TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/152295
cover story S ome mortgage technology solutions have existed in some form for many years and have evolved to stay up with market needs. But there are other, newer technologies making an impact and are likely to be game changers in different parts of the industry. Going Mobile G one are the days when the prospective borrower had to travel to the lender's office to apply for a mortgage. And it's not just a novelty for a mortgage loan officer to come to someone's home or to meet a prospect at another remote location, turning the ability to originate and remotely process a loan from notion to reality. In 2012, half of the customers buying a mortgage origination application from Franklin, Tennessee-based Wipro Gallagher Solutions chose the mobile solution, Enterprise Mobile Origination (e.MO), according to Teresa Blake, practice director. In 2013, all purchasers wanted the mobile solution. "The adoption rate has grown significantly," Blake said. "The mortgage loan officers are looking for more ways to be able to take more applications. The mortgage loan officer in the past was at the desk on the phone. We're seeing that they are shifting their time to go out to meet the borrowers. Some percentage [of the loan officers] won't adopt mobile, but the high producers of the past are going to be challenged if they don't have it." The e.MO application integrates with any loan origination system, including WGS' NetOxygen LOS, and provides all the tools to keep sales informed and connected to the customer. The application monitors leads and manages all associated contacts through the entire lending process. It maintains lead status, follows up on additional requirements, and requests credit and AVM results while creating a lead. Its alert and notification system monitors borrower activity via tablet push notifications for the duration of the lead throughout the entire lending lifecycle. As a mobile solution, e.MO enables loan officers to work "That makes the application conversation more robust [and] helps the mortgage officer become a true advocate for the borrower," Blake said. e.MO also offers predictive analytics to help a user better determine when a consumer has moved from someone who is "just looking" to someone who is serious about buying a property (and, thus, a better prospect). e.MO makes this determination based on activity in the consumer's financial accounts, though Blake declined to reveal any of the potential leading indicators. Mobile also offers real-time feedback opportunities for lender marketing campaigns, offering them the ability to better The earlier a lender eliminates paper, the more efficient the entire process becomes. with customers anytime at any place. The e.MO solution is also workflow-enabled—loan information is immediately available to processors, underwriters, funders, and closers through the LOS via seamless real-time integration with e.MO, shortening the processing of the application. The e.Mo wireless application is also location-aware, so a loan officer taking an application can direct the customer to other pertinent information, like comps on similar properties and built-in calculators to compare items—including fixedrate versus variable-rate products, loan terms, and payments. measure the effectiveness of their efforts and make any needed adjustments, Blake adds. While other advertising media offer some tracking capability, they aren't as effective. "We are looking at opportunities to further enhance our offerings," Blake said. Wipro is currently testing different options to enhance the solution. Enhancing Collaboration T he end-to-end electronic mortgage has been discussed for several years, but the reality is that a lot of the process remains paper-based. Much of the paper gets converted into an electronic format at some point, but for some lenders the conversion doesn't take place until late in the process. "Imaging and document management have evolved into an essential management process. A few years ago, they were used only for special purposes," said David Hultquist, VP of marketing for San Francisco-based Capsilon, adding that some lenders don't image and archive documents until near the end of the process. The earlier a lender eliminates paper, the more efficient the entire process becomes because copying, faxing, and other time-consuming processes are eliminated. Capsilon's DocVelocity automates document capture, evaluation, conversion sharing, and delivery of various documents. Rather than just storing images as some other imaging solutions do, DocVelocity enables lenders to image multiple document types. Notifications alert users when new documents arrive, which allows the workflow to continue immediately. The technology recognizes, separates, and organizes independent document components, including lender-authored documents, into their respective files, enabling the proper documents to go to the proper user (e.g., insurer, servicer, other third party). Imaged documents can be searched, filtered, selected, and arranged depending on the user's needs. Lenders and investors can set document packaging rules for external participants as well. DocVelocity also enables collaboration via Web, desktop, and mobile interfaces to enable users to collaborate via their preferred communications channel. Collaborators can engage in a secure, private dialogue, with any comments becoming part of the record. For example, an appraiser and underwriter can have an online discussion about a feature The M Report | 17