Bringing mortgage lending back with software
To help us prepare for the MBA National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference, we’ve been catching up with conference registrants and fellow exhibitors. What we’re hearing is certainly surprising.
For example, although the industry has seen tremendous growth in automated loan servicing in recent years, some mortgage lenders still view loa
n processing software solutions as unnecessary or out of reach because it’s too costly or complex. Want to know the best part? They accept the myth mostly because they mistakenly think the technology is only suited for the major players – not small or mid-size lenders.
Let’s clear this up with the facts: If you’re not making use of loan processing software, you’re already behind the eight ball. Solutions such as enterprise content management (ECM) simplify the loan process by managing loan documents and automatically routing them for approvals. By integrating with your loan origination software (LOS), ECM not only shortens the lending cycle, but it makes it more cost effective.
Need another reason to explore lending technology such as ECM? Here’s one: You need to focus on keeping up with the changing regulations facing your market. Oftentimes, these new rules require that you manage additional documentation, or risk the loan being nullified.
Take, for example, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) that went into effect on January 1, 2010. It puts the onus on lenders to have a Good Faith Estimate as part of the loan, which protects consumers from hidden costs. Just like most of these new regulations, the lender is responsible for ensuring that the estimate is there when the loan closes, or else the loan is deemed void. As we know, ECM can help lenders take preventative measures to make sure this never happens.
With mortgage banking ramping back up, I’m looking forward to the many new topics and issues sure to be discussed at the upcoming conference. If you’re not lucky enough to attend it, I’ll be sure to recap my findings here. Should you be at the show, please share what you’ve learned with others by commenting on this post.
