MONTPELIER, Vt.-Mortgage lending may not be as hot a commodity as it was during the housing boom a few years ago, but one credit union, like many other financial institutions, has turned to technology to play defense against increasing competition in a turbulent market.
Just over a year ago, Vermont State Employees Credit Union had an antiquated real estate lending system in place, with almost no online mortgage capabilities.
"We had a very simple application that was not customizable," said mortgage sales manager Kathy Simanskas. "There was no online approval, no automatic decisioning, no pulling of credit. It was very incomplete."
After completing the form for a mortgage application, members would inevitably have to continue the process on the phone or in person as VSECU was unable to collect enough information over the Internet to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to any loans. Enter Mortgagebot, an origination technology solutions provider with more than 100 of the top 200 credit unions in terms of asset size already signed on as customers. Simanskas said that online mortgage lending capabilities is an "absolute to have," and was more than satisfied that members would find Mortgagebot's Powersite application easy to use.
"We interview the consumer just like TurboTax interviews you when you do your taxes. That simplifies the process," said Dan Welbaum, chief marketing officer at Mortgagebot.
VSECU implemented the firm's solution and immediately saw results; the credit union now sees nearly 50 applications a month instantly approves about 20% of those applications online, though Simanskas hopes that number improves over time. The volume jump has exceeded expectations, she added, but the biggest value that the online mortgage solution brings to the table is its flexibility, which was shown off early in the year when the credit union saw 81 applications, five times more than the norm prior to implementing PowerSite.
"Rates hit a low in late January," Simanskas noted. "What would normally happen if we didn't have Mortgagebot is that we'd have had to take appointments where we could, and that could result in making a member wait two, three or even four days."
Now the credit union can handle increased volume without adding staff or inconveniencing members. The 24/7 capabilities also re-captures some members who may have looked elsewhere because they could not take the time to sit down and go through the in-person process during normal business hours.
"Our clients were up overall 32% in application volume this year over last year. Credit unions are so in tune with member service that we see credit unions, even moreso than the banks, deploying this technology to be successful," Welbaum said. "(VSECU) was just one of many, many examples of credit unions that have put out this intelligent application process and they have had tremendous success."
BEST PRACTICES
Vermont State Employees CU, Montpelier
Category: Mortgage Lending
Provider: morgagebot
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