PRESS RELEASE


Upgrade To Anti-Fraud Database Announcced

ChoicePoint’s MARI Helps Fight Mortgage Fraud with New Product Enhancements.

RESTON, Va. – September 12, 2007 – The Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI®), a service of ChoicePoint® (NYSE: CPS), today announced the release of the first phase of a series of enhancements to its Mortgage Industry Data Exchange (MIDEX®) anti-fraud database. MIDEX is the premier national database used by members of the mortgage industry to report incidents of mortgage fraud and pre-screen the various professionals with whom they do business.

The redesigned MIDEX – known as MIDEX 2.5 – has been improved with new features to further assist the mortgage industry in identifying individuals associated with mortgage fraud. A new user interface has been developed to help users access and categorize information more quickly. Additionally, the search logic has been improved to return results that are most relevant to queries.

“The MIDEX 2.5 user interface improvements make it much more intuitive to use and quicker to determine which reports to review,” said Drew Johnson, group leader - Eastern Division of National City Mortgage Company, based in Miamisburg, Ohio, which is one of the top ten mortgage originators in the nation. “The ability to sort the search results and to view reports before printing makes researching the results a much faster process.”

“MIDEX 2.5 has made it even easier for mortgage professionals to pre-screen and monitor the credentials of parties with whom they do business,” said Merle Sharick, vice president and national manager of business development for MARI. “We feel a national database such as MIDEX is a great step toward helping the mortgage industry maintain its good reputation and remain a critical part of the American economy.”

MIDEX already provides users the ability to review credentials and determine if there are sanctions or negative activities associated with mortgage industry professionals and/or companies such as mortgage brokers, lenders, loan officers, appraisers, real estate agents and securities agents. Many mortgage institutions are finding that MIDEX is also an excellent resource to help with routine audits and investigations of delinquent loans.

“As incidents of fraud evolve in the mortgage industry, we are continually improving the capabilities of MIDEX to help mortgage professionals fight mortgage fraud,” said Tom Chmielewski, ChoicePoint vice president, product marketing. “We like to think of MIDEX as the neighborhood association for the mortgage industry. Everyone who contributes to and uses the database protects their own interests and assets, and MIDEX ultimately helps protect the American consumer from being defrauded.”

MIDEX is a risk-management database service used by the mortgage and financial services industries for quality control investigations and to perform background checks on individuals and companies with whom they have current or pending business relationships.

MIDEX is endorsed by Mortgage Bankers Association, the national trade association representing the real estate finance industry.

MARI is a premier provider of mortgage fraud prevention solutions and information services to the mortgage and financial services industries. For more information, visit MARI Inc.



SOURCE: PR Newswire