Digital Mortgage in 2018 – Why it Matters to You: Adapt or Die!

It’s been rumored for years.

Even before it had a name, there was an idea — a vision — of a faster, easier way to get our borrowers and us mortgage professionals from point-A to point-Z in a lending instant. But the vision was at a near standstill.

We continued to labor through the arduous loan process. Continued to do things the same way we had for decades. Nothing changed.

Until it did.

There was a collective swell in technology and a shift in consumer behavior. An ambitious few saw the climate change and recognized the potential.

The future of lending is 100% digital.

The vision of a better way to get a mortgage was now a reality. And the perfect storm was about to make it happen.

A Storm on Horizon – The Early Days

The pulses of change were initially felt as early as the year 2000. That year we passed the ESIGN Act, a federal law that gave legal recognition to electronic signatures and records.

Then came secure online applications. The internet was no longer composed of static content but is now comprised of a highly interactive and functional secure framework. With online apps, it was now possible to authenticate, authorize, and audit information — securely and instantaneously.

In 2007, DropBox introduced us to the ease of cloud-based document management, making mailing, faxing, and emailing large files obsolete.

The Genesis of Digital Mortgage – The Perfect Storm

Three pivotal milestones came together to ultimately poise our industry toward the apex – 100% digital lending.

• Smartphones Transform Consumer Behavior

Smartphone technology changed consumer behavior beyond ways we could ever imagine. We were used to using the desktop computer at work and our notebook computer at home to return personal emails and do some light online shopping or browse social media to unwind. But the smartphone became both and everything in between. The same mobile device one uses to plan a Greek Isle trip, another uses to trade stock, and yet another uses it to attend a virtual open house that’s occurring miles from their physical location.

For the consumer, smartphones are the ultimate connectivity device providing: instant gratification, instant access to decision-making info, and instant buying power.

For lenders, smartphones are the immediate access point to consumers. You no longer have to wait for consumers to pass by your static billboard on the freeway or for your postcard to make its way to their hands. Consumers only need to use their smartphones, just like they already do an average of 150 times a day, and you’re right there. In their hands and invited into their space.

• Digital Document Management Evolves and “Wet Signature” Meets Its Demise 

In its infancy, virtual document management was only a function of storing and sharing files via the cloud. From that, emerged a mature, robust, rules-based, and secure document management frameworks allowing paper-intensive industries such as Mortgage to utilize it to its fullest potential. Several companies have built successful businesses around creating workflows and user-interfaces around such cloud-based document management systems.

These systems have expanded the mortgage software capabilities into one that can handle massive amounts of data and migration without corruption. In a flash, as fast as lightning.

A 2010 revision of the Law on Notarial Acts expanded the legal acceptance of electronic signatures and with it, a surge possibilities in the housing market.

Nine states have already adopted the law, and six more have introduced the measure. It’s no longer a matter of if. It’s a matter of when.

• Fannie Mae Day One Certainty Opens the Floodgates 

Day One Certainty transformed the mortgage game. Forever. Income, assets, employment — all authenticated through Fannie Mae’s automated, electronic Desktop Underwriter.

Overnight, the paper-based validation was eliminated. The Property Inspection Waiver, powered by Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter, expedited originations by four to seven days.

Even in its pilot phase, lenders knew the imminence of Digital Mortgage with Day One Certainty capabilities.

It was just a matter of who was going to make the first move.

Enter “Rocket Mortgage” by Quicken Loans

Not Wells Fargo, Chase or Bank of America, but naturally the biggest online lender, Quicken Loans was the first to jump into the eye of the Digital Mortgage perfect storm.

Quicken Loans connected the dots and opened a whole new and untouched market in home loans — online. With the promise of a better way to get a mortgage, Quicken Loans grew into an even a more formidable force in the Lending Industry. But it didn’t stop there. The completely paperless mortgage revolution was only getting started, essentially creating the modern-day mortgage experience.

Quicken Loans is now the third largest originator in the nation, above Bank of America and right on the heels of Chase. $18 billion in origination was processed by Quicken Loans in one 2017 quarter alone. 

A Digital Mortgage Platform For All – How to Compete with the Market Gorilla

Transitioning to a Digital Mortgage Platform isn’t just about making loans easier. It’s a matter of survival.

Feeling the strong market forces evidenced by Quicken Loans growth, Wells Fargo also followed suit and has announced the launch of a digital mortgage tool by 2018.

Their goal over “the next couple years is to make sure on the consumer side that all of [Wells Fargo’s] products and services are available online and as many as possible on mobile.”

Don’t wait to take advantage of the multi-billion dollar online mortgage opportunity. And don’t spend thousands on developing a single digital mortgage tool.

Make the transition right now with an all-encompassing Digital Mortgage Platform from LendeHomePage.

Reliable, responsive, adaptable, compliant, and comprehensive, our Digital Mortgage Products are designed for the ultimate in user experience and competitive edge.

Make a move today and be ahead of the lending industry. Make a move later and waste time catching up.

Don’t make a move and you will be left out. Permanently.

Call 888-377-1265 to get your Digital Mortgage Platform today!