Mortgage sector set to mainstream e-signatures.

Document Systems, Inc. (DSI)ing developer of mortgage technology for compliant loan document preparation and customer contact management, reports that there has been a marked increase in the number of mortgage lenders seriously exploring electronic signature.

According to Terry Van Bibber, President of Safedocs, "the industry will see mainstream adoption of e-signatures in 2007."

DSI and Safedocs have an existing alliance through which the companies have been providing digital document work flow solutions and fully electronic mortgage closing packages to lenders for over a year. Van Bibber has been retained by DSI to consult with the company and its legal compliance department on electronic signatures.

"There is a great deal of piloting going on right now," Van Bibber said. "People are testing the waters. The number of lenders that are now in conversations about moving into electronic signatures has increased tenfold over this time one year ago. This convinces us that the industry will see mainstream adoption of electronic signatures in 2007."

Van Bibber said there are three primary reasons lenders have moved this issue to the front burner now:

First, the business community now fully understands the legal aspects of electronic signatures. Secondly, the technology has now been proven and is in daily use by a number of companies. Finally, the industry pressure to cut costs is increasing and digitizing workflows has been shown to be very cost effective. Taken together, Van Bibber says these three drivers will push e-signatures into the mainstream next year. "Lenders are very interested in this technology right now," said Don Iannitti, of Document Systems Inc.