A list of IT terms that relate to the mortgage industry

Active Server Pages (ASP)
Interactive software that is installed on your server (or your web hosts server) that allows web browsers to pull database information from your web site.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
The US member of the ISO that works to standardize computer issues

AUS (Automated Underwriting Service)
Software that layers the risk factors of a potential borrower/loan to determine credit worthiness.

Bandwidth
The amount of data that can be transferred from one computer to another. This determines how many web browsers can view you website, and how much data they are able to download.

Baud Rate (bps)
The measure of Bandwidth, an telephone modem has a typical bandwidth of 28,000 bps. DSL and cable modems can have bandwidths of 500,000 bps and higher.

Browser
A software program that access the internet and displays internet content on the computer. FireFox, Explorer, Netscape, Opera and Safari are examples of browsers. In addition, MSN and AOL have their own proprietary browsers.

Byte
Computers utilize information in a collection of 8 binary characters, each group is recognized as a byte. A kilobyte (kb) is about 1000 bytes. A megabyte is about 1,000,000 bytes. A gigabyte (gig) is about 1,000,000,000 bytes and a terabyte is about 1,000,000,000,000 bytes.

Cache
A parking area in your computers memory designed to keep recently used data from your computer in a quickly accessible place for review.

Client
Refers to a computer that connected to a hosting computer (server).

Cookie
A very small file placed on a client computer that stores the clients previous selections. This is how those “remember my password” functions on a web site know who you are and what your password is.

Cross-Posting
Posting the same articles or comments across several different Internet Forums. This is similar in protocol as spam.

Cyberspace
A nick name for the online world created by computer networks

DO (DeskTop Originator)
The Fannie Mae retail portal to DeskTop Underwriter

DU (DeskTop Underwriter)
The Fannie Mae proprietary automated underwriting service

Domain Name
This is the equivalent of your telephone number of address for your website. The domain name for this web site is lenderama.com. Domain names must be reserved through services like GoDaddy.com or NetworkSolutions.com and must be renewed on a yearly basis.

Download
The copying of a file from a host computer, to a client computer.

Encryption
The process of scrambling and de-scrambling data transfered between one computer to another, making this information difficult for unintended users (hackers) to read.

FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions

Firewall
Security software and hardware that acts as a gatekeeper for client computers, and allows different levels of access to the host computer depending on the clearance level of the client.

Flame
An insult or scolding by email or posting to a forum.

Forum
An online community on of internet surfers, interested and publishing their thoughts concerning a particular subject. The forum at brokeroupost.com is an example of a community of Mortgage Professionals.

FreeWare
Software that is distributed for free.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
Software that transfers large amounts of data between a client and host computer.

Hit
A measure of traffic to a web page. A hit measures the number of visits to a web site

Home Page
The starting point of a web site

Host
The computer (server) that serves data to client computers.

HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)
The basic source language used to create web sites. Visit www.htmlgoodies.com for more information.

IMHO
Slang term for “In My Humble Opinion”

ISP (Internet Service Provider)
A company or network of computers that provides access to the internet.

LOS (Loan Origination Software)
Software that assists in processing loan documents for submission to an underwriter.

LP (Loan Prospector)
The Freddie Mac proprietary automated underwriting service.

Lurker
A person who reads Internet Forums, but does not contribute (post) to them.

Modem
A device that convert computer data to audio for transfer over telephone lines.

Network
A group of computers that communicate with each other

Newbie
Someone who is new to a forum, or the Internet

PPA (Pay Per Action)
Advertising that pays a web site for every-time an a hosted ad is clicked on AND then a product is purchased from the linked site.

PPC (Pay Per Click)
Advertising that pays a web site for every time a hosted ad is clicked on.

PPM (Pay Per Mille)
Advertising that pays a website to place adds on the site regardless of weather a visitor clicks the ad. The adds are charged based on the number of impressions displayed by the site, or over a negotiated amount of time (usually monthly).

Page View
The number of times a particular web page is viewed. Also known as a Hit.

Protocol
A negotiated list of rules between two or more computers to exchange information.

Search Engine
Software that crawls across the internet and ranks content based on importance. Google, Yahoo, and Lycos are popular search engines.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
The act of manipulating a web page in hopes of higher ranking by search engines.

Server
A compute that provides data requested by a client computer

ShareWare
Software that can be downloaded for free trail, but eventually requires payment for continued use.

Snail Mail
Traditional mail sent through the post office.

Spamming
Posting unsolicited messages to forums or by email.

Unique Visitor
The number of new visitors to a particular web page over a certain measure of time, usually 24 hours.

UNIX
An operating system used by many web-hosting servers

Upload
The transfer of data from a client computer, to a host computer.

Todd Carpenter - lenderama