First American Data & Analytics FraudGuard® Solution Now Helps Reduce Risk in Home Equity Lending, Valuation, and SCRA Compliance

New Capabilities Also Help Improve Loan Quality and Increase Efficiency

SANTA ANA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--First American Data & Analytics, a leading national provider of property-centric information, risk management and valuation solutions and a division of First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF), today announced that its industry-leading FraudGuard^® fraud risk detection and decisioning tool now includes enhancements that help lenders reduce home equity lending and compliance risk, and further improve loan quality and increase efficiency. The new features include the integration of the First American Procision™ AVM suite and the additions of a senior-lien review module designed for home equity lending and a military status verification module.

“In today’s lending environment, reducing risk, improving loan quality and increasing underwriting productivity are top of mind for lenders, and our latest FraudGuard enhancements help our lender clients address those priorities,” said Paul W. Harris, general manager, mortgage analytics for First American Data & Analytics. “These enhancements add to FraudGuard’s already robust capabilities. Now, FraudGuard’s smart analytics provide an even more effective, intuitive solution for critical underwriting decisions in first mortgage and home equity lending.”

FraudGuard’s integration with the Procision AVM suite provides users access to automated property values to help expedite lending functions, such as underwriting and collateral reviews for first and second mortgages, as well as home equity lines of credit. The Procision AVM suite uses a state-of-the-art blended ensemble modeling approach to deliver an exceptional level of accuracy. First American Data & Analytics runs Procision AVM valuations on every residential property in the U.S. every day and the company also updates the underlying data that fuels the Procision AVM suite daily. An automated surveillance system constantly monitors both data and valuation quality, and performs extensive testing to validate the accuracy of the valuations produced by the Procision AVM suite for various property types in various geographic markets.

Senior-Lien Review and Military Status Modules Boost Lending and Fraud Risk Detection

Designed to support home equity lending, the senior-lien review module identifies ineligible first liens that could prevent a lender from moving forward with a second lien. For example, the new feature will alert a lender to a private mortgage originated within the last 12 months, first mortgages with negative amortization, balloon loans with a due date before the second lien, or a reverse mortgage. The module can also identify payment deferrals and loans in forbearance.

The military status module verifies an applicant’s status – active, retired or a survivor of military personnel – under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). In addition to mortgage lending, the new module can be leveraged in credit and automobile lending. Both the senior-lien review and military status modules are available as standalone API integrations.

FraudGuard is the first fraud analytics solution accessible through the latest Encompass Partner Connect™ API platform. The integration allows lenders to leverage automation to systematically trigger FraudGuard reports and analysis based on customizable business rules.

About First American Data & Analytics

First American Data & Analytics, a division of First American Financial Corporation, is a national provider of property-centric information, risk management and valuation solutions. First American maintains and curates the industry’s largest property and ownership dataset that includes more than 8 billion document images. Its major platforms and products include: DataTree^®, FraudGuard^®, RegsData^®, First American TaxSource™ and ACI^®. Find out more about how First American Data & Analytics powers the real estate, mortgage and title settlement services industries with advanced decisioning solutions at www.FirstAmDNA.com.

About First American

First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF) is a premier provider of title, settlement and risk solutions for real estate transactions. With its combination of financial strength and stability built over 130 years, innovative proprietary technologies, and unmatched data assets, the company is leading the digital transformation of its industry. First American also provides data products to the title industry and other third parties; valuation products and services; mortgage subservicing; home warranty products; banking, trust and wealth management services; and other related products and services. With total revenue of $7.6 billion in 2022, the company offers its products and services directly and through its agents throughout the United States and abroad. In 2023, First American was named one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For by Great Place to Work^® and Fortune Magazine for the eighth consecutive year. More information about the company can be found at www.firstam.com.