Just as the US mortgage biz flushes itself down the toilet, IBM has said it will offer software and computers that will help process wannabe homebuyers' applications.

Based in North Carolina, IBM Lender Business Process Services Inc will include consultancy, mortgage processing, and management of home loan paperwork on behalf of lenders.

The technologies on offer include digital imaging products and optical character recognition, which IBM hopes will help ease the burden of paperwork for mortgage lenders and borrowers.

It will also outsource loan processing services with IBM employees gathering up documents from the time a loan completes into one package for underwriters to review.

New technology has been fingered as one of the drivers of the soaring US housing sector in the first half of this decade. The problem is the wheels now seem about to come off, with the housing market feeling the bite of a slowing economy, and a brewing scandal over over-enthusiastic lending to customers with questionable credit histories. ®