Recently in Mortgage Category

Lip Service

By Paul Piers on March 12, 2009 1:52 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Recently, I have attended different association meetings discussing what real estate professionals want from mortgage lenders and vice versa.  In my ten years of association with both industries, I am left dumbfounded that the topics and the points made in these discussions remain the same.  Can it be that that mortgage and real estate professionals are so entrenched in their ways, that they just get together to discuss how to better serve one another, and apply nothing they learned?  Real estate professionals will say that better communication is needed and in order to earn their business mortgage people better prove that they will be offered top shelf service.  Faster pre-approvals, no closing delays, returned phone calls, prompt and frequent status updates, and on and on and on and on.  If I had a penny for ever time I heard the standard list of how to better serve the mortgage and real estate communities, I would have more money than the recent stimulus package passed by the U.S. government.  I am beginning to think that these meetings are meaningless venting sessions.  For example, I attended one well known association meeting where a large real estate team could be asked any question pertaining to how to better service them and their customers.  The team gave the customary answers we have all heard infinite times.  The following day I followed up with a mortgage lender who attended the meeting and asked this person if they learned anything valuable.  They said the things discussed were things that everyone already knew.  My thoughts exactly.  So, why not change?  If you already know all things one needs to do to succeed, why not implement them?  I hope it's not all lip service from both sides of the table.

Here's the good news.  Meeting all of these service objectives is now extremely easy.  These industries can finally start discussing new topics, because LoanMarq accomplishes all of them, automatically.  Check it out.  It truly is the new service BenchMarq.  Although, it could be that these industries just like to complain about how terrible the other is with doing their job .  Maybe they'll be unwilling to integrate LoanMarq because it will end all the meetings, due to removing the one topic of discussion.  Maybe it is all lip service.  We'll see. 

The Vision

By Paul Piers on January 30, 2009 10:51 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
I want to lay out the vision I have for service in the real estate and mortgage industries. I am passionate about this, and it is our company's goal to accomplish what I will lay out here. Articles like the J.D. Power and Associates survey are very insightful, in that they let us know exactly what customers want. However, if you look over the past decade, surveys like this have all echoed the same sentiments. Mortgage consumers grade mortgage service below par. Ready for the thesis? Here it goes.......The mortgage industry requires marked increases in transparency, accountability, and efficiency in order to fix its service flaws.  Increased transparency, requires accountability, and leads to efficiency. 

Transparency 
This is the most important of the 3-pronged, service overhaul. Total transparency is mandated. The customer knows everything, sees everything, can review everything, and this can be done anytime the customer wants. Credit reports, mortgage disclosures, appraisals, closing documents, settlement statements, etc., every document and disclosure at the cusomer's fingertips, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This new transparency will restore trust and develop a new standard by which customers should choose their lender and rid the industry its bad guys. I have met with some mortgage people who fear giving their customers information. That some how the customer, once armed with this information, will use it against them. The name of the new game is education, over-disclosure, and communication. This process can be automated with technology {I know a great product :)}. This will create true customer loyalty. Customers will even pay a higher margin for service like this -- it has been proven. To make the transaction transparent, accountability is paramount. 

Accountability 
This is the part a lot of industry professionals hesitate to implement; however, if implemented, will lead to a real, service revolution. All parties in the transaction, from borrower to insurance agent need to be held accountable for their fuction inside the process. This includes the quality of work and the amount of time to fulfill. When all parties can rely on the other parties to complete their function inside a defined criteria, the service experience becomes exponentially better. Quality, turntime, disclosure, education, and communication should all be part of the accoutability criteria. How do we know which vendors are performing at this level? Simple, LoanMarq makes certain everyone is held accountable to this standard.

Efficiency 
Efficiency is basically better work flow practices. It can only be elevated when every minute detail of the transaction works in unison toward the same goal. Inside a mortgage transaction, this means moving a loan from application to closing seamlessly, by collecting all the necessary documentation as easy as possible. A mortgage relies on many vendors working in chorus in order to complete the transaction. Making this process more streamlined and efficient has been the goal of mortgage professionals for years. The transaction needs to have standardized turn times. These turn times need to be guaranteed by all vendors and tracked to find which vendors perform consistently. Those that do, become part of your referral network. Increased efficiency will make sure that borrowers have time to review all documents and disclosures, become educated during the process, and avoid costly delays.    

Efficiency, backed by accountability, inside a transparent transaction, will lead to a service standard never seen before in the industry. We will create a community of professionals the market will recognize as leaders. Where customers will come because they know that the new standard has been developed to better serve them and their interests. This is not a dream, but a current reality when LoanMarq is implemented.

Loan Processing Conundrum

By Keith Heavilin on January 19, 2009 11:55 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Today, mortgage companies have found themselves in a very precarious position. To cut expense, some companies have had to layoff processing staff. Due to the current increase in refinances, lenders find themselves with higher mortgage volume, but without enough processors to efficiently manage workflow. Thus, management is faced with the following conundrum:  increase payroll or decrease turn times.  The phrase "feast or famine" always fits the mortgage industry.  It seems the industry needs to find a way to increase efficiency, while minimizing expense.  A complete overhaul of the mortgage process is required to solve this conundrum.

For the most part, the mortgage industry's transaction workflow is inefficiently. The amount of phone calls, emails, and faxes mortgage people manage for a single loan is enough to make anyone's head spin. One perfect example of these inefficiencies are underwriting conditions. Today's loan processors have seen a rise in the amount of conditions their loans are receiving from underwriters.  This is due, in part, to more stringent guidelines put in place to mitigate the risk of mortgage defaults and delinquencies. Processors are charged with the unenviable task of collecting these conditions from customers and vendors to satisfy underwriting guidelines.  In lies the inefficiencies of the mortgage transaction.  Processors make numerous phone calls and send countless emails, only to receive incorrect or incomplete documents in return.  The frustration mounts and the stress heightens, eroding customer service and causing delays. In turn, causing referral sources to become disloyal and potential, repeat business is lost.  Three days late the file is miraculously cleared to close, but the fees are higher and the interest rate has changed, because the lock expired.  In order to save the deal, the loan officer takes a commission hit to correct the rate and fees.  The loan closes.  Tomorrow, the process begins anew.  Sound familiar?  Ever wonder why processors like to go out back and break things?  There is a better way.  

There is a software application available that rids the transaction of inefficiencies by creating a web based, collaborative community. Everyone integral to the mortgage process meets on the web to gather instructions to complete their function and receive loan status updates. The web application automates the entire mortgage transaction.   All customers, vendors, and mortgage personnel within the mortgage transaction instantly know what is needed, when it is due, and when it has been received.  As these milestones are achieved, emails and text messages are automatically sent.  Phone calls for document hounding are a thing of the past.  Stress, frustration, and high blood pressure are replaced with transparency, efficiency, and accountability.  Processors can now take a deep breath and process twice the loans, in the same amount of time.    

For those companies ready to face the challenges of today head on and have vision and understanding of what is needed to succeed in the future, the solution has arrived.  LoanMarq is the web based mortgage tool that streamlines the entire mortgage process.  Never have mortgages more efficiently moved from application to closing.  Never has there been this level of communication, transparency, and accountability inside the mortgage process.  By this standard all service will be judged.  LoanMarq -- The New Service BenchMarq.

Broken

By Paul Piers on January 5, 2009 10:53 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
People don't have to search far to figure out that the mortgage industry is broken. Every news publication runs stories almost daily to this affect. There are many industry experts looking backward to see what went wrong and they all have well phrased opinions on who's to blame. It's time to stop looking backward and time to look forward to find ways to solve the foundational problems with the industry. The mortgage industry is fundamentally broken.  The problem pervades the entire mortgage transaction.  What's the problem?  Unrealized promises mortgage people have made regarding customer service.  Mortgage people relentlessly pitch to the market they offer the highest customer service, concierge level service, or white glove customer service.  These taglines have been pushed so hard without any clear difference between them and their competitors, that customers don't believe any of it.  After the subprime mortgage debacle, mortgage people should have received a wake up call.  Customers are demanding service and the leaders that really offer it at a high level will succeed.  

Mortgage people need to tangibly raise customer service through education, over disclosure, and communication.  J.D Power and Associates in a survey released October 20, 2008 said that customers are "committed to their lender when the loan officer takes the uncertainty out of the mortgage origination experience by setting expectations, proactively communicating and maintaining personal contact with them during the loan process."  The survey also states that customers "are more satisfied when status updates are provided" and "last-minute requests for information are limited."  Mortgage people cannot continue status quo when their potential customers are screaming for change.  The writing is on the wall - innovate or exit.
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