Cornerstone Financial Credit Union has licensed a platform that will enable it to gain greater control and security over lending documents shared with its members. It will deploy Sharebase from Hyland, with the objective of providing members secure access to loan-related documents and packages.

Due to regulations, lenders have been required to collect more documents than ever, increasing the risk of losing or misplacing documents. At the same time, the regulatory penalties for doing so are greater than they have ever been, so lenders are working to ensure they can minimize the risk from documents that are misplaced.

ShareBase is designed to provide an intuitive, automated and secure way for members to access loan information while incorporating an automatic audit trail to ensure corporate and industry compliance. Developed and designed specifically with security in mind, all files in ShareBase are encrypted while at-rest and in-transit. Additionally, data encryption keys are themselves encrypted and rotated to meet the toughest security standards.

"Granting access to members' lending documents, in a safe and secure manner, was a critical component of Cornerstone's quest for a file sharing tool," said Travis Roe, product manager at Hyland. "ShareBase will provide control over the information shared with both internal and external users to know exactly who has accessed information and what actions were taken."

Freddie Mac has begun a two-year manufactured housing pilot designed to increase the number of affordable homes and provide lenders with innovative financing options.

“Currently there are more than 22 million families living in factory-built housing, and with that number expected to grow, there’s an opportunity for factory-built homes to address the housing supply shortage and quality housing overall,” Mike Dawson, vice president of Single-Family Affordable Lending Strategy and Policy at Freddie Mac. “This new generation of manufactured housing might just be the best option for first-time homebuyers, Millennials, and empty-nesters looking to downsize.”

These financial alternatives were designed to be similar to conventional lending alternatives. Manufactured homes can deliver outstanding quality at prices that are up to 50 percent less per square foot than conventional site-built homes. These savings can enable more Americans to own their own home, even in the face of an ever-widening housing affordability gap.

“Finding a home is more difficult than ever because of the ongoing housing supply shortage in many parts of the country, especially when looking for a home at a lower price point,” said Dawson.

These homes have features such as permanent foundations and pitched roofs. Many of these homes also come with energy-saving features like Energy Star Qualified Low-E windows, programmable thermostats and minimum insulation values.

Freddie Mac will treat loans secured by factory-built home loans the same as those secured by single-family site-built homes. If a factory-built home meets certain specifications will be eligible for traditional financing. Appraisers will be able to use site-built housing as a comparable for valuation.

Manufacturers and lenders must follow HUD-code guidelines for the home construction and siting of the home to ensure eligibility Freddie’s guidelines; lenders must follow local and state guidelines for manufactured housing titled as real property.

Guaranteed Rate Inc. will acquire Honolulu HomeLoans and Hawaii Lending Alliance, increasing its presence in the Hawaii market and adding an experienced team of mortgage professionals.

Also, Guaranteed Rate will license new branch locations in downtown Honolulu and in other locations as well as maintain its existing branch locations in Honolulu and Aiea.

“Hawaii is a growing market where we’ve already built a great team. Adding this opportunity will accelerate our market share dramatically,” said Victor Ciardelli, executive officer and founder at Guaranteed Rate, an independent mortgage company.

“What enables Guaranteed Rate to be a top-retail lender in the country will certainly benefit our loan officers, realtor partners and customers,” said Anders Hostelley, former president and CEO of HHL. “Guaranteed Rate has cutting-edge technology coupled with excellent customer service and an outstanding base of products to offer our clients, which will enable us to excel as a mortgage lender in Hawaii.” After the acquisition, Hostelley will continue to lead that business unit as a regional manager.

As a result of this acquisition, the Company will expand its presence with the goal of reaching an even broader audience on the Hawaiian Islands. Many of the former Honolulu HomeLoans and Hawaii Lending Alliance loan officers that are joining Guaranteed Rate are fluent in Vietnamese, Ilocano and Tagalog.