The Cogent Road

As a credit reporting agency, Funding Suite works in tandem with our clients to verify elements of applicant’s credit files. Often written documentation is needed to perform this service. Consequently we receive several hundred individual documents for hundreds of different borrowers every day.

Funding Suite used to receive these documents via fax and e-mail. As our business grew, we recognized this highly manual process created bottlenecks in an otherwise automated process. Our processors constantly sorted through a steady stream of incoming faxes attempting to match each with the correct service order. This was a difficult and time consuming process and one prone (unfortunately) to human error. We eventually solved the problem and made document delivery easier (and less wasteful) for our customers, while creating more efficient internal process. Here’s how we did it.

Automated Fax Server: The first step was to eliminate our bank of fax machines by building our own fax server. Once this was integrated into our secure network the server digitized every Funding Suite fax and converted it to a PDF.

Indexing System: Next we used barcoding and indexing to tell Funding Suite what kind of fax it had received. Additionally it recognized the specific mortgage lender and borrower file to which it belonged.

An E-Folder for Every Borrower: Once a fax is received it is stored in an e-folder attached to the corresponding applicant file. Our clients now receive a digital copy of every document for their reference, along with the specific time it was received.

Client Side Document Delivery: We recognized that if the client already had the document in a digital format, our e-folder could actually eliminate the need for faxing altogether! Our next step was to provide our clients with three different document delivery options accessible directly from their Funding Suite application.

• Barcoded Fax Cover Sheets: If the lender needs to send Funding Suite a document that exists in paper form, a couple mouse clicks creates a barcoded coversheet. When faxed to us, the fully indexed document appears in seconds within their applicant’s e-folder.
• Direct Upload: If the client receives a document via e-mail – why print it just to fax it over to us? Instead, to eliminate faxing altogether, the lender can upload the document directly into the applicant’s e-folder. Funding Suite recognizes the type of document received and responds accordingly.
• Virtual Printer: For any other document, the lender can select Funding Suite’s virtual printer to print it directly into the applicant’s e-folder. No paper is ever used.

Intelligent Routing: The final and most involved step was to write a series of algorithms to match incoming documents with the correct service order, department and processor. Consider the lender requesting two years of W2s. In this example the W2 order is placed electronically and queued up until Funding Suite receives the signed 4506 IRS form. Immediately upon placing the order a completed 4506 and barcoded coversheet is presented to the lender which can now be e-mailed to the applicant. The applicant signs the 4506 and faxes it back. Funding Suite servers read the document, match it to the pending W2 order and tee it up for the next available processor. A digital copy of the signed 4506 is also made available to the lender for their internal files. By eliminating the manual processes we significantly improved our completion speed – which in turn improves our customer service levels.

Although we won’t see a return on investment in terms of additional revenue since Funding Suite doesn’t charge for these enhancements – solving this problem provided an overall service improvement for our customers.