[1]New York-based real estate technology provider Ernst Publishing Company [2] has updated the tax reporting capabilities of its patented closing cost and fee search engine technology to be compliant with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB [3]) new consumer disclosure rules which will go into effect in 2015.
"Ernst is now providing annual property tax amounts and assessment dates for nearly 99 percent of the properties in the U.S.," said Chris Dufault, head of product development for Ernst Publishing. "This will be one of the most difficult new disclosure requirements for lenders. There are so many taxing jurisdictions that it requires very sophisticated technology to keep track of them. Failure to do so will be a compliance violation next year. That's why we got our technology ready early."
The new functionality is available now. The data, which is powered by CoreLogic [4], will include partial taxes paid to date, payment due date, property statistics, and more.
Headquartered in Albany, New York, Ernst has been the nation's leading technology and closing cost data provider for the real estate and home finance industries for 25 years, supporting nearly every facet of the lending process for clients across the industry. In 2012, Ernst's search engine technology was patented, and in 2014, the company reached a milestone by processing its one billionth transaction. Earlier this year, Ernst received the Mortgage Banking Tech Award.
"For years now, Ernst has been working to help our lender customers rebuild trust on the part of their borrowers," said Gregory E. Teal, president and chief executive officer of Ernst Publishing. "We're making sure that when it comes to the cost to close a loan, our lenders have the information they need to be accurate."