Finovate: Home-Account Archives

Alumni News -- Week of July 25, 2010

By Jessica Ward on July 30, 2010 8:56 PM

Here are our news updates for the week of July 25, 2010. To get our updates real-time, follow us here.

Bills.com acquires Home-Account.com, see our post here.

CashEdge's AllData Aggregation, and Lodo's OurCashFlow powers new capabilities for Jack Henry & Associates. The arrangement will power online financial management (OFM) tools. http://bit.ly/finovate7301

Fiserv has announced that 150 credit unions now use their Mobile Money product. Mobile Money allows financial institutions' customers to check balances, pay bills, and make transfers from their mobile devices. http://bit.ly/finovate7256

Dominion Credit Union selects Geezeo as PFM platform Dominion CU serves over 21,000 members. Geezeo is providing personal financial management technology to credit union members. http://bit.ly/finovate72801

Picatinny Credit Union selects Geezeo as PFM Platform. Picatinny is the eighth largest credit union in New Jersey, serving 16,000 members. http://bit.ly/finovate7282

Kapitall gains $5 Million in angel funding. Investors include board members. Kapitall expects to close a $5 Million series-A round within six months. http://bit.ly/finovate7271

New from Kapitall: track and trade with TD AMERITRADE. Now within the Kapitall platform, users can track, trade and buy/sell stocks, mutual funds and ETFs. http://bit.ly/finovate7276

Kasasa now available through 50 financial institutions in the USA. Kasasa helps banking customers to get more out of their banks. http://bit.ly/finovate7261

With Kasasa, Ocean Pacific Credit Union offers banking incentives via iTunes credit. Opening an account credits your iTunes account with $19.95, and additional $4.95 each month thereafter. (Better than a toaster!) http://bit.ly/finovate7275

Lending Club turns 3! Happy birthday to our friends at Lending Club. Check out the stats in their birthday post, lots of exciting growth here! http://bit.ly/finovate7291

Lending Club named a top 250 "Always On" Company. Winners will all be announced at the Summit at Stanford in Palo Alto, California, from July 27-29. The conference represents companies recognized by Always On as private companies with the highest growth potential. http://bit.ly/finovate272

Been using Quicken Online or Wesabe PFMs? Here's a solution. MoneyStrands allows for import of historical data. http://bit.ly/finovate72653

SecondMarket announced as the overall winner of the Always On Technology competition. Winners will all be announced at the Summit at Stanford in Palo Alto, California, from July 27-29. The conference represents companies recognized by Always On as private companies with the highest growth potential. http://bit.ly/finovate7252

SecondMarket featured in WIRED magazine "Let the Little Guys in Pre-IPO" says WIRED. http://bit.ly/finovate7298

SmartyPig enhances privacy measures. The online savings account platform now allows users to select detailed or general message settings and preferences. http://bit.ly/finovate7283 or see our post at Netbanker.

Bills.com Acquires Home-Account.com

By Jessica Ward on July 29, 2010 10:31 PM

Bills.com, an online portal for consumer financial information and advice, acquired Finovate alum Home-Account.com for an undisclosed sum on July 28, 2010.

Bills.com was an early investor in Home-Account, which helps mortgage and refinance shoppers find loans in a "competitive, transparent, convenient and affordable manner."

Bills.com told TechCrunch (link here) they plan to scale the Home-Account service to other consumer financial needs such as paying off debt.

Bills.com attracts considerably more website traffic. In June, the financial portal attracted 130,000 unique U.S. visitors compared to less than 15,000 for Home-Account.com and its related Refinance.com site (Source from Compete.com).

For more information about Home-Account.com:

Video demos

Finovate 2009 (video)

Finovate Startup 2009 (video)

Blog posts

June 3, 2010: Home-Account Launches "Mortgage Grade" a Thorough Online Mortgage Application Pre-qualification Service (link)

January 15, 2010: Home-Account Launches New Service at Refinance.com (link)

September 1, 2009: Who's Innovating in 2009? Finovate Preview (link)

Home-Account Launches "Mortgage Grade" a Thorough Online Mortgage Application Pre-qualification Service

By Jessica Ward on June 3, 2010 7:24 PM

FinovateFall 2009 alum, Home-Account, the company behind Refinance.com, has launched Mortgage Grade, a free analytic service to help consumers shop for home loans.

The service is available at mortgagegrade.com and will be syndicated on other sites including bills.com, credit.com, consumerunited.com, erate.com, mtgprofessor.com and refinance.com.

Mortgage Grade utilizes existing information including the user's property address, mortgage amount, credit score (as provided by the user initially) to generate a letter grade corresponding to their desirability as a refinance applicant. Similarly, customers shopping for a new home can receive a grade indicating what general financing options are likely to be available, and then match them with lenders.

Mortgage Grade also matches customers with lenders who fit their "grade." Obtaining an initial score takes only a few seconds and requires only a few facts that most users would know readily. However, to get a more thorough grade along with lender contact information, the process takes a few minutes and requires a social security number for a soft credit pull.

Users completing the full process receive detailed information on their mortgage options including their home's value using the Automated Valuation Model from Lender Processing Services, estimated closing costs from Closing.com, economic data from Economy.com, and a free credit check from Experian.

At the end of the process, customers who choose to proceed with one of the quoted loans can lock-in a rate-guaranteed, approved loan within 48 hours by clicking "rate guaranteed."

The Mortgage Grade is clear and easy to understand. For existing mortgage customers the grades correspond to the following:

A means the customer already has the best mortgage available but they'll continue to search and update you if market conditions make a better option available.
B indicates there are several options and will offer educational information to help mortgage shoppers compare.
B-means FHA-eligible only
C+ indicates that customers may find manually-underwritten loans which Mortgage Grade can help arrange.
C-grade consumers are not eligible for a mortgage refinance, and are referred to loan modification, BBB-recommended credit counseling, debt reductions or credit workout organizations.

According to company press releases, Mortgage Grade pledges not to contact customers regarding a new mortgage unless they request contact, allowing for a more comfortable, lower-pressure shopping experience.

For more information about Mortgage Grade see mortgagegrade.com or home-account.com, a demo video is also available online at http://www.mortgagegrade.com/#inline.

For more information about Home-Account, the parent company of MortgageGrade, see the demo video here. You can also see our post from the Netbanker blog here.

Alumni News – Week of March 8

By Andrew Dolbeck on March 12, 2010 12:12 AM

Here are the news headlines we posted this week on Twitter (follow it here).

AlphaClone to Launch Investment Accounts -- Investment research firm AlphaClone announced that it plans to offer managed account services later this year. http://bit.ly/ayOI5t

BrightScope Partners with Acceleration Retirement -- BrightScope announced a partnership with Acceleration Retirement, a provider of marketing and lead-generation services to retirement plan advisors. The deal combines BrightScope's data and analytical tools with Acceleration's marketing and practice-management experience. http://bit.ly/c780Zs

CashEdge to Support HelloWallet -- CashEdge will provide financial data aggregation for new PFM website HelloWallet. CashEdge draws data from bank accounts, investments, retirement accounts, insurance plans, credit cards, mortgages and annuities. http://bit.ly/9xjRqD (Netbanker coverage of HelloWallet here.)

Check Point Wins Award from SC Magazine -- Security software firm Check Point was recognized with a Reader Trust Award from SC Magazine for its Security Gateway R7, which took the award for Best Enterprise Firewall. This is the sixth time SC Magazine has given Check Point an award for achievement in information technology and security. http://bit.ly/doRu4B

Expensify Offers App on Google Apps Marketplace -- Expensify announced that its small-business expense management app is now available on Google Apps Marketplace, Google's recently launched storefront for online products and services. The Expensify app enables users to import expense data from their credit cards, manage receipts online, and create expense reports. http://bit.ly/cYjDLq

Four Finovate Alumni in Panel Discussion at SXSW - Credit Karma, Lending Club, Mint, and SmartyPig will discuss banking industry innovation at the SXSW conference on March 13 in Austin, Texas. The panel discussion will include Rob Garcia, Senior Director of Product Strategy for LendingClub.com; Aaron Forth, VP of Product at Mint.com; Kenneth Lin, CEO of CreditKarma.com; and Bob Weinschenk CEO of SmartyPig.com. http://bit.ly/dbuYuR

GreenSherpa Upgrades -- GreenSherpa announced several upgrades to its web-based application, including changes to user collaboration and integration features, cash flow projection capabilities, and the graphical user interface. http://bit.ly/alnZeW

New Funding and Board Member for Home-Account -- Bills.com has doubled its financial investment in Home-Account. In addition, Mark Goines, a former director of Mint and a former Intuit executive, has joined Home-Accounts Board of Directors. Goines also made an unspecified angel investment in Home-Account. http://bit.ly/aJGuzs

Intuit Offers Payroll Suite on Google Marketplace -- Intuit is offering its Online Payroll suite of web applications on Google's new Apps Marketplace. Intuit also intends to make the payroll solution available through its own Intuit App Center. http://bit.ly/9dsR19

iPay Technologies Partners with Q2ebanking -- iPay Technologies and Q2ebanking announced a new alliance that will allow iPay to offer its bill payment solutions to Q2's customers. Q2 provides financial services technologies to community financial institutions. http://bit.ly/9T6CQ9

Tom Burgess Joins Micronotes' Advisory Board -- Tom Burgess, the founder and CEO of Third Screen Media, has joined the advisory board of online marketing company Micronotes. Burgess will serve as a marketing practices advisor. Third Screen Media was a wireless advertising company that was acquired by AOL in 2007. http://bit.ly/bUEd7Q

mFoundry Receives Paybefore Award -- mFoundry won the Best Virtual Prepaid Card category in Prepaid Media's fourth annual Paybefore Awards. mFoundry was recognized for its work on Starbucks Mobile, which allows consumers to use mobile devices to track activity on Starbucks cards. http://bit.ly/doCsP4 (Netbanker blog on Starbucks Mobile here.)

Mozo Launches Program for Students - Australian financial comparison company Mozo has launched a new service called the Student Room. The program helps university students find deals on banking services, including special offers designed for students. http://bit.ly/dBsgMu

S1 acquires PM Systems -- On March 4, S1 completed acquisition of PM Systems for $29 million. PM Systems provides internet banking, bill payment, and security solutions for credit unions. S1 announced the acquisition in its statement of its fourth quarter results. http://bit.ly/aF2Jvz

The Receivables Exchange Reports Sales Growth -- The Receivables Exchange, an online marketplace for receivables trading, reported 100% quarter-over-quarter growth in receivables sold in Q4 2009. http://bit.ly/asQqNm

Recently in Home-Account Category

Alumni News -- Week of July 25, 2010

Bills.com Acquires Home-Account.com

Home-Account Launches "Mortgage Grade" a Thorough Online Mortgage Application Pre-qualification Service

Alumni News – Week of March 8