Taking a mortgage loan may not be a pleasant thing as it signals a long-term commitment to one’s earnings. You also have to go through an arduous process of loan processing procedures that could have you second-guessing your decision to go for a mortgage. But fret not, because technology and custom-oriented business decisions are changing this landscape for good, with innovative mortgage loan processing services taking over.
The use of transformative technology is also leading to new trends in the industry that are benefiting consumers and backend stakeholders alike. This means quicker processing of loans while ensuring that the necessary information for it is accurate. The higher loan approval rate is making customers happy while investors in the business are gaining more confidence about their ROI being on the upswing too as a result. This is why the industry is said to reach US$27.5 Billion by 2031.
Whether you’re participating in this industry as a lender or a borrower, you need to be aware of the innovations and trends transforming the mortgage loan space. And you can get that information as you read this blog.
The Innovations Happening in Mortgage Loan Processing
1. Loan Origination Process Automation
Loan origination is also called loan initiation, and as the name suggests, is the start of the process of handing out a mortgage loan. It involves the borrower submitting verifiable documents containing details about their financial life. These include annual salary, monthly deductions, other EMIs, spending habits, etc. It also includes information about assets like properties, bank detail accounts, tax returns, and identification documents like photos and driving licenses.
This step screens applicants to let the lender know if the borrower can pay back the loan. As expected, there is a lot of manual labor required for documentation and verification purposes. And when such large quantities of manual work are involved, there is a lot of room for delays and data entry mistakes. This could result in loan denial or loan management issues later on.
Automation, therefore, is being introduced at every step in the loan origination process. Online portals and other digital data collection mechanisms can easily onboard customers without the need for manual data acquisition. Loan origination software is used to handle multiple background tasks, including borrower data management by integrating with the CRM.
It can collect customer information from various sources ethically for cross-referencing their identity and ownership history. The convenience offered by such automation in loan origination is unparalleled. If you’re a lender seeking to automate your loan origination, then it’s worth considering outsourcing mortgage data entry services requirements. These agencies will possess the necessary automation tools for it and other steps.
2. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
No industry is leaving out AI and ML to up its operational efficiency. Mortgage loan processing is no different, in availing the many benefits it has to offer. One of the operations AI is helping lenders with is facial ID verification. It can tally a person’s face with the photo ID they’ve presented to confirm if that person is indeed who they say they are. This inclusion of biometric data adds a layer of security for lenders.
AI is also useful for documentation and record management. It eases the form-filling process by allowing borrowers to simply speak the necessary information. It can provide summarized versions of important documents if there is a lot of such data present in multiple forms. This cuts the time required to retrieve such information from storage. ML algorithms can be used to develop new AI models that can automate more tasks in loan processing, improving efficiency and cutting costs.
3. Blockchain Technology
Blockchain may be famous for enabling cryptocurrencies to emerge, but its use goes beyond that. Fundamentally, it provides a secure and private means of storing vital information forever. These traits are exactly what the mortgage loan processing services industry needs. The use of blockchain technology can mitigate the risks that come with the digitization of the process, such as cyberattacks that can steal or leak valuable customer and company information.
Every customer’s data bundle containing all data relevant to their loan can be packaged into a block and stored remotely. It can be accessed by any authorized lending company personnel securely whenever required through a special software tool and passcode. Similar kinds of access can be provided to borrowers so that they can view relevant information whenever necessary without the threat of data attacks.
This facility improves convenience as loans can be approved remotely on-site by sending a lender representative with access to the company’s blockchain network.
4. Digital Verification Of Loan Applicants
Perhaps the phase that contributes the most to loan processing time consumption is customer details verification. Mortgage company personnel have to manually go through a lot of paperwork to confirm their veracity. Any discrepancies found will lead to further delays as the process becomes more scrutinized and many steps may have to be retraced. Digital verification of applicants removes such problems in one fell swoop.
Instead of a person going through every line of an applicant’s forms to check their details, a cross-referencing algorithm can be employed for the same. It can automatically tally present applicant information against relevant data gathered by scraping it from multiple sources. AI and ML play a large part in this as mentioned earlier.
The digital verification can happen in real-time too, as and when an applicant is entering their details in an online form. This is already the case with email verification, and more such digital verification measures are being added to mortgage form processing to make the process easier for everyone.
The Emerging Trends in Mortgage Loan Processing
1. Increased Online Mortgage Lending
With the increase of consumers online, many services are catching up.Mortgage loan disbursal is one among them, with the US online mortgage lending seeing a 12.5% increase between 2018 and 2023, standing at US$854.5 Million.
The spread of internet accessibility is one of the main reasons for this trend. The digitization of the mortgage processing stages is also contributing to the shift, as it demands more data entry be made digitally. It saves the lending company money by not having to send out representatives when there is little chance of ROI.
It also saves applicants time and money they’d otherwise have to spend on commuting to the lending company’s premises. Thus, this trend is expected to eventually become the norm in the coming years, as the population becomes increasingly digitally savvy.
2. Growth of Mortgage Mobile Applications
Today, there’s an app for everything, including getting a mortgage loan from your preferred lending agency. Everything a borrower could want to get their desired amount of mortgage loan is present in these apps, facilitating easy, quick, and remote approval of loans.
The app will contain every information an applicant needs to apply for a loan. You have to simply follow those instructions for a hassle-free experience. The mobile apps can also interface with the phone’s camera to take pictures of important documents that the loan company requires, as well as those of assets being used as collateral.
Upon loan approval, the app can interface with your bank’s servers and provide you with information about the money being deposited and other relevant financial details in real-time. It can even inform you about your repayment status, credit score, and other such information.
3. Increased Data Analytics Usage
The mortgage industry deals with a lot of data all the time, it’s not a surprise that the industry is adding more complex data analytics to the mix. Big Data analytics serves this industry in multiple ways, helping to reduce operating costs and identify weak points.
Customer data can be analyzed to find the most suitable ones for loans, based on their financial data and spending habits. It helps them read the market better and optimize marketing strategies. It helps detect fraud and the potential for delinquency from seemingly good customer profiles that may pass conventional verification undetected. And the analyzed data can be used by AI and ML to better perform their roles.
4. Customer-Oriented Approach
Customers are demanding more for their money from industry players, and those in the mortgage industry are listening. They are activating measures for the convenience of customers to apply for and get loans from them. As the youth enter the housing market, companies are fine-tuning their offerings to better suit the younger markets’ tastes.
Digitization is one of those measures, as the youth are more oriented towards the digital world. Customer participation in mortgage form processing events has thus been eliminated, to the point where loans can be gained with very quick approval times from the comfort of home. Customer service has been upped to address any issue that may arise, with the inclusion of chatbots and voice-based AI providing information.
Such customer-oriented conveniences will increase with time as the property market continues to rebound its post-pandemic downturn.
Conclusion
Property is an asset for anyone, and this fact will always drive the mortgage loan market. Lenders can add to it by making it easy for customers to get a loan for their dream property with the inclusion of technology and the latest trends. It makes mortgaging an easy and cost-effective affair for everyone, especially if there’s an external mortgage loan processing services agency involved as that takes away more responsibilities for the lender. The advantages thus gained can be passed on to the borrower, making the entire ecosystem improved for everyone.
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