Global DMS announced the addition of Bias Alert to its award-winning EVO-Residential valuation technology platform. The company said Bias Alert is new technology that alerts lenders about the potential presence of bias in an appraisal before the appraisal is released externally to the borrower(s), Global DMS announced in a press release.
Bias Alert, the company said, eliminates human intervention and, therefore, the presence of both purposeful and unconscious bias as soon as the appraisal is submitted to the lender. The platform utilizes a patent-pending process that automatically compares the appraisal data submitted by the appraiser to data from lender-grade automated valuation models to determine if there is a discrepancy in the stated values.
“Given the appetite for a comprehensive solution to eliminate appraiser bias, we knew we needed to come up with a way to allow client-specific flexibility while still allowing the data to speak louder than any human intervention could, “Jody Collup, Global DMS chief operating officer, said in the release. “We didn’t want to put forth a feature that only did half the job or allowed any human user to influence the outcome in either direction, positive or negative.”
Within the EVO admin set-up, lenders can choose a predetermined percentage level of accepted appraised-value variance along with a confidence score threshold. EVO users receive alert messaging as well as a Bias Alert report when a potentially biased appraisal hits their specified variance threshold, the release said.
Lenders can then examine the issues and choose to continue forward, request appraisal revisions or reassign for a new appraisal.
“Global DMS recognized the continuing trend of appraiser bias in America and felt it imperative to develop a solution to address it,” Vladimir Bien-Aime, Global DMS president and CEO, said. “EVO Bias Alert will provide lenders an integrated and automated tool to proactively identify and notify them in real-time of potentially biased appraisals to minimize legal, financial and reputational risk.”