Summary: Use this page to see what we are doing with Encompass. Dates are reversed; most recent on top. AMB made a complete conversion to Encompass in May, 2006. Penalties for loans not originated in Encompass became effective in October, 2006.
| Date | Category | Description |
| 11/2/2007 | Forms | Added a Re-VOE for compliance audits and introduced the Tangible Benefit test for all Colorado loans. The loan officer must complete page two since the borrower will not know all of the loan features as well as the loan officer. |
| 9/27/2007 | Forms | Changed the Florida Mortgage Broker Agreement to reflect new regulations that require an exact dollar amount be disclosed when originating a new loan. You must disclose the maximum dollar amount a borrower can pay and then re-disclose when the loan is locked if the actual amount of YSP is different than originally disclosed, even if less than initially provided. In no case can the disclosure be made less than three days prior to closing! |
| 9/12/2007 | Forms | Added an FHA Case Number Request form that can be used to have The Processing Processing acquire agency case numbers. Also, replaced the Interest Only and Payment Option ARMs booklet with the new Consumer Handbook on Adjustable Rate Mortgages. You must start using this handbook immediately! |
| 6/24/07 | Forms | Deleted the old OH form as it was obsolete. Deleted the PA forms as AMB elected to cancel its PA license. |
| 6/7/2007 | Forms | AMB's Kentucky exemption language in the MBA was replaced as we have been licensed as a mortgage broker. |
| 4/13/2007 | Functionality | Added Home Inspectors as one of AMB's approved business categories. |
| 3/31/2007 | Functionality | Purged the categories again. Left two categories (Do Not Use and Mortgagee Clause) to supplement the list of approved categories listed on 8/10/2006. |
| 2/28/2007 | Forms | The VA form did not describe accurately the items which added up to the total mortgage broker fee. We added the discount fee as an another aspect of our fee. |
| 1/30/2007 | Forms | The Certification and authorization form was redone in a couple of ways. First the privacy disclosure was moved to the Privacy form. Next, a Zero Tolerance for Fraud paragraph was added that reviews the importance of providing accurate information and encourages borrowers to call AMB if any one encourages them to falsify any information in their application. |
| 1/30/2007 | Forms | AMB has completely reviewed and reconstructed our state Mortgage Broker Agreements. The changes are too numerous to detail here. It is absolutely essential that you read each and every state form prior to using it! Please contact IT if you have any problems or see any mistakes in the new forms. Also, a New Hampshire state form was added. |
| 1/11/2007 | Templates | We adjusted the 2/28 loan program changing the initial term of 28 to 24 months. Please adjust any loan programs that you have based upon our seed loan program. Other programs were checked for accuracy. |
| 1/2/2007 | Forms | Added a Pre-Approval Certificate that can be printed and provided to a buyer to use to show that he or she is pre-approved. Located in the Marketing Pieces folder. |
| 1/1/2007 | Forms | Updated the Servicing transfer Notice to 2006, 2005 and 2004. If you created any custom form groups including this form they have been automatically updated as well. However, if you have copied this form to your personal forms folder, perhaps because you added a custom watermark, then you will need to update it manually. |
| 12/18/06 | Forms | Deleted the obsolete FHA home inspection form as any loan using that form would have closed by now. Make sure to update any custom form groups you created with the new FHA form (different name because of the version date). |
| 12/11/2006 | Templates | Revised all templates deleting the occupancy checks. What had happened was someone used a template for a property that was not going to be used as owner occupied and once the template was applied the occupancy changed to owner occupied. Therefore, two important things to remember: 1) make sure that your loans are correct when you apply a new template and 2) if you created any templates based on AMB's Loan Program templates be sure to go in and delete the occupancy checks. |
| 11/29/2006 | Forms | Added a CA 1003 addendum that addresses the rights of Domestic Partners. Countrywide required this form on one of our recent submissions. |
| 11/25/2006 | Forms | Corrected the Compliance Notices as to the Hazard Insurance contact information (previously the form pulled the MI contact information). Also changed language to read "as found on the web at" in regards to the reference to HUD and CHARM booklets on page two. Deleted the title number reference as this number should be the new policy number, not the old one. On the Conflicting Notice form we added the zip code for the processing company. |
| 11/20/2006 | Forms | Revised all FHA print groups to replace the expiring home inspection notice. We recommend that if you have created your personal form groups for FHA documents that you do the same. The new form does not require the signatures of borrowers so we recommend that you get them to initial the form. |
| 11/1/2006 | Templates | Updated all of the public miscellaneous
data templates moving the number of months taxes are
escrowed from HUD line 1003 to HUD line 1004. This corrected
an error in calculating cash to close since the templates
populated from HUD line 1004 and not HUD line 1003. We can
not change any personal templates so if you created any
personal miscellaneous data templates. Also corrected an error on the title order form as the field used for the title fax number was not populating this field correctly. We added the new FHA Home Inspection Notice - This form does not require the client's signature. We will be replacing the existing form shortly. |
| 10/2/2006 | Functionality | Created a Prospects folder to retain files
that have properties yet to be determined since you can
place these loans here and not have them count as an asset
if you report on or view your dashboard for My Pipeline.
Several individuals had mentioned that their information was
being skewed by loans that they were not sure would ever
materialize. Remember that when a property is identified you
have three days to make your RESPA and TIL disclosures! Also cleaned up the categories for business contacts. There are currently only five custom categories: Do Not Use, Mortgagee Clause, Pest Inspection / Termite Company, Processing Company and Tax Preparer / Enrolled Agent. |
| 9/21/2006 | Functionality | The AMB Miscellaneous Data templates were changed to show lock status as Float rather than blank. Please adjust your personal templates to reflect this change. Also, updated all existing Miscellaneous Data templates to populate the FTC information to the standard denial letters in Encompass. This address already appeared on the custom denial forms, which are the two we recommend that you use (denial and counter offer). Also, we adjusted the lock-in and commitment fee line on the VA agreement to be "N/A" because the state auditors asked us to. |
| 9/7/2006 | Functionality | Added two custom business categories, "Do
Not Use" and "Mortgagee Clause". Corporate will use the
first category to track vendors
you should not use. This is like our personal LDP list. For
those of you who do not originate FHA loans, LDP is Limited
Denial of Participation, in other words those individuals
whose name appears on the list cannot obtain or participate
in an FHA loan transaction! Also deleted all of the custom categories except for those as indicated on the 8/10/2006 entry and the two added today. |
| 9/7/2006 | Templates | The Miscellaneous Data Template for the AMB Conventional Data Template did not have the Processing Fee marked as a Prepaid Finance Charge. We recommend that you check any templates you have created based on this seed and make sure to update the PFC checkbox, if necessary. Mark updated all of the templates in the Private Branch folders. |
| 8/16/2006 | Forms | Added the Gift Letter (somehow we missed it until now). Please note that the amount of gift funds is input either on the Freddie Mac Additional Info screen or the MCAW forms. The field number is 220. Slots for two donors were added to the Custom Fields screen. The donors' information is completed by hand and not saved to your file. |
| 8/14/2006 | Forms | Added a VA form for members of the Reserve to indicate their membership status. This form need only be used when originating a VA loan for a reservist. |
| 8/12/2006 | Functionality | Deleted a number of escrow and title tables that were not created by IT. Several of them had been created incorrectly and yielded very strange results (i.e., Tampa Title). Also deleted some city and state fees. |
| 8/12/2006 | Forms | Added a calculated field to the VA IRRRL form that displays the number of months required for a borrower to break even. Also clarified that the Amendatory Language form is in the FHA folder but can be used for VA loans as well. |
| 8/10/2006 | Functionality | Deleted all of the business categories
except for the default settings and the following: Pest
Inspection / Termite Company, Processing Company and Tax
Preparer / Enrolled Agent. The default categories include:
Appraiser, Attorney, Credit Company, Doc Signing, Escrow,
Flood Insurance, Hazard Insurance, Lender/Investor, Mortgage
Insurance, No Category, Organization, Real Estate Agent,
Servicing, Surveyor, Title Insurance, Underwriter and
Verification. If you had been using any other categories in the past your records are now located in the No Category selection. There is a good chance that we will delete the category again if you recreate it. Contact IT if you want a category added so we will know not to delete it next time we purge the category listings! |
| 8/1/2006 | Functionality | Added a custom field for the names of private investors. When originating a private investor loan we recommend that you mark your mortgage type as Other and describe it as Private. Also added a Business Contact field that reflects the company identification number as assigned by AMB and the branch ID number. No action is required by users pertaining to the identification numbers. |
| 7/28/2006 | Forms | The Certification and Authorization form was reported as having the outline numbers out of order. The form was revised omitting the auto sequence and the outlined numbers were replaced to correct the error. |
| 7/27/2006 | Forms | The three standard form groups had included the GFE - Itemization of Amount Financed. It has been replaced with the GFE Broker Expanded. We recommend that you change any of your private form groups that used the Itemization form. |
| 7/13/2006 | Functionality | Modified the sample Conv FL print group so that the documents are in the order of the Acknowledgement Statement. Some optional items must be added, if desired. We also created an FHA and VA print group (based on purchase) that you can use as the basis to creating your own print groups. |
| 7/13/2006 | Forms | Added the Get a Home Inspection form to the Acknowledgement Statement. |
| 7/13/2006 | Forms | Made minor changes in the VA Lock-in Agreement to conform with recent changes in their law. |
| 7/13/2006 | Forms | Added a Pre-Approval Disclosure to the VA state specific forms. VA law changed, effective 9/1/2006, and now requires that consumers be informed as to what pre-approval means. You must provide this notice within three days of telling a borrower of pre-approval. We believe it is easiest to tell the borrower what pre-approval is at time of application. |
| 7/13/2006 | Forms | Revised language in the Pre-Approval letter to indicate loan terms will be locked in no later than the day prior to closing. Also included a line for mortgage insurance, if required. |
| 7/11/2006 | Forms | AMB is now requiring that loan officers indicate the loan documentation type of each file closed. The Compliance Cover Sheet has been revised to capture this information from the Borrower Summary screen. |
| 6/26/2006 | Forms | Added the CA state disclosure. |
| 6/16/2006 | Forms | Made a number of corrections to the MA Broker Agreement. A handful of fields had not been redirected from Point to Encompass. Also a couple of the calculated fields were being incorrectly displayed. |
| 6/15/2006 | Forms | Added Verbal Verification of Employment (completed by hand) to the Processing Forms folder. |
| 6/15/2006 | Forms | Corrected language on the appraisal order form. |
| 6/9/2006 | Functionality | Updated to Encompass 2.9. Each user will be prompted to upgrade when they first try to connect to the server. |
| 5/16/2006 | Forms | Moved the Case Expense History to the Processing Forms folder. |
| 5/10/2006 | Forms | Added a File Transmittal Sheet to the Branch and Employee Forms folder that is to be used by branches when they send files to Corporate. At this time the form is voluntary but using it may help to alleviate surcharges for missing files that a branch thought had been sent in. |
| 5/10/2006 | Bug | Kim Harestad reported glitches when originating a stand alone second mortgage. The borrower's first mortgage was not included in the ratio calculation nor did it appear on 1003 Page 2. She had to manually lock the field and add the payment by hand. |
| 5/10/2006 | Bug | Dave Leneberg discovered the requirement to use the MIP/FF button or the Mtg. Ins. button to get the amortization schedule to print correctly. This created a need to correct the introductory manual as described below. |
| 5/10/2006 | Manual | Updated page 30 of the introductory course. Also added dates to footer to help keep your manual current. Content now says that you must use the MIP/FF button (1003 Page 1) or the Mtg. Ins. button (RegZ - TIL) to add MI to the amortization schedule. MI cancels at 78%, which is 155 months for 30 year loans and 59 months for 15 year loans. Both examples are for fixed rate mortgages. Print page 30 and replace it in your manual with the page updated 05/10/06 (all other pages are blank or read 05/09/06). |
| 5/9/2006 | Training | Right click here to download AMB's Introduction to Working with Encompass. It will be the handbook for the May 16 class. We recommend that you print it and bring it with you to training! |
| 5/9/2006 | Functionality | Downgraded Adobe Acrobat 7.0.7 to version 6.0 as Ellie Mae told Mark in a support call that Encompass does not work with this version of Acrobat. Do not upgrade to version 7.0.7 until you see an update approving this version of Acrobat. |
| 5/8/2006 | Forms | Added escrow payment information to hazard and flood endorsements. |
| 5/3/2006 | Folders | Added a Web Applications folder to import Internet based 1003's. |
| 5/3/2006 | Templates | Made some minor changes in all of the sample Loan Programs to improve compliance (tied ARM products to PFG). Moved unknown Closing Costs programs to a sub-folder and deleted those that were incorrect. Again, as noted below, some users apparently have access to public folders. |
| 4/27/2006 | Tables | Apparently another user has access to the public tables and set up some fees there. We deleted them as they duplicated ours. Also, there was a decimal problem that underestimated title fees. This was corrected. |
| 4/25/2006 | Forms | Our apologies, due to a misunderstanding
Mark thought there was a charge to use the secure forms tool
within Encompass. There is not! The service is free. This is
particularly exciting as it makes it easier than ever to
send documents to borrowers to sign. To use it open your file and click on the Tools tab in the Action Panel (lower left). After the Send dialog window appears, choose the forms that you want and click Send. Type a message to accompany your forms and click Send again. For more details search Help for "secure form tool" and display the topic for Secure Form Transfer. |
| 4/23/2006 | Functionality | Cathy Maddox became concerned when she saw
duplicate loans inflating her pipeline. As a default,
Encompass apparently reports on all folders in the
Dashboard. You probably don't want this. Pick only the
folders that are relevant to you, such as My Pipeline,
Completed Loans, Adverse Loans and Withdrawn Loans. Warning: Encompass reverts to the default each time you log on! |
| 4/23/2006 | Functionality | We added another folder called Sent to
Processing. Cathy Maddox recommended using the folder as
follows: Right-click a file and duplicate it before you send the file to processing. Then check one of the two files and move it to the Sent to Processing folder. This way you have a copy of the file exactly the way you sent it to your processor. Move the file to z To be Deleted when you finish with it. |
| 4/23/2006 | Contacts | Changed all contacts classified as branch to organization per Ellie Mae's recommendation. |
| 4/17/2006 | Contacts | We elected to change the setting for
Borrower contacts from Private to Public. We took advantage
of a setting so only managers can view your borrower
contacts but they cannot edit them! We felt this would be
helpful if someone called into your office and left a
message that your manager needed to return. They would have
available all of the past history of the contact just as
they do if the caller was in My Pipeline rather than merely
a contact. Other users cannot view your public borrowers
unless they are supervising your work! We also researched why users were reporting that their business contacts were not being made public. In order to create public business contacts, users must have access to public templates and tables. Unfortunately, we perceive too much risk in allowing this. We are requesting escalated help from Ellie Mae on how we might be able to actually enter the rolodex table and modify the private-public attribute. |
| 4/13/2006 | Forms | Made slight changes to the state broker agreements removing the double "$" and double "%" signs associated with a few of the fields. |
| 4/11/2006 | Functionality | Rarely (but it happens), someone reports an error trying to connect to our Encompass server. Usually it is because there is something wrong with the server connection string. Make sure that the server is https://www.amortgagebrokeronline.com/encompass. Back-slashes do not work make sure to use the "/" found under the "?". If you are having a problem connecting to AMB's server please copy and paste the string directly into your Encompass User Login window. |
| 4/10/2006 | Templates | Added a folder named Private Branch Forms. We can help you create Encompass based versions of your office forms so that you can add them to print groups. You may submit your forms as Microsoft Word files. |
| 4/10/2006 | Templates | Added a short tutorial on how to select Default Providers. Visit http://www.amortgagebroker.com/emcompass.htm for more help. |
| 4/10/2006 | Forms | Make sure that when preparing order forms for title, appraisal or insurance that you complete the required sections on both the Custom Fields screen and the Additional Requests Info screen (both pages can be accessed from the Form Lists group in the bottom left had side of your Loans workspace. Also remember that the way your lender has its Its Successor and/or Assigns line goes into the Comments field of the second custom category section on the File Contacts page. You must enter this line manually each time since there is no way to get it to save in Encompass. |
| 4/2/2006 | Forms | The Conflicting Interest Disclosure takes the title information from the title company entry on the File Contacts page. Several states have restrictions pertaining to this practice. If you originate in a state that penalizes you for naming the attorney/title company please wait until you create the Conflicting Interest Disclosure before adding the vendor information! |
| 4/2/2006 | Forms | Revised the Compliance Cover Sheet. Among other changes added a certification classification for salaried managers who are not classified as inside or outside sales. We also made a few changes to the Government Addendum to the Compliance Cover Sheet. Finally, we added the processing company's information to the Conflicting Interest Disclosure. |
| 4/1/2006 | Forms | Moved some field locators for AMB's order forms to the Additional Requests Info screen and added this page to the Input Lists templates. Deleted the labels for these custom fields: order notes (for appraisal, hazard, flood and title), title policy type and replacement costs (you must enter replacement costs twice now if you have flood). |
| 4/1/2006 | Templates | Reloaded the FHA and VA templates (no lender or branch info) and made slight updates to the conventional one. Remember that no closing costs are included in AMB's miscellaneous data templates and you will either need to create your own personal templates with your best estimate of fees or add the fees using a closing costs scenario. Input forms were reordered to create uniformity between Conventional, FHA and VA input screens. |
| 3/31/2006 | Functionality | Your mouse cannot copy and paste within Encompass. You can use the keyboard shortcuts: CONTROL+C to copy and CONTROL+V to paste. It might take some time to get used to this if you are a heavy mouse user but it works well! |
| 3/30/2006 | Folders | Added a Withdrawn Folder. You are encouraged to place
your decided loans in the proper disposition folder:
withdrawals in the Withdrawn Loans folder, denials in
Adverse Loans folder and closed loans in the Completed Loans
folder. Loans that you start to input and never pull credit
should go in the Withdrawn Loans folder. Only test loans and
duplicate files should go into z Files to be Deleted.
As a reminder, when importing loans from POINT place them into the Imported from POINT folder. After you have successfully uploaded your files, you can move the working files to My Pipeline and verify that the loan files were imported satisfactorily. You are being warned that not all fields transfer over where they belong and other fields that you would think should transfer do not! |
| 3/30/2006 | Templates | Deleted the FHA and VA templates as they were incomplete. Anticipate uploading them by Monday, April 3. |
| 3/28/2006 | Forms | AMB's Servicing Disclosure Statement was renamed to Servicing Disclosure Statement (for loans originated in 2006). This will make it easier to make sure you are using the correct form. |
| 3/28/2006 | Forms | Some forms, such as GA's attorney preference letter is a
document that you need to create and then distribute to your
staff. AMB suggests that you send the form you want to use
to our IT department and let us put it into a public folder,
such as GA999 (with your branch number). This way your staff
will always be able to get the most recent version of the
form as you have uploaded to us to load.
You will probably find some employees using obsolete copies if you encourage your staff to download the form to a personal folder and then later make changes to it. |
| 3/28/2006 | Functionality | Sometimes it might be useful to determine where in
Encompass you can find a particular data field that is used
to populate one of AMB's custom documents. When printing you
can choose to print forms with the Field ID’s instead of
borrower data (use the Options combo box on the Documents
window). This way you can see the Field ID number of the
information you need to locate in Encompass.
After you record the Field ID return to the Borrower file and make sure that you have enabled Show All Forms. Press CONTROL+G. This keystroke combination opens the Go to Field pop-up window. Type in the field number as you recorded it and click Find Next. Encompass takes you to exactly the place this data needs to be entered to print correctly on your forms. If you don’t find the field then it most likely comes from the File Contacts page. TIP: You can learn more about this procedure by typing in "find field" in the Search section of Help in Encompass. |
| 3/24/2006 | Forms | Added insurance endorsements. For help visit www.amortgagebroker.com/encompassforms.htm. |
| 3/24/2006 | Forms | Added a page describing how to e-mail printed documents from Encompass. You can find it at www.amortgagebroker.com/encompassemail.htm. |
| 3/22/2006 | Forms | Added appraisal and title order forms. Details on how to use them can be found at www.amortgagebroker.com/encompassforms.htm. |
| 3/20/2006 | Training | Posted a fast primer for Encompass users that explains how to download and install Encompass, how to connect to AMB's server, change your password, upload POINT files and picking the LO and Processor. It is www.amortgagebroker.com/encompass.htm. |
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