MISMO’s MXCompliance, Now Expanded and Enhanced

March 31, 2006

San Diego, CA – MISMO announced today the expansion of its compliance certification program for both the mortgage insurance (MI) application transaction and the automated underwriting system (AUS) transaction. Since launching MISMO eXtensible Markup Language (XML) Compliance (MXCompliance) for the credit reporting transaction last spring, MISMO, a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), has now expanded and enhanced the service which allows implementers of MISMO’s Internet-based XML standards to use requirements to take steps in becoming officially compliant, as evaluated by MISMO, as well as validate their XML. MXCompliance for all transactions is planned and necessary as the industry continues to advance in adopting MISMO standards.

MXCompliance requirements for the MI application request and response transactions allows vendors, lenders and mortgage insurance providers to become a credible source for the transaction that is used to secure mortgage insurance products for loans. MXCompliance will allow for the same credibility for the AUS transaction, the center of many MISMO origination transactions, which includes important components of the mortgage process - like applications, closings and insurance. The debut of AUS also marks an enhancement in the MXCompliance service by allowing applicants to certify against three separate requirements based on the loan products they support. With this “MISMO-compliant” stamp of approval, entities can differentiate themselves within the request for proposal (RFP) process by illustrating their commitment to free and open data standard transactions, demonstrating overall flexibility and showing that they passed a third party test.

“The MISMO brand has become widely recognized as offering efficiencies through standards development and innovation,” said Doug Duncan, MBA Chief Economist & Senior Vice President of Research and Business Development and President of MISMO. “Expanding and enhancing MXCompliance will surely have a positive impact by encouraging the industry to safe-guard the advancement of data standards adoption.”

With the MBA's support and subscriber company participation, MISMO is the premiere standards development body for the real estate finance industry. Its creation and continued expansion of this compliance service is tremendously important and essential. There are three types of MXCompliance Services: Verification, Import and Export. Verification is a service for businesses interested in purchasing Certified Products and Services from organizations that claim they are MISMO-compliant. The Verification Service ensures that vendor products and services are identical to the products that were MXCompliance certified. The Import and Export Services are used by Applicants seeking certification of their product or service interfaces against MISMO standards. The cost of MXCompliance ranges from $500 to $1,500 per transaction being certified. A suite of MXCompliance trademarks have been designed that will be licensed to those organizations that pass the compliance standards successfully. Recertification will occur annually. Currently, over ten organizations have become certified.

MISMO has been and continues to accept MXCompliance specifications from other MISMO workgroups to establish minimum certification requirements, as MISMO plans to expand further and make this service available for other transaction areas in the future. It is anticipated that flood will be the next to debut.

For further information, visit: http://mxcompliance.mismo.org/.

Source: MBA


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