IDS Employees Help in Local Emergency

Thursday, February 8^th, 2018, at around 6 p.m. (MST), IDS customer support employee Jared Curtis and interface expert Jason Hargis witnessed a car collide with an assisted living facility near the IDS office building. Hargis was quick to dial 911, remaining on the line with emergency services as Curtis rushed to help.

Jared Curtis stands at the scene.

According to reports by KUTV News, the thirty-eight year old driver left the scene after hitting the building. They further report that police found him not far from the facility and arrested him, and are now investigating the possibility that he was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. However, the collision ruptured a gas line, which started leaking natural gas into the building. Though no residents were in the damaged room, as reported by KUTV, the wing of the home was evacuated to avoid any health problems or dangers that could have been caused by the gas. Curtis was quick to help the attendees evacuate the residents.

“Some of them didn’t want to leave the room,” Curtis said. “It was tricky.”

Without Curtis’ and Hargis’s quick thinking, things may have gone much worse. According to the report by KUTV, no serious injuries occurred, though a few residents complained of chest pain.

IDS is proud to have employees who will readily jump in to help their community and neighbors, even at the end of a long work day.

UCD Warnings from GSEs to become Fatal

Recently, Freddie Mac and Fannie May issued an update on requirements for the UCD. Currently, the GSE’s loan systems issue a warning if the Uniform Closing Dataset (UCD) file is inaccurate or incomplete. As stated by Freddie and Fannie, warnings from the GSEs for missing UCD information are going to become critical/fatal June 25, 2018. Files that would have received the warning prior to the June deadline will no longer be accepted past that date.

Fannie and Freddie recommend lenders prepare for the change “by submitting UCD files prior to delivering their loans, as appropriate.”

IDS, Inc. is focused on remaining on top of this news and ensuring that the idsDoc System is prepared for this change. Our clients are invited to let us know the warnings they are receiving and what is triggering them. Due to the customizable features of IDS, different clients may receive different warnings based upon their customizations and system settings. The more we know, the more we can prepare for the change to ensure that the loan process continues to run smoothly for our clients. IDS may add audits, notes, or notifications to assist lenders in assuring that their UCD XML file submissions are successful, even with the change coming in June. To report the information to IDS, Inc., please submit a ticket to service or client support. Please include the file name, screen shots of the warnings you receive, which GSE you are submitting to, and the estimated time/date of submission.

The UCD was created to allow loan information to be communicated electronically, as well as to encourage consistency and accuracy in the loans provided for the single-family. Though the UCD file is the same for both Fannie and Freddie, each uses a different method of collecting the data from the file. Because of this, IDS encourages our clients to keep an eye on the differences in the warnings they may receive from each individual GSE. To ensure successful loan deliveries, lenders will have to submit accurate and complete UCD XML files.

Further resources can be found at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's websites.

Escaping Employees

As the holiday season wound to a close, IDS took the chance to do a little celebrating of their own. As an event organized by Kayelyn Harris, on January 20^th employees of IDS and their guests had the chance to win prizes, eat food provided by Brick Oven, socialize, and visit Alcatraz Escape Games. “The caterers were great, and the venue staff went above and beyond,” Harris said. “I feel the event was generally a success.”

Katie Means, who assisted with setup of the event, agreed. “The holiday party was very enjoyable. Even when things seemed a tad chaotic, it was still great,” she stated.

Alcatraz Escape Games, located in Draper, UT, provides a fun chance to test the mind. Several escape rooms are open to try, clues and riddles hidden around the room as the groups within try to find their way out of the room before the time limit.

The quickest group completed the "Horcrux Hysteria" room.

The quickest IDS group solved the Harry Potter themed “Horcrux Hysteria” room. Employees Rulon Doman, Katie Means, Vince Wilson, Nick Attebury, Shawn Gibson, and Marc Hartley, along with their guests, nearly made the leaderboard for their quick completion time. “Being inside the rooms really made our teamwork stronger,” said Means. “I was able to meet other employees I had never spoken to, and we had a blast solving mysteries together.” The group won a prize for their quick escape – tickets to come back and try to solve another room.

Other rooms included “Prison Bus Escape,” “The Row,” “Extinct,” and “Zombie Panic.” Each room had different challenges to overcome.

Those on “The Row,” said to be the most difficult of the escape rooms, had to work together to try and escape death row before their sentence was carried out. “It was definitely a tricky room,” commented Brooke Espinoza, who attempted the escape, “but it was super fun working with everyone and trying to figure things out!”

There was only one room with an age limit: “Zombie Panic.” Participants not only had to escape the room, but also avoid the zombie within. “This one guy dressed as a zombie came in as time was running down,” employee Tyler Sebresos said. “Even though it was just a guy in make-up, everyone freaked out. It was great!”

The "Prison Bus Escape" group braves the cold weather.

“Prison Bus Escape” is not only the room with the lowest escape rate, but also the only one that takes place out of doors. Taking place on an actual bus, the participants had to make their way through the bus to the back in order to escape. “We got really close, we just needed to figure out how to get the door open,” said employee Adria Riley. “I might go back again to find out the rest of the puzzle.”

While employees waited for their turn in the escape rooms, they had the chance to enter a large raffle for prizes and pick up their holiday gifts. “Having time before and after the Escape Rooms where we got to better know our fellow employees and their families was a lot of fun, and informative,” Means said. 

Those participating in the raffle could win gift cards, spa sets, movie tickets, Bluetooth headphones, and many other prizes. Additional tickets for the raffle could be won by completing brain teasers and ice breakers, or found hidden in the escape rooms. “The party was awesome. The gifts were great, and the food from Brick Oven was really good,” employee Jared Curtis said. "I had a great time."