This week, more than 1,000 mortgage lenders, real estate professionals, product developers, and thought leaders gathered at the first-everDigital Mortgage Conference in Silicon Valley to discuss where the industry has been and where it is going.
Not surprisingly, a lot can happen in 12 months. On the provider side, electronic tools used to achieve efficiencies, cost savings, and scale are constantly being refined while the adoption of mobile devices is growing across all segments. Digital mortgage is not for the faint of heart.
The conference’s opening remarks came from fintech leaders with deep pockets and high name recognition. Like revolutionaries applying ideology to technology, their message was simple yet crystal clear: Lenders can’t afford to stay offline.
As business-to-consumer interactions become more digitized, financial institutions that embrace digital models are better primed for success. And although they can’t beat giants, credit unions should take advantage of their best practices and lessonslearned.
Quicken Loans, the Michigan-based mortgage lending company, created Rocket Mortgage with the idea of simplicity. According to Quicken Loans, people only adopt mobile technology when usersfeel it’s easy.
Rocket Mortgage thrives on user-journey maps that highlight each element of the mortgage experience. Pushing boundaries, breaking through ignorance, and separating the signal from the noise are just some of the ways the company fosters simplicity.
SoFi is another lender that has take advantage of the opportunity in online mortgages. The business case? Young graduates who do not meet traditional down-payment requirements and want a lender thatunderstands their financial constraints, especially in expensive markets. One-third of SoFi’s mortgage borrowers have held a SoFi student loan, and the company reasons it should have more confidence in borrowers who have repaid on time.
Check out CreditUnions.com’s coverage of Day 2. Read, Addressing Employees And Borrowers At The Digital Banking Conference.