Looking for quicker mortgage origination? Enhance your digital channels

By October 6, 2017 April 27th, 2019

The mortgage closing cycle involves quite a bit of back-and-forth between the lender, various service providers, and the borrower. Because of the increasing complexity of the loan servicing landscape, title companies sometimes spend as much time waiting for responses from other parties as they do actually processing documents. It’s no wonder that worker productivity has plummeted over the last fifteen years. Furthermore, mortgage origination costs are rising, with personnel expenses making up nearly two thirds of those costs.

That’s why it is especially important to ensure that communication is as delay-free as possible. Leveraging digital means of communication has become an essential tactic, and title firms that possess superior technology infrastructure invariably enjoy better pull-through rates than their less well-equipped competitors. Technology adoption is on the rise, with more and more customers completing their detailed application online.

While it is true that some documents like HUDs aren’t suited to electronic processing (if they need to be wet-signed, for example), most items that are required for a mortgage can easily be handled digitally. Since digital document submission is nearly instant and basically free, it is clearly preferred over sending original documents via an expensive courier service or less secure unregistered mail. The sooner a document is received, the sooner it can be processed. Some document submission services go one step further and allow borrowers to scan and send documents directly from their smartphone for ultimate mobility and convenience.

Aside from transmitting various loan documents, digital channels are useful for sending instant notifications to borrowers. Whether they need to be informed of the current status of their application or reminded to send in a revised copy of a particular document, digital alerts are the way to go. Sophisticated communication gateways support more than one channel, including email, phone, SMS, and several instant messaging services. Since these alerts can be automated, they are much easier and much less expensive to manage than mailing letters or placing calls to borrowers manually.

Since digital communication systems are highly scalable and can be deployed fairly quickly, they’re a worthwhile investment for virtually any organization in the mortgage industry. By relying less on expensive couriers and improving worker productivity with quicker document delivery, your margins are sure to reach new heights.