Mapping Your Digital Loan Origination Journey
Digital capabilities are rapidly expanding, making operations more efficient, driving down costs and improving the satisfaction of both borrowers and the employees working to originate loans. The capabilities of these innovative technologies are truly remarkable. But reaping the benefits of digital loan origination requires a plan that makes life easier on both sides of the home mortgage transaction and keeps a human in the loop for the optimal borrower experience.
What Are the Benefits of Digital?
Digitization in the mortgage industry refers to the technology used to streamline and simplify mortgage transactions to achieve favorable outcomes, such as better customer experiences, expanded self-service functionality, more accurate pricing, less paper to file and track and support for regulatory compliance.
From point-of-sale and processing to underwriting and closing, proven digital products are needed to originate loans efficiently and affordably without sacrificing compliance or stretching an organization’s resources too thin. Automation, accessing data directly from trusted sources, document classification and data extraction and prompting action from the borrower or origination team at the right time are just some of the digital advancements that have grown in use and that can set lenders apart from the competition. Through digital innovation, a lender’s staff will be able to focus more on the client relationship and tasks that require human decisions – and let technology handle many of the more tedious, repetitive tasks.
How to Harness the Benefits of End-to-End Digital Technology
The goal for lenders should be to develop an end-to-end digital environment. This digital journey may vary from organization to organization, but there are some common questions that every organization should consider, up front, to ensure a successful outcome, including: What is the organization’s effective capacity for change – can this be accomplished all at once, or should it be broken into stages? Are customers demanding enhancements such as eClose or the ability to self-serve and perform more of the process digitally? What is the competitive landscape? Vendor partners can help with this assessment and work with the organization to develop a roadmap to add value at the most effective pace for the organization.
Expect some resistance and plan for it. Change can be unsettling. Any process modification can have upstream impacts on loan officers, turn times and execution as well as downstream impacts on consumers. Overcoming resistance to change is one of the key obstacles that lenders must contend with on a digitization journey. Make sure you have the resources to execute updates, and take advantage of partners such as Black Knight, a leader in the mortgage technology space. Black Knight has professional service capabilities to supplement your team’s knowledge and accelerate your journey to a more digital environment.
Arriving at Your Digital Destination
Digitization is the future when it comes to loan originations. It’s a journey that is sure to twist and turn over time. Developing a strategy for managing constant, incremental change and improvement is key. Leaders have already charted their course and built an environment conducive to innovation. It’s not too late to start, but lenders who fail to embrace the digital future risk getting left behind. With clear goals and a calculated effort, digital success is within reach.
