Chicago Bancorp Cuts Loan Cycle Time by 40 Percent

Banker deploys Ellie Mae’s Encompass Banker Edition to achieve greater speed, enhanced flexibility and improved profitability

PLEASANTON, CA, September 3, 2008—Ellie Mae, an award-winning provider of innovative software and services for the mortgage industry, announces that Chicago Bancorp, a Chicago-based independent mortgage banker with additional branch offices in Arizona, California, Florida, Texas and Wisconsin, has reduced loan turnaround times by more than 40 percent with the Encompass Mortgage Management Solution’s Banker Edition. In addition to the increased efficiency and time savings brought about by Encompass Banker Edition, Chicago Bancorp has also gained a flexibility of process that protects and ensures the company’s profitability in a difficult and declining market. 

“One of the biggest benefits of using Encompass Banker is the ability to customize the business rules to fit our processes,” states John Calk, chief operations officer for Chicago Bancorp. “We can create the forms and disclosures we’d like, and we can also create a system flow that aligns with our unique protocol and pricing controls—things like upfront appraisal charges. As any independent lender knows, if you don’t keep track of each cost-related variable, it can be very easy to fall right out of profitability, and likely right out of business as well.” 

When Chicago Bancorp first selected Encompass Banker Edition about in early 2007, it was specifically looking for a way to use just one system to manage the entire loan process, from end to end.  With offices scattered throughout the U.S., the company needed a way to ensure accuracy and safety. Encompass Banker Edition, which is a complete mortgage banking solution specifically designed for mortgage bankers, community banks, credit unions and large retail lenders, provides a complete, cost-effective and easily-deployed solution for managing the entire business, from customer acquisition to loan fulfillment. 

“Encompass Banker Edition enables us to be incredibly efficient,” explains Calk.  “We used to have to email our files to transfer between branches, and there was no fast and easy way to ensure consistency, accuracy or data integrity.  Now that we’re using Encompass Banker Edition, we can literally manage the entire loan process in any of our branches, right from a single desktop.  Plus, we get the automation, electronic documentation and customizability that has enabled us to cut our turn time by at least 40 percent.” 

“Chicago Bancorp is a prime example of a smart company that’s leveraging technology to maximize its profitability in a challenging market,” says Jonathan Corr, chief strategy officer for Ellie Mae. “In today’s market, seemingly small oversights can have a huge impact on the bottom line. One of the reasons that Encompass Banker Edition has gained such popularity among the banker community is because of its customizability—its ability to accommodate virtually any business protocol. Savvy bankers like Chicago Bancorp capitalize on that customizability to not only protect themselves against incremental losses, but also make the entire process more efficient and cost effective.”  

About Ellie Mae
Ellie Mae is an award-winning provider of software and services for the mortgage industry, offering comprehensive business solutions for mortgage brokers, mortgage bankers and lenders. The company's key offerings include the flagship Encompass^® Mortgage Management Solution, the Encompass WebCenter, Electronic Document Management (EDM), Encompass CenterWise™ and Encompass Closer. More than 150,000 mortgage professionals use the Encompass mortgage management solution, including two-thirds of the nation’s top 300 brokers and nine of the top 10. Ellie Mae is recognized for linking the many parties critical to the mortgage origination industry through its ePASS^® Network. One third of the nation's almost $2 trillion in new mortgages originated every year pass through the ePASS platform, enabling mortgage companies to easily conduct electronic business transactions with dozens of leading lenders and thousands of settlement service providers. Ellie Mae was founded in 1997 and is based in Pleasanton, California. To learn more about Ellie Mae, visit www.EllieMae.com or call 877.355.4362.

© 2008 Ellie Mae, Inc. All rights reserved. Ellie Mae, Encompass, and ePASS are registered trademarks and Encompass CenterWise, and Ellie Mae Closer are trademarks of Ellie Mae, Inc. in the United States.

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