Quicken Loans signs on to e-signatures

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By Jaikumar Vijayan

(IDG) -- Mortgage vendor Quicken Loans Inc. is deploying what may be the first electronic signature network for high-value business-to-consumer transactions.

Starting this spring, the Livonia, Michigan-based company will let loan seekers use electronic signatures to complete and submit mortgage applications immediately after being preapproved online, without requiring the usual paperwork and ink signatures.

Unlike emerging efforts to implement electronic signatures in other consumer settings, Quicken's loan process won't require consumers to use private keys, download digital certificates or use specialized signing software to authenticate themselves.

Instead, the company will combine information provided by the consumer during the loan application process with a unique user name and information such as details of an auto loan to authenticate users.

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"We are trying to make applying for mortgages as easy as applying for a credit card," said Kevin McCallum, Quicken's systems architect in charge of the electronic signature implementation. Quicken is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mountain View, California-based Intuit Inc.

Quicken's effort shows that some corporations may finally be working through the technical, regulatory and legal concerns related to the use of electronic signatures in high-value consumer transactions, said Avivah Litan, an analyst at Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner Inc. "As far as I know, Quicken Loans is the first application to implement e-signatures in high-value B2C transactions," she said.

Although the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act was signed into law in 2000 (see "Clinton signs digital-signatures bill," link below), adoption of electronic signatures has been slow because of uncertainty surrounding technology standards, authentication methods and federal and state consumer protection requirements.

Quicken is depending on a server-based electronic signature software package called ApproveIt from Silanis Technology Inc. to address those issues.

ApproveIt captures, time-stamps and records what the borrower sees, clicks on, agrees to and electronically signs. The information is securely bound to the final digital loan documents as proof that the borrower's intent was captured in accordance with all applicable regulations, said Tommy Petrogiannis, president of St. Laurent, Quebec-based Silanis.

However, there's no telling how such electronically signed documents might fare if challenged in court, said McCallum. "Right now, it is hard to say because there is no case precedent," he said.