Ellie Mae Awarded U.S. Patent for ePass ClickLoan Technology

PLEASANTON, CA—May 20, 2009—Ellie Mae, an award-winning software and service provider, offering comprehensive business solutions for mortgage bankers, brokers, credit unions and other mortgage originators, has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued the company a patent related to its ePASS® ClickLoan®, a technology solution that enables third party originators to submit loan applications and other related information directly from their loan origination systems (LOS) into a lender's website, all in just two clicks. This is the second patent that has been awarded to Ellie Mae’s technologies by the U.S. Patent office in recent months, as Ellie Mae continues to bring innovations to the mortgage industry. 

The patent—U.S. Patent number 7,472,089 entitled “Loan Origination System Interface for Online Loan Application Processing”— is one in a series of patent applications filed by Ellie Mae to protect its proprietary loan origination systems and its innovations in business-to-business commerce in the mortgage industry. Ellie Mae’s award-winning ePASS® technology was the first in the series of patent applications to be awarded a patent in October 2008.

Launched in 2002, ClickLoan® enables loan originators to provide loan data and information for pre-qualifications, loan submissions, rate locks and ordering of settlement services, all directly from within the chosen lender’s website. It works by automatically identifying a loan application or its required information from within the originator’s LOS and integrating that data or information directly into the lender’s site, seamlessly and virtually instantaneously. ClickLoan® is a feature of ePASS, Ellie Mae’s award-winning, innovative technology that enables electronic transfer of mortgage information via the Internet, and connects originators with lenders and other partners directly from the originator’s loan origination system. ClickLoan® can be integrated into any wholesale or correspondent lender’s existing website, and can be used to facilitate fast, secure data transfer.

“With the combination of ClickLoan and ePASS, Ellie Mae is providing complete coverage for the mortgage transaction process. Originators have the flexibility to initiate a partner transaction from within the LOS, or they can easily launch ClickLoan from a lender’s website to select a loan to submit—directly from their LOS pipeline,” says Limin Hu, chief technology officer for Ellie Mae. “This dynamic, time-saving innovation is just one example of the industry-changing solutions that Ellie Mae has contributed to advance a paperless mortgage transaction in the mortgage space. We respect the intellectual property rights of others and will continue to seek protection for the innovations developed at Ellie Mae to protect our investment in research and development. This patent demonstrates our commitment to protecting our technological innovations and is part of our continuing effort to bring value to our shareholders and Ellie Mae as an organization.” 

About Ellie Mae, Inc.
Ellie Mae is an award-winning provider of software and services for the mortgage industry, offering comprehensive business solutions for mortgage bankers, mortgage brokers and lenders. The company's key offerings include the flagship Encompass® Mortgage Management Solution, Encompass CenterWise™ and Encompass Closer. More than 120,000 mortgage professionals use the Encompass Mortgage Management Solution. Ellie Mae, recipient of the prestigious Inman Award as the most innovative company in the mortgage industry, is recognized for developing technology that links the many parties critical to the mortgage origination industry through its patented ePASS® technology. One quarter of the nation's almost $3 trillion in new mortgages originated every year pass through Ellie Mae’s ePASS technology, enabling mortgage companies to easily and securely conduct electronic business transactions with dozens of leading lenders and more than 2,000 settlement service providers. Ellie Mae is also the parent of Online Documents, the industry’s leading provider of flexible, compliant electronic mortgage documents and related services for the mortgage industry. Ellie Mae was founded in 1998 and is based in Pleasanton, California. To learn more about Ellie Mae, visit www.EllieMae.com or call 877.355.4362. 

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© 2009 Ellie Mae, Inc. All rights reserved. Ellie Mae, Encompass, and ePASS (patent No. 7,444,302) are registered trademarks and Encompass CenterWise and Encompass Closer are trademarks of Ellie Mae, Inc. in the United States.