"We also have to look beyond the mortgage process and incorporate the overall homebuying journey within this digital transformation conversation."
The mortgage industry continues to experience a significant overhaul due to varying degrees of digital transformation which is fundamentally altering the way lenders and mortgage brokers operate and interact with their customers.
One of the most significant advantages of digital transformation when it comes to mortgage processing is the dramatic improvement in efficiency and speed throughout the industry. Traditional mortgage processing was notoriously slow and cumbersome, involving extensive paperwork, manual verification, and prolonged waiting periods. However, digital tools, systems and solutions are revolutionising this journey by simplifying a number of elements across the application process right through to that all-important after sales support, thereby increasing efficiency, productivity and profitability.
The ability to harness data-driven insights is another transformative aspect of digital mortgage processing. Modern digital tools help facilitate the analysis of data patterns and trends, providing valuable insights into consumer behaviour and preferences. By understanding these patterns, brokers and lenders can tailor their services to better meet the needs of their customers and deliver solutions that are more aligned with ever-changing client expectations.
With a host of sensitive financial information involved, data security is also paramount. Advanced encryption, and secure data storage ensure that client information is protected from unauthorised access and breaches. This not only safeguards clients’ data but also builds trust, as clients are reassured that their personal information is handled securely at all times.
However, we also have to look beyond the mortgage process and incorporate the overall homebuying journey within this digital transformation conversation. By this, we mean the benefits of closer collaborations between all links in this chain to generate absolute trust in the data being supplied and eliminate the need for multiple data requests from multiple parties.
Speed, transparency and security are vital components within any healthy and coherent housing market and these are all elements being championed by the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) who recently called on the government to take action to ensure that the homebuying and selling process is fully digitised within three years.
This comes on the back of firms currently using OPDA’s data standard for digital property packs having significantly reduced the time it takes to get from an offer being accepted on a house to exchange of contracts – in some cases to just 15 days “with zero fall throughs, zero fraud, a much better customer experience and more certainty around the moving date”. This represents a highly impressive stat and it’s up to firms within their respective sectors to also do their bit to facilitate these improvements.
In order to stay ahead of tech curve, it’s vital that we continue to focus on partnerships and alliances with firms who are real pioneers in their respective spaces and share our philosophy of being able to facilitate simpler, faster and more cost-effective processes and solutions for their users.
For example, the partnership between OMS and Smoove (part of the PEXA Group) goes a long way in helping brokers to improve their clients homebuying journey by opening the doors to some of the highest quality firms and processes in the conveyancing industry.
Angela Hesketh, UK head of market development at PEXA, said: “We are delighted to work with OMS on this journey of continuous improvement for homebuyers to demonstrate what can be achieved with true collaboration and digitisation, including getting behind the vision of the OPDA with their goal to escalate the digitisation of data and the use of true open data standards.”
Looking forward, digital transformation will continue at pace and by working with the right tech partners, both lenders and brokers will be better equipped to deliver exceptional service aligned with innovative mortgage solutions which meet a wider array of borrowing needs.
