LAKE MARY, Fla. – Navy Federal Credit Union is now offering its 2.3 million members some of the key steps needed to fully automate the mortgage closing process. The nearly $20 billion CU is deploying the UniFi PRO Mortgage loan-origination system from FiServ Lending Solutions. The system includes automated document preparation and delivery for electronic-signature enabled closings. The Fiserv business unit said it plans to roll the functionality out to all its users in the first quarter of 2004. Navy Federal originated nearly $5.1 billion in mortgage and home equity loans in the first eight months of 2003, the most in the credit union industry. "We expect to reduce the overall cost to process a loan – from application to delivery to an investor – by more than $230 per loan; and we plan to use the savings to further improve our productivity and pricing," said Karen Pearson, assistant vice president of automated mortgage systems for Virginia-based Navy Federal.