3 Digital Trends You Should Be Aware Of
Every lender wants to manufacture and sell loans as quickly as possible and create happy, lifelong customers. Unsurprisingly, digital technology plays an important role in helping to achieve these goals.
When mortgage volumes were high it was easy to put off, but now moving from a refi to purchase market it’s going to be even harder to differentiate yourself to compete for and capture what business there is. Now is the time to implement technology that will give you that competitive edge., it can be easy to put aside plans to adopt digital mortgage processes and simply deal with the business in front of you. A bird in the hand, as they say.
- Lenders Going Digital Are Soaring
Last year, global consulting firm Infosys surveyed 1,000 global financial services firms with more than $1 billion in assets on their digital transformation efforts, It found that almost all respondents had doubled their digital transformation initiatives during the 12 months of the pandemic. But that’s not the interesting part. One fifth of respondents didn’t just double their efforts—they quadrupled them. As a result, they saw a 2.4% higher profit level than the average respondent. In addition, the survey found that the more companies digitized the loan application process for borrowers, the greater profits they saw.
- More First-Time Borrowers Prefer Digital Options
According to Fannie Mae’s Q1 2021 National Housing Survey, first-time homebuyers were more willing to authorize lenders to access their financial records electronically compared to repeat homebuyers. Specifically, 41% of first-timers favored digital processes compared to 33% of repeat buyers. One would think that the pandemic was a major factor behind this trend. Most first-time buyers said it wasn’t—they just preferred doing things digitally. Most were younger buyers who grew up using mobile phones and digital apps and were more comfortable using the same tools to get home financing.
- Personalization Matters
In spite of the two above trends, it’s wise to remember no two borrowers are the same. JD Power’s 2021 US Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study, released last November, found lenders that tried to streamline mortgage refinances with a “one-size-fits-all” digital approach actually saw a reduction in customer satisfaction. What borrowers really enjoyed, the study found, was a personalized borrowing experience that blended technology with professional human guidance. In fact, such a strategy was determined to be key to retaining younger customers. If there’s any common truth behind these trends, it’s that the ability to provide a digital mortgage experience is critical—yet a lender’s digital strategy must be rich and flexible enough to accommodate all customers, whatever their preferences may be.
The best way to implement such a strategy is by enlisting a digital mortgage partner capable of providing the entire array of eMortgage products and services, from SMARTDocument® creation to hybrid eClosings to full paperless eClosings with remote online notarization (RON). To date, SigniaDocuments is one of the few companies that offers all of these services from a single platform. If you’re ready to make 2022 the year you achieve your eMortgage goals, give us a call at 1-877-7SIGNIA or email us at [email protected].
