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Combined mortgage and protection application process is not far off – Assured Futures

by: Ian Sawyer, managing director of Assured Futures
  • 13/06/2018
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Combined mortgage and protection application process is not far off – Assured Futures
Recently, those in the mortgage and protection worlds seem to have begun realising the importance of tying their sales together in a much more seamless and efficient way using technology and data.

 

According to the latest State of the Protection Nation report from Royal London, 42% of people with a mortgage have no life cover in place, 71% have no critical illness cover and 81% have no income protection. It’s time for things to change.

Last month, iPipeline announced a number of mortgage brokers and estate agents have adopted its protection modelling and sourcing solution to accelerate the selling of protection alongside mortgages.

In another example, last year Royal London developed its underwriting scoring engine using predictive analytic techniques to remove the friction created by traditional underwriting.

Data collected for the mortgage fact find is used by the scoring engine to make an instant decision on life cover eligibility as part of the mortgage advice conversation. The prediction is that more than 80% of customers will be accepted.

 

Easier protection sell

So we seem to be at the start of a new era of technological innovation that will allow mortgage brokers to sell more protection in a much easier way. What might that look like?

Guy Williams, sales and marketing director of Liss Systems, says his firm are working on a proof of concept system that will offer protection terms to mortgage clients in seconds.

“Once client data has been captured for the mortgage, there should be a simple button that allows customers to protect their mortgage if they are willing to share that data,” he says.

“If so, we can use predictive underwriting analytics to assess their risk and offer them mortgage protection terms in seconds.”

This type of approach could help both a customer buying direct or a mortgage adviser to expedite the protection process in a much more consumer friendly way.

 

Maximum engagement

We have found that the point when a client buys a mortgage is when they are most likely to be engaged with protection too, but the archaic systems required to process that client can put them off.

Tech can change that, but it needs to be used to help the advised journey, not just non-advised.

Focus Solutions head of managed services Steve Andrews says technology can play a major part supporting an increase in protection advice by streamlining processes.

This can be done using online client portals to collect data, distribute recommendations and accept advice. Better integration between back office systems and quote portals will also serve to reduce the re-keying of data.

“The protection providers’ technology also has a significant part to play, especially around the underwriting process,” he adds.

 

Exciting opportunity

The overall picture seems challenging with so many different types of systems and providers with their own data requirements.

It suggests this is a market ripe for tech disruption. A firm that can create a seamless system will be perfectly positioned.

Opal Group CEO Eoin Lyons explains that as first-time buyers are younger and less engaged in protection this is a challenge to advisers and the protection market.

“So, a digital customer journey which reuses information already gathered to efficiently and simply present a protection offer to a client while they are engaged is certainly an exciting opportunity for the market,” he adds.

If we can create a safe, secure system using fully-consented consumer data which is built to handle mortgage and protection applications and sales together, rather than as two separate species, clients will have a better deal all round.

 

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