Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union (Affinity Plus) is a dynamic, member-focused credit union that recently faced a common technological challenge – connecting two powerful but siloed systems. Like many financial institutions, they relied on ICE Encompass for mortgage origination and Jack Henry’s Symitar (Episys) as their core banking platform. The hurdle was how to efficiently integrate these systems to share data without resorting to tedious manual re-entry. Manual data entry was not only slow and labor-intensive, but also prone to errors that could lead to misinformation and operational inefficiencies. In fact, industry experience shows that automating such data workflows can improve mortgage processing speed by 35% or more with the same staff, highlighting how much efficiency was being left on the table. Affinity Plus needed a robust solution to eliminate this bottleneck and ensure information flowed seamlessly between their LOS and core systems – and that’s where MortgageExchange came in.
For Affinity Plus, the goal was clear: link Encompass with Symitar to streamline their mortgage operations. Without integration, employees had to duplicate data entry in both systems – a time-consuming process that opened the door to human errors. This challenge is common across banks and credit unions that use multiple software platforms. Data trapped in one system had to be manually transferred to another, resulting in delays and potential inconsistencies. Beyond just wasted effort, these silos meant a risk of decisions being made on out-of-date or incorrect data. Such “data disharmony” carries hidden costs: staff overhead for double entry, error correction efforts, and slower service for members.
This integration hurdle isn’t unique to Affinity Plus – many credit unions struggle with bridging core banking and mortgage systems. Relying on employees to hand-key information between platforms not only reduces productivity, but also introduces compliance and security risks if data is mishandled. Maintaining data harmony is vital; without it, errors inevitably creep in, and the longer an institution waits to automate, the harder it becomes to untangle those errors later. Affinity Plus understood that sooner is better when fixing these pain points, and they challenged themselves to think outside of the box for a better solution.
Affinity Plus found its answer in MortgageExchange, a cloud-based data integration platform from Mortgage Workspace (a division of Access Business Technologies). MortgageExchange is specifically designed to connect dissimilar software systems and automate data transfer, eliminating the need for any manual intervention. In this case, MortgageExchange was deployed to link Symitar with Encompass, creating a real-time bridge between the core banking and loan origination environments.
This rules-based integration continuously synchronizes information between the two systems. When a loan record is created or updated in Encompass, the relevant data is automatically and securely transmitted to Symitar. Because the integration is rules-driven, Affinity Plus can enforce data quality checks and mapping rules to ensure that each field matches correctly – all without human effort. The result is a unified data flow where both platforms stay in lockstep.
Crucially, MortgageExchange operates as a managed, cloud-based service. ABT (Mortgage Workspace’s parent) takes responsibility for both sides of the integration, monitoring and maintaining the data pipeline. If either software vendor releases an update that could disrupt the data flow, the MortgageExchange team preemptively adjusts the integration so that everything “keeps flowing” without interruption. This proactive support turns the integration into something the credit union’s IT team can truly rely on, rather than a fragile script prone to breaking.
The impact of implementing MortgageExchange at Affinity Plus FCU was immediate and significant. Today, the credit union operates with newfound agility after eliminating the need for dual entry between Encompass and Symitar. The integration automatically keeps both systems in sync, which has reduced delays and errors that were once inherent in their processes. Employees no longer waste time keying the same data twice or reconciling discrepancies, allowing them to redirect their efforts toward value-adding activities like serving members and processing more loans.
In short, Affinity Plus FCU’s operations have been transformed by replacing a cumbersome, error-prone process with a streamlined, automated workflow. Their success demonstrates how modernizing data management with MortgageExchange can revolutionize a credit union’s efficiency. For any credit union or bank struggling with disconnected platforms, the message is clear: MortgageExchange is the trusted, scalable solution for eliminating manual re-entry, reducing compliance risk, and delivering predictable ROI.
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