash, but the real requirements for Enterprise Lending Solutions are now clear. We now know what the technology of the future must look like.

From a distance, the LOS of the past and the ELS of the future may appear similar, but upon closer examination the differences become clear. That’s what I plan to do with this series of blog posts. Over the next few weeks, I’ll intersperse posts that compare and contrast LOS with ELS in with my regular blog posts. When I’m done, we’ll have looked at every aspect of modern loan origination technology and the differences between what the industry has used in the past and what it must adopt to compete in the future will become clear.

Anywhere along the line I welcome your comments and questions.

A New Home for Mortgage Cadence

One of the direct results of growth is the required change in facilities to house the people and technology that make a company work. I am very proud of our company’s recent news that Mortgage Cadence’s growth has required such a change. We moved into our new offices over the weekend.

I don’t often talk much about what we’re doing at Cadence in this space, but this was a big move for us and it speaks to changes we’re seeing in the market.

The move only took our company a few blocks from its former location, but miles from where we were in terms of space. Practically doubling the number of FTEs the company employs over the past year was making it very difficult to operate effectively out of the former space. The new offices provide plenty of room to work and expand.

Growing a business during the worst downturn our industry has seen in our lifetimes is definitely something to be proud of and I wish we could take all of the credit. In truth, part of the reason we’ve done so well is because lenders realize that even when times are tough, technology is required to keep their institutions running smoothly. In fact, the right technologies can keep them in business, especially in times like this.

One thing that served us very well was applying our proven origination technology to the problem of default servicing. Servicers found it very difficult to become loan product specialists overnight and they needed technology that could help them operate more like originators, making decisions and underwriting deals in an effort to workout more loans. The technology we developed for the Orchestrator Enterprise Lending System was perfect for this and lenders saw that.

We still have a lot of problem loans to work through and so we expect to continue to grow as the industry recovers. And then, of course, we expect to see the return of the loan originator and a more robust purchase and refinance market.

One thing the new space will provide is more room for people to come together, which will lead to even tighter collaborations between our team and our clients. With a more open floor-plan and plenty of conference and meeting space, we can continue our tradition of coming together in smaller groups to solve the industry’s biggest problems. So we invite you all to come out and see us. You can get all the specifics on where to find us now on our contact page.

In the meantime, we’re gearing up for big industry conferences from both NRMLA and MBA in the months ahead and I hope to see many of you at the shows.