Ruth Thompson is a self-admitted problem solver. She knew she'd found her calling in the early 1980's, when she spent some time visiting a mortgage company. "I was amazed at the complexity and rote work involved in the industry at the time," she says. "I've always liked to streamline the way things are being done, so I started asking questions about the process," Thompson says. A woman who worked at that mortgage company took the time to explain how things worked. "I began to visualize solutions for mortgage lenders to deliver the right mortgage closing documents to the borrower," she explains. Thompson knew she could find a way to eliminate errors and ensure quality through easy to use interfaced applications.

Before long, Thompson left California, moved to Arizona and started Desert Document Services, Inc.

Starting up the business did not prove as difficult as getting people in the industry to embrace the groundbreaking technology that DesertDocs could offer. "I had to earn the reputation as the 'go to' company for compliant mortgage document packages, then the technology edge was revealed to the customers," Thompson admits.

A whole different world now, thanks to the Internet, DesertDocs' software has now been an Internet mortgage tool since 2000. "Today everyone understands the speed and ease of the Internet, yet; still we have mortgage software vendors who try to convince the industry that desktop software is king, which is risky because companies may not have the latest updated versions. That is a huge issue in the ever-changing mortgage industry," she says. "The Internet is great for interconnecting with other software without worry of the latest copy of software." By having their mortgage document solutions available via the Internet, DesertDocs enables its clients to save time and money, while managing, delivering and servicing compliant mortgage documents.

Thompson considers her best business decision to be installing formal change control software tools and methodologies. "This has proved to be of great value to our customers," she says. "Our industry is driven by changes from the Fed, state, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Lenders have product changes and their own legal requirement changes as well. We want to bring value to what our customers pay for and we want their customer, the borrower, to have a good experience," she says. "Formal change control tools and methods are essential for tracking and communicating to our customer so that they have happy borrowers."

Now in its 20th year, DesertDocs has become the mortgage industry's experienced and trusted partner for providing nationwide, compliant document solutions. "Our mortgage lender customers have satisfied borrowers because they depend on us for the right results. The most important thing for our lenders is to have a happy borrower that wants to stay with them for life," Thompson says. "We will continually strive to lead the industry by providing pioneering technologies and best-of-breed solutions for mortgage lenders to securely deliver the right mortgage closing documents at the right time for the right borrower."