Posted by MeridianLink | February 7, 2023

5 Reasons To Integrate Your Consumer and Mortgage Lending

In today’s economy, banks and credit unions should aim to deliver personalized offers for products and services that consumers need precisely when they expect them.

Unfortunately, many financial institutions house data about products, such as consumer and mortgage loans, in departmental silos, resulting in lost opportunities to cross-sell products and services.

Operations such as this may also cause banks and credit unions to lose money and accountholders. When loan officers within each business unit are only interested in increasing the sales of their individual products rather than enabling the sale of multiple lending products across their institution, money gets left on the table. Whatā€™s more, accountholders may have different experiences when they apply for each loan type.

Meeting Todayā€™s Borrower Expectations and Needs Requires an Innovative Approach

Although banks and credit unions are positioned to offer affordable loan products and services to consumers, they need an effective strategy to break down silos and reach borrowers where they are on their financial journey in todayā€™s economic landscape.

Millennials and Gen Z consumers, for example, are often first-time borrowers. As more accountholders of these generations look to purchase homes, lenders must be ready to provide top-notch digital and personalized experiences as well as educate them about other product offerings.

Although mortgage rates are decreasing, they remain higher than they have been in the recent past. One of the top challenges is affordabilityā€”home prices remain elevated, and mortgage rates are higher than in previous years, adding hundreds of dollars to a borrowerā€™s monthly budget.

Between higher mortgage rates, fluctuating housing inventories, and consumersā€™ preference for digital lending, lenders have their work cut out. Not only must they remove unnecessary barriers to borrowing in a difficult housing market, but borrowers are also looking for help to navigate these growing challenges.

In addition, lenders must meet the needs of borrowers who want to apply for loans anywhere at any timeā€”and particularly on any device. According to the Maxwell 2022 Millennial & Gen Z Borrower Sentiment Report, 52% of borrowers apply for their mortgages online using PCs, laptops, or tablets, while 30% of Gen Z borrowers are most likely to apply for loans using smartphones or mobile apps.

Rising costs due to inflation and todayā€™s ever-changing economy are also taking their toll on consumers’ pocketbooks as they deal with more debt, including credit card debt and student and auto loans. In fact, 45% of millennial and Gen Z adults are concerned that they will be denied mortgage loans because they have more debt than income, according to the Maxwell report.

Forward-thinking lenders use data to customize their products for borrower needs, offering consumers the right products and services at the right time. This creates positive experiences and empowers accountholders to decide on additional banking products.

Consumers are more than willing to give their institutions the financial information necessary to streamline the mortgage process. According to the Arizent Future of Mortgage Lending 2022 survey, seven out of 10 borrowers (72%) would agree to do so. That’s because the top pain point for 51% of borrowers applying for loans is collecting, submitting, and resubmitting personal information, which delays the process.

Register for our webinar on February 16 to gain insight into trends and innovative solutions for helping meet borrower needs and empower your staff to deliver a better overall consumer experience.

5 Main Reasons To Integrate Your Consumer and Mortgage Lending Technology

It’s no secret that customers expect more from their digital interactionsā€”the problem is that financial institutions are challenged with keeping up. Consumers say that “their banks donā€™t offer the seamless experiences, value for the money, and innovation they want from their digital relationships.”

To provide consumers with the best possible experiences, financial institutions must begin to consider the benefits of integrating consumer and mortgage lending. Here are the main reasons why they should.

Eliminate Silos

Due to disparate consumer and mortgage lending teams, it is common for silos to develop within a financial institution. By switching to a unified lending experience, those silos break down, leading to better communication, enhanced cross-sell opportunities, and a better overall consumer experience.

Create Better Application Visibility

Streamline the lending process by accessing all open applications. If your mortgage applicant has an existing application in progress in MeridianLinkĀ® Consumer, lending officers can see it in the apps-in-flight window within the MeridianlinkĀ® Mortgage system.

Modernize Application Pre-Fill

Save time and reduce errors when filling out new applications with the application pre-fill feature. Pre-fill enables mortgage loan officers to access a consumerā€™s profile from the core and use it to pre-fill a new mortgage loan application within MeridianLink Mortgage. This feature delivers a better, faster and more satisfying consumer experience.

Maximize Post-Closing Cross-Sell Opportunities

The consumer experience shouldnā€™t stop with simply meeting a borrowerā€™s initial request. Your system and processes should work to cross-sell and cross-qualify consumers to improve their financial well-being and relationship with your financial institution.  

Optimize Consumer Debt

One innovative way that financial institutions can go beyond the initial closing is by enhancing relationships with their account holders using MeridianLinkā€™s patented debt optimization feature. This feature reviews the borrowerā€™s outstanding loans, then scans and recommends the best rates on auto and personal loans. This may increase the chances that a borrower will be approved for a better home loan, save them money, and increase their loyaltyā€”all of which boosts a financial institutionā€™s revenue.

MeridianLinkĀ® Consumer and MeridianLinkĀ® Mortgage loan origination systems simplify the digital lending process. Financial institutions that transform to a unified lending experience can break down the silos between disparate mortgage and consumer lending teams, resulting in better communication, improved cross-sell opportunities, and a better overall consumer experience.

MeridianLink Consumer, the industry’s leading loan origination system, provides banks and credit unions with a full loan product suite. As a single loan origination system, MeridianLink Consumer consolidates and streamlines applications from all channels, applying the same rules and processes to guarantee a smooth process for bank and credit union employees and a world-class consumer experience for members and customers.

MeridianLink Mortgage is a web-based loan origination software that benefits financial institutions because it’s easy to implement and use, and it offers best-in-class support at every step along the way. This end-to-end, configurable solution allows lenders to deliver loans quickly and accurately from application to approval and provide a better borrower experience.ā€‹

Register for Webinar

Register for our webinar on February 16 to gain insight into trends and innovative solutions for helping meet borrower needs and empower your staff to deliver a better overall consumer experience.

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