By Mike Colpitts
As hundreds of banks and mortgage companies go out of business due to the troubled economy and rough mortgage lending market a Houston, Texas based mortgage company is winning awards, but not for doing a record volume of loans. The company won the Green Originator Award from Mortgage Technology magazine for its paperless loan origination process.
Envoy Mortgage saved more than 10 million sheets of paper, carbon emission waste for more than 50,000 overnight deliveries since each paper file would have to be mailed two times over night and thousands of gallons of gasoline over the period since employees are able to work remotely using computer technology provided by the company instead of going to the office to work. Envoy operates a network of retail branch locations across the United States, and is currently in 40 states.
The company was bestowed the award at the 12th Annual Mortgage Technology Awards conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The award is granted to a lender that uses technology to create the most efficient green technological achievement each year. Since 2004 when the company started taking mortgage applications electronically, Envoy officials say they have taken 25,331 paperless originations.
Technology includes a complete, paperless origination platform. The company also provides customers an online application and e-signature capabilities, making it one of the first to provide green technology to save trees and keep hundreds of thousands of tons of paper products from over-loading landfills.
“The award came to us naturally from many different angles,” said Ken Weislak, Envoy vice president of production. “Our system certainly provides tremendous cost savings and ease of use. It also helps the environment, which is a win-win for all of us.”
The company’s commitment to the environment and green energy is evident and only increases with its relationship with Trees for Houston, an organization which has a mission to plant and promote trees in the Houston area. “The paperless road was not paved when we started this endeavor in 2004,” said David Zugheri, vice president of marketing for the company. “Perfecting it required hard work and more importantly, faith in the system that it would pay off.