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Especially now when loan officers, processors and underwriters are slammed with volume, borrowers can become easily frustrated with a mortgage origination experience that is primarily driven by peoplepower.
The manual classification of documents and extraction of data from them for entry into other systems can be the first weak link in a chain that causes errors. It makes for a rocky process with borrowers when they are asked for the same thing twice due to a classification error. And it can result in data errors that cause issues in underwriting. All of this leads to more manual work, more manual input and more of the borrowers’ time being wasted.
The mortgage industry has a habit, especially when volume spikes, to throw more bodies at doc processing challenges instead of utilizing technology to do more with the same amount, or less staff than they currently have. More people means more cost, more chance of error and undoubtedly more time added to the process.
When it comes to automating the processing of loan file documents, there are three key technology attributes lenders should look for to help alleviate these peoplepower-driven pain points.
1. Lenders should look for solutions that “automate first.”
LoanLogics continuously preaches this mantra. Technology should do the heavy lifting and leave the higher value tasks to specialized resources. This is especially true for doc processing since data and document validation must be spot on to avoid downstream impact on the decisioning and sale-ability of loans.
Doc processing solutions driven by highly trained machine learning technologies and sophisticated data extraction programs greatly expand the amount of documents that can be classified and the number of data elements that can be extracted, in addition to enabling greater overall accuracy. From there, lenders can utilize their own staff or even outsourced resources to manage any exceptions that occur.
2. Lenders should look for solutions that create better accessibility to data and documents.
Technology that integrates with a lender’s existing technology investments through API integrations affords the greatest flexibility for information flow. For doc processing technology this means enabling the exchange of information with a lender’s point of sale system, LOS and/or document management system.
As well, lenders should look for solutions that have industry standard outputs, such as MISMO or JSON, also facilitating export to other technologies within the organization.
Finally, enabling greater accessibility to data and documents must include the capability of transferring files securely, given the amount of PII (personally identifiable information) within a mortgage loan file.
3. Lenders should look for solutions that can help distribute workload.
The ability to distribute workload more evenly across the organization can help to eliminate bottlenecks and downtime. Processors, loan officers and their assistants can all help manage volume spikes when technology is accessible to all versus a manual process that is centralized. To further facilitate a streamlined process, when using technology, it should alert users to the status of document processing and offer real-time notifications of exceptions that need to be managed. All of this was discussed in additional detail in the blog post “With a Digital Assistant Can LOs Own More of the Process(ing)?”
While a paradigm shift from the way things have always been done, the time is now for lenders to add more technology, not people, to improve throughput in loan production.
For more insights on this topic, tune into this LoanLogics on demand webinar, “In-line, Real-time Doc Processing, A New Paradigm in Loan Production.” Click the link to review the webinar agenda and to register! Click Here.
