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Zoot in the News

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7/2/08	Business to Business	Work's Perks Zoot’s Human Resources Director, Ruth Kronfuss discusses the creative benefits the company offers employees to help with hiring and retention, particularly in a softening market. Cover photo features numerous employees with their dogs on the front lawn of the Zoot campus demonstrating one of the company’s perks; pet friendly policy.
6/2008	Bank Technology News	"Red Flags" and the Five Stages of Grief Lists Zoot Enterprises as a vendor with a solution to ensure financial institutions are in compliance with the “Red Flags” provisions of the FACT Act.
6/2008	F & I Management and Technology	Taking on Today's Tightening Market Zoot’s Marketing Director Eric Lindeen spoke with four top auto finance executives at the 2008 AFSA Vehicle Financing Show. In today’s tightening market auto lenders are holding their ground and some are looking into alternative markets. The article discusses tools to reach the underbanked consumer without incurring undue risk.
Spring 2008	Montana Business & Technology	People to Watch Zoot founder and CEO, Chris Nelson is featured in the People to Watch column. The article describes Nelson’s discovery of a need among financial services institutions for PC-based loan approval software. When Nelson’s developments attracted the attention of major financial players, Zoot Enterprises began the journey from a basement start-up to the highly successful company it is today.
5/2008	ABA Banking Journal	The Case for e-Project Management Describes the system-related complexities and communication barriers of project management within the banking industry. Dennis Dixon, president of Zoot provides insight to the differing views of optimization from a marketing and compliance standpoint and the need to bring all the differing perspectives together in order to meet your business requirements.
5/29/2008	American Banker	Zoot Develops Loan Negotiation System Announces Zoot’s automated negotiation system designed to help lenders increase acceptance rates on loan offers. The system allows auto dealers to present offers to customers based on what is most important to them; interest rate, loan length, monthly payment amount, and trade-in value without going back to the lender numerous times.
5/2008	Secondary Marketing Executive	Risk Management A Special Report Risk and Reward: Capitalizing on Micro Opportunities Dennis Dixon, president of Zoot Enterprises weighs in on capitalizing on micro opportunities in a down market, faster than your competitors, without incurring unnecessary risk. He discusses the use of sophisticated analytics models and alternative data sources to decrease business risk and reaping the rewards of micro opportunities with powerful, flexible systems capable of reacting quickly to changes in the market.
5/2008	Subprime Auto Finance News	Zoot Partners With Lenders to Help Them Better Serve Dealers Highlights Zoot's lending capabilities in the automotive sector—specifically instant prescreen and automatic negotiation. Zoot's solutions assist lenders by helping dealers provide a better customer experience, resulting in increased sales. Zoot's Vice President of Product Development, Tom Johnson discusses Zoot's best practice solutions that allow its clients the flexibility and control necessary to react quickly to changes in the market.
5/2008	Mortgage Banking	Flagging Fraud Describes the policies and procedures mortgage lenders must implement to comply with Red Flag Regulations by November 1, 2008. Beyond the policy and procedure challenges, the good news is technology is available to address the regulations and provide a positive return on investment. Zoot's Marketing Director, Eric Lindeen discusses how to reduce fraud while at the same time increasing the number of applications lenders can automate to achieve significant ROI .
4/10/2008	Subprime Auto Finance News	Zoot Launches Red Flags Suite The magazine's online version published the announcement of the development of Zoot's Red Flag solution suite. To view the release in its entirety visit our press releases page.
4/4/2008	MBA Newslink	Prescreening Technology Outpaces Snail Mail Customer Acquisition Strategies Focuses on the need for new customer acquistion and retention strategies that capitalize on financial institutions' existing infrastructure and customer base.Provides statistical data in support of instant prescreen as a competitive advantage to increasing acceptance rates for credit products. Cites the white paper Operational Excellence: The Prescreen Revolution, by Alex Johnson, SEO Specialist at Zoot.
4/2008 Issue 901	The Nilson Report	Zoot Credit Decisioning for Red Flag Compliance Provides definitions of Sections 114 and 315 of the FACT Act, commonly known as red flag rules. Outlines the process end users of credit information will need to implement by November 1, 2008 in order to comply with the regulations. Introduces Zoot’s Red Flag solution as a standalone product or as part of Zoot’s credit decisioning or loan origination solutions.
3/2008	Secondary Marketing Executive	Home Equity on the Rocks: Down, But Not Out While the sector is experiencing difficulties, industry experts see stabilization in the near future. Tom Johnson, vice president of product development at Zoot discusses strengthening relationships with existing customers with an emphasis on cross-selling home equity loans.
3/1/2008	ABA Banking Journal	Rebuilding the Ultimate Lending Machine: Will Life After Subprime Yield Better Lending Environments? Discusses how individual lenders will play catch up with automation in this time of post subprime revisionism. Automation will introduce efficiences and an auditable information trail. Includes commentary from Zoot's President Dennis Dixon regarding a focus on organic growth, retention and cross-selling and the need for tech savviness in 2008.
2/18/2008	Auto Finance News	Raising a Red Flag Introduces Zoot's development of a solution to address Red Flag rules, a federal regulation that end users of credit information must comply with by Nov. 1, 2008. Zoot President Dennis Dixon and Marketing Director Eric Lindeen discuss the impact on the auto industry. Includes information about Zoot's credit decisioning capabilities.
2/2008	Bank Systems & Technology	The Evolution of Payment Cards Discusses the changes, challenges and opportunities impacting the card industry in today's uncertain economy. Industry experts weigh in with their predictions of what banks can expect in the next decade. Includes commentary from Zoot's Vice President of Product Development, Tom Johnson and Revolution Money's President and CEO Jason Hogg.
2/2008	American Banker TV/BTN Intelligencer	Five Things You Should Know: The Skinny on Total Network Encryption Total network encryption is difficult, and may one day be mandatory. Take it from Zoot Enterprises president Dennis Dixon, who's been through it. Click here to view the videocast.
2/2008	US Banker	Responding to the Demands Of Mobile-Banking Consumers Discusses the challenges and opportunities facing financial institutions in adapting to meet the needs of the fast growing consumer mobile environment. Effective cross-selling, based on a database of prior offers, behavior tracking, heuristic data, and marketing data are important to achieving success in this market.
2/4/2008	American Banker	For Bill Me Later, Speed Is the Name of the Game Describes how Bill Me Later' s ability to decide quickly whether to grant credit has been a key factor in its growth. The company relies on technology to keep its fraud rates as low as its approval times and uses risk management technology from Zoot Enterprises. Includes commentary from Nick Holland, senior analyst at Aite Group.
1/25/2008	Automotive Digest	Zoot Enterprises Makes it Look 'Easy Being Green' Automotive Digest posted Zoot's green initiatives as "Today's Featured Industry Press Release". To view the release in its entirety visit our press release page.
12/29/2007	Bozeman Daily Chronicle	Zoot Surprises Area Nonprofits With Additional Cash Donations The Zoot Grant Committee surprised seven local nonprofits with unexpected donations totaling $14,000. Article describes how the organizations will benefit from these dollars and encourages others to make their year-end contributions.
11/2007	Secondary Marketing Executive	Creating New Opportunities Through Enterprise Cross-Selling From risk management to marketing, this strategy offers considerable versatility. Zoot executive Eric Lindeen discusses opportunities for organic growth within financial institutions through the use of effective cross-selling techniques.
11/2007	Scotsman Guide	Helping Hands This monthly column features a mortgage group that lends a hand in their community. The November issue focused on the Zoot Grant Committee's sponsorship of the Gallatin Local Water Quality District's electronic waste recycling collection event.
10/16/2007	MBA Tech Newslink and MBA Newslink	Zoot ASP Offers Total Network Encryption Announces the availability of an increased level of data security—an encrypted network that provides total encryption while maintaining the speed required to process high-volume transactions.
10/3/2007	National Mortgage News	Processing More Securely at a Fast Pace Announces Zoot's Total Network Encryption as a response to increasing concerns about safety and privacy of personal data by consumers and increasing federal regulations around compliance. Zoot CTO Tony Rosanova discusses the technology behind this improved security without penalizing transaction time.
10/2007	Bank Technology News	'EDE' Spurs Efficiency in a Tough Market Perspectives piece by Zoot's EVP of New Business Development John Padilla. Discusses how an enterprise decisioning environment (EDE) can significantly improve a lender's account acquisition and underwriting efficiency. Calls out the key value propositions of using an EDE.
10/2007	Bank Systems & Technology	Panic Attack Discusses the subprime mortgage crisis with a focus on what the current turmoil in credit markets is not. It is not a failure of technology, but rather good information being ignored or risk parameters set too generously. Zoot weighs in on the logical response of looking at nontraditional data rather than abandoning the market.
9/2007	Montana Magazine	Hi-Tech Success Feature article about Zoot's Founder and CEO Chris Nelson and the highly successful company's growth from his basement to the 150,000 square foot high-tech facility it is today.
9/27/2007	MarketWatch	Reality Q & A: What will happen to your credit score when you get married? Zoot's Marketing Director Eric Lindeen responds with the pros and cons of joint applications, regulations in community property states, reputable ways to repair credit, and what questions to ask lenders when mingling accounts with your spouse.
9/14/2007	American Banker	Cross-Selling as a Tool to Reach Unbanked Discusses enterprise cross-sell as an effective way for financial services companies, serving nontraditional consumers, to minimize risk and further develop relationships by providing a more complete and accurate assessment of borrowers.
8/2007	Bank Technology News	Ten Tech Companies to Watch Zoot named the number one technology company to watch by Bank Technology News
8/28/2007 8/22/2007	MBA Tech Newslink and MBA Newslink	Enterprise Cross-Selling Can Increase Compliance, Profits Enterprise cross-selling allows companies to maximize business revenues while increasing customer wallet share. This article discusses how Zoot's Enterprise Cross-Sell solution can enhance existing customer relationships, expand customer base, and achieve compliance across multiple product lines.
8/17/2007	Processor Magazine	Data Security: Are You Taking It Seriously Enough? Discusses best practices in protecting sensitive information from security breaches and shows Zoot's security polices and procedures as an example of data security that goes above and beyond standard requirements.
7/19/2007	CRM Buyer	Deepening Customer Loyalty With Cross-Selling Defines enterprise cross-sell and discusses how it supports the unique needs of mortgage bankers by providing bank-wide integration while maintaining control within each line of business.
7/3/2007	MBA Tech Newslink	Credit Decisioning System Helps Mitigate Risk, Retain Customers Discusses how Zoot's Enterprise Cross-Sell Manager minimizes risk for lenders while focusing on a thorough and accurate credit assessment, increases customer loyalty by providing options to borrowers, and maximizes business revenues through cross-selling opportunities.
7/2007	The California Mortgage Press	Special Focus on Mortgage Technology: Getting the most out of your LOS This executive byline article by Zoot CEO Chris Nelson shares best practices for selecting a loan origination system (LOS) that aligns with financial institutions' organizational goals and best meets their needs.
6/21/2007	SearchSecurity.com	PCI Council hears complaints, suggestions for changes Discusses the process to reach a common set of compliance criteria that will be the standard for all credit processors. Includes commentary from Zoot CTO Tony Rosanova regarding the challenges and benefits of achieving PCI compliance.
6/2007	Mortgage Banking	Enterprise Cross-Sell Offers New Twist on Old Theme
5/2007	Mortgage Press	Zoot Enterprises Reports Record Year Highlights Zoot’s record number of transactions in 2006 (over 200 millions transactions processed).
4/27/2007	American Banker	Zoot Refines Lending Software Zoot announced the expansion of its instant credit decision and loan origination software to underbanked consumers.
4/24/2007	Mortgage Bankers Association Newslink	Zoot Expands to Underbanked Consumers Zoot announced the expansion of its Enterprise Cross-Sell Manager product to lenders serving the underbanked market, or consumers who have limited or no credit history.
4/22/2007	Bozeman Daily Chronicle	Zoot Honored by Wachovia Card Award recognizes those partners who consistently embody and model Wachovia’s core values and deliver above-and-beyond performance.
4/9/2007	Real Estate Technology News	Zoot Taps Porter as Product Consultant Financial services veteran Bill Porter will lead an enterprise cross-sell management project for Zoot, a provider of instant credit decisioning and loan origination software.
4/2007	Mortgage Banking	Zoot Enterprises Reports Record Year in 2006 Highlights Zoot’s record growth and key accomplishments in 2006, including a 47 percent increase in transactions processed and a 30 percent growth in revenue from 2005 to 2006.
4/2007	Bank News	Enterprise Credit Decisioning: Broadening the customer base without increasing risk Executive editorial by Chris Nelson, CEO and founder of Zoot Enterprises. Describes how banks can use enterprise cross-sell to increase customer loyalty, improve profitability, and broaden their customer base.
4/2007	Cards & Payments	Prime Issuers Tiptoe Into Riskier Waters This article discusses the trend of prime card issuers moving into riskier segments and attempting to gain more business from current customers to meet their business goals. Features Tom Johnson, vice president of product development at Zoot discussing how Zoot technology helps mitigate risk and cross-sell products in this sector.
3/30/2007	Bozeman Daily Chronicle- This Week	Zoot Gallery announces new artist exhibit “William Hawkins Hunter: Signs of Life” The collection features recent works by the locally renowned artist, including paintings in acrylic and canvas, as well as collage and installation using non-traditional materials.
3/2007	US Banker	Catch and (Accidental) Release: Capturing Approved Loans Article analyzes 15 systems, including Zoot’s, that address the industry’s long time frustrations in how long it takes to develop new products with technology focused on speed and flexibility. How this keeps banks from losing potential business in their own pipelines.
2/26/2007	American Banker	Zoot Offers Audit Product for Risk Plan Compliance Zoot has developed a tool to test whether a bank's written credit risk policy has been properly executed when it runs electronic credit checks. Discusses how the Zoot auditing product, Diakon, can help banks determine whether their risk criteria have been properly enforced.
2/25/2007	Helena Independent Record	Bozeman company, Zoot, posts record performance year for 2006 Zoot Enterprises announces record performance year in 2006. Includes transactions processed, uptime report, and income growth
2/25/2007	Bozeman Daily Chronicle	Zoot Sees 47 Percent Increase in Business in 2006 Zoot Enterprises announces record performance year in 2006. Includes transactions processed, uptime report, and income growth
2/18/2007	Bozeman Daily Chronicle	Working for a Living Local area company benefits and salary comparison and offerings, including Zoot Enterprises
2/2007	ABA Banking Journal	On Being Relevant, and Real-Time Case study featuring a top-10 bank and Zoot Enterprises cross-sell aggregator solution
1/26/2007	Bozeman Daily Chronicle - This Week	From White to Black to Vibrant Color: Charles Fulcher Displays Paintings at Zoot Article describes Zoot gallery featured artist Charles Fulcher’s work and announces display dates January 26-March 2
1/1/2007	National Mortgage News	James A. Franklin Joins Zoot Announces the addition of James Franklin as Zoot’s chief sales and marketing officer.
11/14/2006	MBA Tech Newslink	Zoot Upgrades Test File Modification Tool Zoot announced the availability of Version 3.1 of its Diakon test file modification tool.
11/1/2006	Mortgage Servicing News	Fair Isaac Sues Credit Bureaus Over Score Competition Article describes the potential impact of the credit bureaus adoption of VantageScore on the financial industry and includes industry expert commentary from John Padilla, Executive Vice President of Business Development at Zoot Enterprises.
10/2006	Mortgage Servicing News	Offshoring Evolves as Cost of Overseas Talent Rises Discusses the rising cost with hiring offshore companies. Also, addresses possible solutions to offshoring, including Zoot's practice of giving more IT control to businesses.
9/27/2006	American Banker	More MBNA Methods in B of A's Approach Addresses BofA's expansion into unsecured lending following their acquisition of MBNA. Includes industry commentary by Zoot experts.
9/2006	BTN	Privacy Test Upshot: You Fail, You're Fired Examines Zoot's innovative policy of requiring all employees to pass compliance exams, while comparing and contrasting this practice to current industry standards.
8/2006	Mortgage Servicing News	Zoot Conference Has Fraud Angle This article looks at the biannual Zoot Conference and the issue addressed during this meeting. The content included several discussions about innovation in the financial services industry with particular emphasis on fraud and security.
7/13/2006	MBA NewsLink	Credit QA Training Suits Zoot Acknowledges Zoot's partnership with Atlanta-based company, Credit QA. Addresses Credit QA's assistance in implementing a company-wide compliance training policy for Zoot.
7/2006	Mortgage Press	Zoot Enterprises Releases Test File Builder Highlights Zoot's release of their groundbreaking product, Diakon. Discusses the benefits of Diakon within the current decisioning software realm.
6/8/2006	Mortgage Technology	What Will be the Tipping Point? Written by Zoot's president, Dennis Dixon, this article explores the mortgage industry in relation to automated underwriting.
5/22/2006	Real Estate Technology News	Zoot Enterprises Completes SAS 70 Audit The article addresses Zoot's successful completion of a Type II security audit. Also discussed is the importance of such security standards within the financial service industry.
5/2006	BTN	Deciding to Dump Silos Looks at the flexibility provided to Washington Mutual through their use of the Zoot product, SPOC. This article also highlights the ability of Zoot's products to afford multiple implementations and changes to decisioning systems using the same platform.
4/21/2006	American Banker	Viewpoint: Unified Scoring Tool Not Cure All for the Bureaus Written by industry expert, John Padilla, this article explores the implementation of the VantageScore by the three bureaus in response to the long-used FICO score.
4/18/2006	MBA NewsLink	Susie Ready & Kurt Rataski Join Zoot Discusses the addition of two sales executives, Kurt Rataski and Susie Ready, to Zoot Enterprises.
3/27/2006	National Mortgage News	Zoot Enterprises Has Appointed Dennis Dixon President Highlights the addition of Dennis Dixon, who has more than 20 years of industry experience, as Zoot's president.
3/24/2006	Inside Mortgage Technology	Are 3 Credit Bureau Heads Better Than 1? Examines the impact of the VantageScore on the financial services industry. This article includes unique insight from Zoot's CEO, Chris Nelson, regarding the VantageScore's use within credit decisioning.
3/2006	Mortgage Technology	Business Rules Technology: Zoot Uses Business Rules To Reach Users Announces the release of the newest version of Zoot's WebRules. Highlights the innovative product and its ability to put more control in the hands of the user.
5/3/2005	Billings Gazette	Growing Zoot Enterprises Appoints New President Discusses Zoot's rapid growth and the addition of new president, Dennis Dixon.
1/27/2005	BtoB Online	Merkle, Zoot Team Up For Financial Services Customers Addresses the scoring partnership between Zoot Enterprises and Merkle.
1/18/2004	Great Falls Tribune	Zoot Suits Entrepreneur The article explores the inspiring rise of Chris Nelson, founder and CEO, and his company, Zoot Enterprises, into a nationally known component of the financial service industry.
10/31/2002	CRM	Zoot Sees Returns with Reporting Software Looks at Zoot Enterprises unique product offerings for their top-tier clients.
7/11/2002	Fuel Cell Energy	Fuel Cell Energy Partner Brings Technology to Zoot Announces the fuel cell partnership of PPL with Zoot Enterprises.
3/28/2002	USDA	USDA Announces $10 Million Loan Guarantee Highlights the $10 Million loan guarantee awarded to Zoot Enterprises, a growing local business.
1/22/2002	Bozeman Daily Chronicle	Zoot Prospers Despite Economy Addresses Zoot's growth and stability in an ever-shaky economy.
5/6/2001	Billings Gazette	Traveling at Zoot Speed Explores the rapid development of Zoot Enterprises into a nationally recognized financial player.
5/6/2001	Billings Gazette	Many Zoot Employees State College Grads Highlights the consistency with which Zoot Enterprises hires some of the brightest technology graduates from local, Montana schools.