“Unlike legacy systems, modern technology can start with the consumer experience as the core experience.”
Going Modern: Embracing Technology for a Seamless Consumer Closing Experience By Aaron King
DECEMBER 2015 n National Mortgage Professional Magazine n
NationalMortgageProfessional.com
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Word of mouth. It’s one of the most powerful phenomena in human history, and its influence has only grown over the last two decades. Far more efficient than Paul Revere, the Internet puts a megaphone to the
lips—or fingertips—of every consumer. For the mortgage industry, upgrading the consumer experience has never been more critical to success. The lifeblood of lenders is referrals.
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While referrals used to mean asking your cousin which lender he used to finance his beach house, they now often involve soaking in the reviews of countless consumers who collectively comprise a trusted source. Every interaction with consumers during the mortgage process shapes their opinion of the experience, but those final steps en route to the closing table, in particular, leave a lasting impression. With on-the-go lifestyles becoming the rule rather than the exception, and finding and securing a mortgage online becoming ever easier, “mobile closings” (also known as “remote closings”) are proliferating. Every year, hundreds of thousands of loans are consummated with the help of a mobile notary signing agent, away from a local bank branch, at someone’s kitchen table, the library, or the neighborhood Starbucks. With the closing often being the only face-toface interaction throughout the entire mortgage process, it’s critical that borrowers feel comfortable and well taken care of as they cross the finish line. Throughout the mortgage process, technology can deliver that comfort and confidence to today’s digitally dependent consumers. Homebuyers are highly connected in nearly every aspect of their lives; they’re accustomed to information on-demand and constant contact. Modern tools can keep borrowers in the know and at ease—while making life easier for mortgage professionals. But the mortgage industry has been behind the technological curve for decades. Why? Change and adoption is hard in the space due to a multitude of compliance and consumer experience risks. Thus, a struggle has emerged between companies that are thinking tech-forward and those that aren’t. Many businesses still have systems and processes in place that were developed 20 years ago when the consumer experience wasn’t a priority—and they’re clinging tight. While some have tried to build consumer-facing products, these efforts have often failed because the longstanding workflow isn’t
designed for them and the processes and machinery in place are no longer relevant. The consumer experience can’t be an adjustment to what a company is already doing; it has to be reinvented. Luckily, effective solutions have emerged that allow players in the mortgage industry to stop trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Today, there is a whole new set of technology tools—in the hands of consumers and businesses—and a different lexicon. Unlike legacy systems, modern technology can start with the consumer experience as the core experience. In almost every industry, the bar for consumer experience has been set to seamlessness. Accenture defines seamlessness as “the ability to deliver a consistently personalized, on-brand experience for each individual customer, at every touchpoint—anytime and anywhere.” With many parties and moving parts involved in every remote mortgage closing, and compliance concerns to boot, achieving seamlessness is nearly impossible without technology tools that automate the process and draw on data to enhance the human element influencing the consumer experience. In truth, “wing it” has long been the approach to this unwieldy segment of mortgages with mobile closings. Scheduling and managing off-site loan signings has long been a painful, manual process for consumers and closers. The traditional process of tracking down available, quality notaries is a tangled mess of phone calls and Excel tracking, and it unnecessarily drains time, money and manpower. Transferring sensitive loan documents online for mobile closings carries serious security risks, as well. Now, the mortgage industry is able to gain control of the process. Modern, intuitive tools for mobile loan closings that solve these challenges and give consumers the experience they’ve come to expect have emerged. Imagine connecting all stakeholders involved with the transaction—the lender, title insurance, escrow, mortgage broker, real estate
