Mobile banking continues to be one of the biggest trends for consumers, so expectations for credit unions to keep up are as great as ever. Much like opening deposit accounts, lenders across the country are scrambling to ensure their operations cater to the needs of consumers in the digital age. Modern consumers don’t want to be restricted to a branch location and expect the freedom to apply for credit, loans, and other products remotely and whenever they have the time to do it, not just during regular business hours.
Credit unions without access to untethered points of account acquisition are anchored to the past. Online and mobile presence allows them to extend that same signature branch experience to their members while also fitting the current culture of the consumer. Even further, your staff should be able to attend community events and select employee group visits with mobile devices so they can immediately acquire new members if the opportunity should present itself.
Given today’s consumer preferences and behavior, mobile and online functionality is an absolute must for any credit union. However, it’s important to know what your members’ needs are as well as how the right loan origination system will fit those needs. Here are four of the top priorities you should consider when evaluating a platform’s mobile and online capabilities:
- Support across multiple browsers and responsive design: Ask whether the solution can support multiple web browsers such as smartphones and tablets. It should be designed responsively to allow the application to scale to the size of the viewing screen. Responsive design also should incorporate the way the application looks, such as buttons, field types, and masking. Make sure that you can control the style sheet elements that make up the page’s general aesthetics such as adding your logo and corporate colors to brand it as your own.
- Saving incomplete applications and follow-up capabilities: Today’s consumers are constantly on the go. It is not uncommon for someone to want to use their mobile device to begin an application, but then decide that they need to complete the process later. Any online solution should support the ability for the user to save their application in process and then log in to finish it at a different time, perhaps even on a different device. Also, since an application will have been initiated, it is critically important that you are able to track its progress, and send reminders that it still needs to be finished and submitted. If unattended for a prescribed period, the application should be canceled and proper adverse action notices sent. Finally, the system should allow you to see the partially submitted data for manual follow up. Often, a friendly call from you can still close the business.
- Disclosures: Any solution must be able to clearly communicate required upfront and back-end disclosures to the consumer, allow them to read or save supporting documentation, and require them to agree to proceed with the application. Make sure the system allows you to configure when and where, what content is available for review, and required agreements to proceed. Make sure that you have a high degree of flexibility around this part of the application.
- Supporting documentation: When a consumer is approved, there may be secondary information that is needed from them that typically has been gathered directly. This includes proof of income, proof of insurance, and copies of tax returns. Having to collect these items manually is a time-consuming process. You’ll want to make sure that your online solution allows the consumer to directly add supporting documentation through the interface or their mobile device by picture. This time-saving feature improves the usability of the application.
Does your loan origination system offer the mobile and online functionality you need to effectively compete as well as offer a great user experience for your members?
The CRIF ACTion loan origination system offers full mobile and online functionality that will allow your credit union to offer an untethered and convenient experience for your members. Our advanced ACTion Deposit Account Opening system also capitalizes on responsive design and robust functionality to offer the industry’s leading account opening platform.
These are just a few of the things you should consider when evaluating a platform’s mobile and online capabilities. For a complete list of what you need to know, please click the button below to download The Right Loan Origination System for You Top 10 Checklist: Mobile/Online.
About CRIF Lending Solutions
CRIF Lending Solutions is the nation’s largest provider of loan and account origination, business process outsourcing, credit decisioning, data access, and lending and marketing analytics solutions to a number of the most successful U.S. financial institutions including banks, credit unions, finance companies, retailers and credit card processors. CRIF Lending Solutions is organized into four dedicated divisions: CRIF Achieve, CRIF ACTion, CRIF Select, and CRIF Synergy. CRIF Lending Solutions is a part of CRIF, the leading global company specializing in the development and management of decision support systems. For more information, visit www.criflendingsolutions.com.