4 Ways to Digitize Lending For a Faster Approval
Loan borrowers have always wanted a fast approval. Here's four ways community lenders can take advantage of technology to speed up their lending process, improving the overall experience and dominating their local markets.
.png)
This article was originally published on CUInsight.
Borrowers have always wanted a fast approval. But in a one-click order, drone-delivery world, the bar for ease and efficiency continues to rise. This expectation is especially true among real estate loan borrowers, causing mortgage and HELOC lenders to feel the pressure to say ‘yes’ faster than ever before.
Speeding up the lending process may seem like an intimidating task. With well-established manual processes and ever-expanding compliance requirements, lenders may be tempted to focus on improving other areas of the applicant experience. But, thanks to plug-and-play lending technology, expediting the loan cycle and increasing lending productivity is within reach.
Here are four ways credit union lenders can take advantage of data-driven technology to automate workflows, speed up their lending process and deliver a superior borrower experience.
#1. Digitize the application process
At the push of a button, Coviance’s cloud-based Home Equity Express™ platform automates the loan process by replacing time-consuming manual processes with drag-and-drop home equity workflows. As your online and mobile banking strategies evolve, you can continue to gain speed and efficiency and scale up your home equity loan volume without increasing the demands on your lending team. Workflow triggered communication and notifications keep borrowers in the loop through the whole cycle, creating personalized touchpoints that boost member satisfaction.
#2. Streamline your vendors
With Home Equity Express, the single sign on (SSO) puts all vendors needed to originate a mortgage or HELOC in one convenient place. No more logging in to numerous sites, chasing down multiple document providers or reconciling different formats and fields. Your compliance team can benefit, too, from a reduced vendor management effort.
#3. Adopt e-closings
A quicker closing is supremely important to the borrower experience. Offering a safe and secure e-closing process streamlines the loan cycle and eliminates manual document collection and storage. With the platform’s built-in configurable workflows and powerful decisioning intelligence, borrowers and lenders can go from clear-to-close in a matter of hours.
#4. Partner with fin-tech
Startups want to work with your credit union. They are looking for scale, and importantly, for progressive credit union lenders willing to help them perfect their platforms. Because they are more nimble, non-depository tech firms can tweak, evolve and improve their solutions to fit your lending team’s and your members’ unique needs.
A positive and fast borrower experience is critical as market pressures increase. In Fannie Mae’s Q2 2023 Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey, “cost-cutting and investment in business process streamlining” have remained among the top priorities of lenders since 2017. With a goal of improving the borrower experience and driving sales, many lenders are seeking technology that can modernize processes and help reduce costs, improve accuracy and minimize manual tasks.
The credit union movement has every opportunity to become its own force in the lending ecosystem. Backed by technology that digitizes and speeds the lending experience, local financial cooperatives will become preferred lenders for the next generation of borrowers.