Record ePASS Use in First Quarter 2004

Over 1.4 Million Unique Borrower Transactions

Dublin, CA-APRIL 7, 2004-Ellie Mae, Inc., whose ePASS web-transaction platform links the majority of third-party mortgage originators to their wholesale lenders and settlement service providers, today announced that over 19,000 mortgage origination companies used ePASS technology during the first quarter of 2004 to handle transactions for a record 1.4 million unique borrower files.

Using ePASS, lenders can receive loans electronically in any format, including Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac file format, PDF, or XML. Originators can transmit loans through a link to the lender's wholesale website or directly into the lender's processing system.

During the past six months, many top-100 US wholesale and correspondent lenders signed ePASS contracts or finished integration of ePASS technology, including Aegis, Argent, American Home Bank, AmeriUS, Aurora, Cendant, CitiMortgage, HFN, Household, Irwin, Novastar, MILA, SouthStar Funding, Union Federal, and Quicken Loans. The roster of top-100 lenders using ePass technology is now over 30% of the total. Early adopters of ePASS included Bank of America, Greenpoint, Flagstar, Indy Mac Bank, Impac, New Century, and WMC. Integration with ePASS connects lenders to mortgage professionals that account for 90% of all loans originated and provides them secure, direct Internet loan submissions.

"We're seeing significant momentum for change in the lender community," said Richard Roof, senior vice president of lender services for Ellie Mae. "For some time, lenders have been challenged by the task of integrating their systems with a seemingly infinite variety of client software. With ePASS, lenders can access the entire mortgage-originator universe without having to program and maintain separate interfaces for each unique user. A recent Mortech study showed that lenders using ePASS have significant operational, marketing, and profitability gains. ePASS is a win-win-win proposition-for lenders, for mortgage originators, and for Ellie Mae."

The Mortech, LLC, study showed that lenders using ePASS can expect an increase in profitability of five to nine basis points per loan processed in the wholesale loan channel. The study also found decreased elapsed time between locking and funding loans, compressed funding cycles, improved secondary market pricing, reduced cost of carry, and decreased pipeline fall-out. Lenders in the study reported fewer operational errors and less re-keying of data with ePASS.

For mortgage originators, ePASS connectivity means simple, seamless transmission of loan files from their desktop software into lenders' systems, a dramatic reduction in redundant data entry, and the ability to use advanced lender functionalities-including prequalification, eligibility checking, automated underwriting, loan registration, rate locking, and more. Originators can access ePASS directly from all major loan origination software, including Encompass, Genesis 2000, Contour, Calyx Point, and Byte.

"Adoption of ePASS connectivity by third-party originators is testament to the dramatic productivity increases it provides," noted Ellie Mae CEO Sig Anderman. "Mortgage originators told us over and over again that they needed a uniform interface to access their lenders and settlement service providers. We gave them exactly that with ePASS-and they are 'voting' for it with thousands and thousands of mouse clicks."

For more information about ePASS technology for lenders or the Mortech LLC study, contact Richard Roof at (925) 227-7066 or by email .

About Ellie Mae, Inc.

Dublin, California-based Ellie Mae, Inc., winner of the 2003 Inman Innovator Award for Most Innovative Company in the mortgage and real estate industries, and named one of the top 50 Companies to Work For in the San Francisco Bay Area, is the leading provider of desktop and Web-enabled mortgage industry productivity technology. Ellie Mae's ePASS Web-transaction platform is the industry standard, connecting more than 30,000 third-party mortgage origination companies with leading wholesale and correspondent lenders and 90,000 settlement service providers. Ellie Mae products include the Encompass mortgage management system, Contour and Genesis 2000 loan origination software, Executive Web Sites and Ellie Mae Docs. To learn more about Ellie Mae, call (888) 955-9100 or visit www.elliemae.com .

Copyright © 2004 Ellie Mae, Inc. All rights reserved. Ellie Mae®, ePASS®, Encompass™, Contour™, Genesis 2000™, Executive Web SitesT, Ellie Mae DocsT are the sole property of Ellie Mae, Inc.