Winner of the Best Business Enabler 2005 Category

MIAA supports LIXI

Chairman's welcome

LIXI in the "real world" is the theme of this newsletter as statement of the fact that the LIXI standard is now in heavy use delivering a large volume of processed loans. So, now is a good time to review progress so far.

You are probably aware that in any development effort there is a product life-cycle when something new goes into production. Information about the performance of the item is used to enhance future versions, to ensure enduring satisfaction by the users. Be it a car, a shampoo or software, the process of review and improvement is the hallmark of successful products.

'LIXI is continuously evolving' is a statement you hear often by those involved in the development of the standard. Today, I want to tackle a different aspect of this life-cycle of improvement, namely that which comes from the use of a product in the field.

A recent discussion with an avid LIXI user brought to my attention that we may be missing the "human experience"in the LIXI equation. Many LIXI devotees, myself included, have stressed the push for accurate and complete data collection at the earliest point of the lending chain – the time of contact with the client. The verbatim execution of this statement has mortgage brokers collecting every bit of data on first contact.

This methodology may not be the most results oriented approach. Before you swipe a person’s credit card for the cost of the application (after an electronic form filling session), that person would like to know that the loan is approved first. A better way I am told, involves initially obtaining enough data for a conditional approval and then proceeding with the remainder of the application.

Back to the drawing board? Absolutely not! The need for accurate and complete data has not changed. All I am saying is that we have to question other aspects of our lending re-engineering. So let’s be flexible as well….

LIXI Chairman