Guardian Expands Document Care.(Guardian Mortgage Documents )

LAKEWOOD, CO -- Guardian Mortgage Documents here has expanded beyond basic mortgage closing documents to provide a suite of transaction management services designed to optimize back-office loan closing activities.

And with loan originations starting to contract industrywide, the company believes more and more lenders will turn to outsourcing in search of cost savings and greater efficiency.

"When the volumes wane a little, we see a spike in interest for our outsource services," said Tim Anschutz, vice president of marketing at GMD.

Outsourcing, of course, can turn a fixed-cost department into a variable cost item. GMD's core competency is in the area of closing documents, but recently the company has seen tremendous growth in its transaction management system. That group's business has increased by more than 40% in the past year, and the company says that the pipeline of new clients getting ready to use the service is strong as well. But it is more than just efficiency that lenders are looking for. Today, many clients are interested in outsourcing or expanding their transaction management outsourcing because of concerns about reliability and regulatory compliance.

"We are also offering risk mitigation. If we don't close properly, we fix it or we pay for it," Mr. Anschutz said.

Guardian's transaction management services include tests to see if a loan runs into "predatory lending" thresholds that require additional legal oversight, he said.

"A lot of bankers out there don't know they have to run that stuff, and then they run into problems with the investor when they try to sell it," Mr. Anschutz said.