1997. Tony Blair wins a landslide majority in the general election, Thrust SSC becomes the first car to break the sound barrier, and Katrina and the Waves win the Eurovision Song Contest.
All those events, however, pale into insignificance when you realise that 1997 was also the base line year for mortgage technology.
Back then, most mortgage transactions completed by a broker and submitted to a lender would at some point be handled by an underwriter. Today, the vast majority go straight through to lenders’ back office systems with no underwriter intervention.
In those days compliance was a matter of keeping reams of paperwork for years, on the off chance the FSA came calling. Today, all that information can be easily managed, stored and accessed at the touch of a button.
Applications took days, or in some cases weeks, to be approved. Today, decisions can be received in less than a minute.
Mortgage technology has changed out of all recognition in the last fifteen years and will doubtless continue to do so.
It has done so, among other reasons, because of a desire from brokers and customers alike for a faster, more efficient service and to give brokers the best chance of retaining and increasing their customer base and sales figures.
The benefits have been plentiful for all involved. Mortgage applications are being dealt with more efficiently and advice and sales processes have been streamlined. The technology is faster, more powerful and more accurate. Compliance is easier to manage.
Most importantly, mortgage technology has enabled brokers to offer a better service to customers who have access to many more ‘mortgage buying options’ than they did fifteen years ago. In today’s market, brokers have had to adapt to consumers’ changing purchasing habits or risk being left behind, and technology has helped them do that.
An excellent recent example of this is the launch of mobile technology solutions for the mortgage market. Mortgage Brain, for example, launched a mobile app called UKmortgages in April this year.
UKmortgages is designed to support brokers by promoting them to consumers via next generation mobile devices, and importantly, delivering free leads using a unique ‘find a broker’ facility, which enables consumers, via GPS navigation, to find and receive contact details for the nearest mortgage broker.
Whilst apps are the latest innovation, they’re by no means the only form of technological advances that are helping to keep brokers ahead of the game – in all aspects of the business.
Consumer facing sourcing systems which are specifically designed for brokers’ websites are helping brokers compete on a level playing field with aggregators by letting consumers conduct much more of the initial mortgage search process.
By using systems like this, consumers can quickly and easily source, compare and select mortgages before getting in touch with intermediaries to discuss and progress applications.
Elsewhere, point-of-sale and CRM systems have become one of the most important technological aids for brokers.
Designed and built to effectively manage the entire sale and compliance process for mortgage, protection, life, general insurance and conveyancing products, these systems have played a fundamental role over the past few years in minimising sale and administration processes, which in turn, gives brokers more time to work on ways to increase new sales and customer retention.
These systems are invaluable when it comes to dealing with an increasingly tough regulatory regime and now play a huge role in the lives of brokers.
In terms of speed, ease of use and product searching capability they are simply unbeatable, and as the growth in usage of mobile devices continues, the most innovative systems are now being developed for use by brokers across these new platforms.
It’s clear that the mortgage industry must continue to evolve and adapt to new and emerging trends and consumer requirements. As a result, whether it’s in terms of sales, compliance, security or fending off the competition, mortgage technology will continue to be a dominant force in our lives.
