Strategic Mortgage Services Inc. already calls itself the nation's largest provider of services to the mortgage industry. It is determined to. grow even faster and has been using the acquisition route to help it along.
The company, based in Costa Mesa. Calif., has just announced its latest acquisition: Credit Bureau Services, a Southern California company that provides credit reporting services for mortgage lenders.
In September, it acquired Geotrak, a company based in Norwalk, Ohio, that provides mapping services for flood-insurance compliance and to flag low-income and moderate-income districts. Strategic appears to be in a good position to make further acquisitions. Many small companies serving mortgage markets have been under pressure recently because of the slump in originations.
And Strategic has strong financial support from its owners, which include an investment management company and two venture capital ousts, one of them owned by the Rockefeller family.
Chris Nard, vice president for ,marketing, said the company's strategy was to provide nationally all the services needed to close loans. "This concept looks increasingly viable as lenders consolidate," he said. "It's got to get cheaper and easier to close loans. A single provider is a big step toward cutting costs."
Strategic's diversified product line includes appraisals, credit information, documentation, title services, flood-insurance compliance, and settlement services.
The company recently arranged with Computer Power Inc. to offer its credit reporting services over CPI's interchange network for the mortgage industry. Strategic plans to add title services to the network offerings soon.
