Closing Fees...

The normal closing costs here in Georgia are 2%. 1% origination and 1 %  misc. fees.  Often times the closing fees quoted a borrower change before and during the actual closing - hopefuly they are lower. This is a source of major frustration for borrowers looking for greater transparency. To this end, a recent partnership has sought to end this problem and integrate exact closing fees directly into the broker's core system early in the mortgage process.

Specifically, origination vendor Ellie Mae and First Title and Escrow Inc., a nationwide provider of title and closing services to mortgage lenders and brokers, have collaborated so that users of Ellie Mae's Encompass Mortgage Automation System will receive instant and exact closing fees, directly from First Title, prior to printing the good faith estimate. Because these figures are imported at an early stage in the loan, originators can price their loans more accurately earlier, streamline the origination process, and avert the possibilities of fee inaccuracies that can result in lost loans or costly compliance violations.

The closing fee data provided to Ellie Mae by First Title include abstract fees, title premiums, recording and release fees, closing fees, and city, county and state transfer taxes. The figures are not only exact and instantly available, but are also able to be imported directly into users' Encompass files from First Title's Web interface, www.FirstTitleServices.com. The Encompass system automatically populates the fees into the GFE, saving the customary excessive time and effort involved in acquiring the figures manually.