MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Oct. 25, 2004 -- Residential Funding Corporation (GMAC-RFC) today introduced four new eCommerce business and technology tools designed to help its mortgage lender partners streamline the mortgage loan process, increase profitability and bring better value to homeowners.

GMAC-RFC announced the availability of Assetwise(SM) Compliance Engine, a tool that enables lenders to determine, before the loan is closed, if the loan may be ineligible for purchase by GMAC-RFC because it is a "high cost" or similarly designated loan under federal, state or local law; the Prequalification Pricing Engine that allows custom products and pricing for multiple investors in addition to GMAC-RFC; Private-Branded Pricing, a tool that enables clients to add custom pricing margins to a lender partner's Private-Branded Assetwise (PBA) findings report; and finally Assetintegration,(SM) a direct integration solution, which allows lenders to connect their existing LOS or POS system with GMAC-RFC's industry-leading solutions including the Assetwise decision support engine.

"These industry-leading business and technology solutions enable our mortgage lending partners to differentiate themselves and enhance their competitive advantage," said Dan Bettenburg, managing director and executive vice president of eCommerce, GMAC-RFC's Residential Capital Group. "These offerings complement our suite of mortgage process tools available to lenders. They help our clients to close their loans more quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively, ultimately enhancing lenders' ability to drive value to the homeowner."

Ken Orman, executive vice president, Kellner Mortgage Investment, Ltd., said Private Branded Assetwise has really added value to his company. "We've defined our process around PBA, using it as an evaluation engine, data delivery system and a tool to capture our partners' existing credit reports. Since June of 2004, the average PBA loan has closed three days sooner than other manually underwritten products. We estimate that we save $290 per PBA loan, and expect that savings to increase as we transition all our brokers to its use."

Mike Kozlak, president of GMAC-RFC's Residential Capital Group, said, "As a leading private mortgage conduit for more than 20 years, GMAC-RFC is committed to bringing greater value to the mortgage process for our lender partners and their borrowers. We will continue to invest in an expanding portfolio of e-Commerce solutions ranging from web-based e-business tools to highly customized decision engines."

MORE ABOUT THE SUITE OF TOOLS -

Assetwise Compliance Engine enables lenders to determine if their loan may be ineligible for purchase by GMAC-RFC because it is a "high-cost" or similarly designated loan under federal, state or local law. More states and cities are passing anti-predatory laws, and as a result, it is becoming more difficult to keep up with investor requirements regarding these laws. Assetwise Compliance Engine analyzes a lender's loan before it is closed - to be sure it aligns with GMAC-RFC policies on what to include in the "points and fees" test - and calculates the "total loan amount" under HOEPA and certain state and city predatory lending laws. GMAC-RFC is the first private conduit to offer this unique compliance tool.

GMAC-RFC's Prequalification Pricing Engine allows lenders to quickly determine which of the lender's products best meet a borrower's needs, calculate price indications for the selected loan products and run multi-investor "what-if" scenarios, and quickly generate a one-page response. This process takes a lender's brokers, loan officers or account executives minutes, rather than hours, to complete.

Private-Branded Pricing is a pricing tool used within GMAC-RFC's proprietary evaluation engine, Private-Branded Assetwise, which allows lenders to apply their pricing margins against then current GMAC-RFC pricing for GMAC Residential Funding products and display margin adjusted pricing directly to loan officers and brokers via the PBA findings report. The tool is versatile enough to apply premium pricing margins to certain brokers or other user groups and often can be customized to reflect a lender's unique pricing methodology and display preferences. Better management of a lender's pricing decision process will create greater consistency, help optimize margins and provide better solutions for borrowers.

Assetintegration is a direct integration solution that allows lenders to connect their existing LOS or POS systems with GMAC-RFC's industry-leading solutions. It streamlines processes by integrating lenders' systems with the Assetwise engine for loan evaluation, Assetdelivery(SM) Import system for automated loan delivery, and the RFConnects system for warehouse facility management - while leveraging lenders' existing user interfaces and applications. By using one set of data for the entire process, labor costs are reduced, errors are minimized and processes are accelerated.

ABOUT GMAC-RFC

GMAC-RFC, a wholly owned subsidiary of GMAC Financial Services, is a leading private issuer of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and mortgage-related asset-backed securities (ABS), and the No. 1 warehouse lender in the United States. The company leverages its strengths in securitization, lending and investment to offer a broad portfolio of innovative capital solutions to businesses in a variety of markets. The company operates in the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and Continental Europe. www.gmacrfc.com

GMAC-RFC, Minneapolis
Jodi Ehlers Swanson, 952-857-7343
jodi.ehlers@gmacrfc.com

At A Glance GMAC-RFC 
 
Headquarters: Minneapolis, MN 
Website: http://www.gmacrfc.com 
CEO: Bruce Paradis 
Employees: 4,300 
Organization: Private