Lenders Choice Celebrates First Year in Title Business.

Lenders First Choice, a title and settlement services company here, recently celebrated its first anniversary of operations.

Its president, Bill Moody, met with Mortgage Servicing News in New York to discuss the growth the company has seen in its brief period in business.

Lenders First Choice is part of the Mercury Cos., Mr. Moody said, pointing out that while the parent has other title operations, it did not have one that specialized in "lender-directed business," a unit that was able to process title orders the way the lender wanted it done.

The company was built around technology and process management. Paper files are not created until Lenders First receives recordable documents. Commitments are e-mailed, faxed and/or posted online.

Furthermore, when an order is opened, Lenders First sends the lender a preliminary HUD statement with a complete list of its fees, and those fees are guaranteed, Mr. Moody noted. If the cost comes in above the fee, Lenders First takes the hit.

This level of certainty is one of the objects of the guaranteed mortgage package that was to give the applicant a set price. In fact this might even give Lenders First a leg up if and when the Department of Housing and Urban Development releases it proposed Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act reform.

"Bundling doesn't scare us, because all we have to do is add the numbers together," he said.