PR - Western Union, LandAmerica Offer Mortgage Processing for Problem Loans

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) and Land America Lender Services announced today that the companies will join forces to pair LandAmerica’s flagship “BackInTheBlack” product with the Western Union Speedpay service.

BackInTheBlack provides default mortgage servicers with a single, Web-based platform to process problem loans. The unique application allows mortgage servicing personnel to access all of the information they need to interact with a delinquent borrower, including credit reports, in a single application.

The agreement will provide a seamless, direct link from “BackInTheBlack” to the Speedpay service, allowing mortgage servicers to work with a delinquent borrower to send a payment directly from the borrower’s checking account before the loan is late or goes into foreclosure.

“The number of foreclosures and delinquent payments are on the rise, and mortgage servicing industry personnel today are inundated with inbound and outbound calls,” said Al Will, President of LandAmerica Lender Services. “This agreement with Western Union will save them time and will allow them to process problem loans quickly and easily.”

Western Union is one of the most experienced providers of comprehensive bill-payment services. In 2006, it completed more than 249 million consumer-to-business transactions.

“Western Union has direct relationships with thousands of billers,” said Royal Cole, Executive Vice President, Western Union Payment Services. “Because of our experience in processing payments, we are able to provide good payment data to the billers, in turn helping consumers avoid foreclosures and late payments while saving mortgage servicing personnel time and money.”