Can mortgage be bought online just like an airline ticket? Experts feel the day is not far when mortgages will be bought and sold online without any human intervention. Tech-savvy millennials are becoming increasingly comfortable with online banking and are enjoying easy document submission and multiple options in interest rates. Digital technology is becoming the differentiator in delivering mortgage products. Consumer direct mortgage gives borrowers control and visibility of the entire process.
Customers can shop for rates, order and pay for credit reports, apply for loans, receive disclosures, and sign electronically before uploading documents. They can participate in the mortgage process through their personal computers, tablets, or smart phones. The consumer direct platforms help lenders to maintain 360-degree relationships with their customers. With big-data analytics and social media, every customer move can be anticipated and products tailored to their needs.
Loan origination software (LOS) is a self-service banking technology. At inception, it enabled live expert help, easy documentation, e-signatures, alerts, and helped customers to be self-sufficient in the mortgage process. The software also granted greater visibility and faith in the system. Lenders have now expanded their bouquet of self-help services so that borrowers are able to access any information instantly. Moreover, with scanning technologies, online content proliferation, and better communications, mortgage looks set for the future. Customer satisfaction is also the highest among consumers who use digital channels to access and shop for mortgage.
Lenders are vying to provide the complete user experience to customers. Every buyer persona needs to be catered to with focused marketing alerts, programs, and information. User experience differentiates lenders from each other. Big lenders are yet to see easy revenue after the meltdown. Increased foreclosures and a somewhat stagnating economy have not been conducive to selling mortgages to new-age consumers. However, peer-to-peer platforms with uniquely tailored solutions and complete digital experiences have managed to capture customer attention.
Compliance is still a shaky area for mortgage bankers. TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosures Act and new regulations like Know Before You Owe put the onus on lenders to increase visibility of the mortgage process and make it time-bound. Automation has been the enabling factor for compliance and has made the mortgage process quicker and cost effective. Cloud-based loan origination systems are today integrated with consumer direct platforms, CRM systems, and retail point-of-sale (POS) platforms to deliver complete end-to-end customer support from loan origination and application to closing.
Technology enables banks to offer niche mortgage products and customized experiences. That’s because cloud data gets consolidated from trusted sources, credit scores get standardized, underwriting automated, and signatures digitally authenticated. The capabilities are making mortgage very much a self-service entity. However, many lenders are persisting with human intervention to support and hand-hold customers through their applications.
Paperless, digital mortgage through smartphones is the future. It is going to delegate more control, visibility, and responsibility to customers with time and cost savings for lending institutions. Newer cloud-based mortgage solutions will provide better protection with perfect compliance and data integrity. Advantages are accumulating with progress in technology, and visible ROI for some banks is forcing others to sit up and take notice.
Author Bio:
Preethi vagadia is a business architect worked in Mortgage and Finance software department with top notch companies and has over 8 years of experience in Mortgage Lending Technology,Mortgage Loan Servicing solutions, mortgage software management services etc. She has also worked in several process improvement projects involving multi-national teams for global customers in warranty management and mortgage.