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For all of its advancements over the past decade, social media is still the Wild West in terms of trying to police behavior. The days of anonymous posters spouting off and trolling others are far from over, but that doesn’t mean that efforts to moderate content are not making serious strides. In fact, Forbes published an article over the weekend suggesting compliance scoring as a way to automate moderation. It’s a very interesting idea and worth a read if you haven’t caught wind of how big data and AI can be used to gamify social media to reward positive interactions and behavior and punish negative or destructive behavior. As a result compliance to sites’ policies and guidelines would be much more transparent than it is today. As technology continues to evolve, doors are opened that can lead to more sophisticated compliance measures. This is also true in the lending industry as loan origination systems incorporate more automation, reporting and other functionality to help financial institutions comply with regulatory standards.

Much like how consumers rely on quality technical support to enjoy their new computers, tablets, gaming systems or appliances, lenders need the same reliable and efficient support from their loan origination software providers. At the end of the day, consumers are just as loyal to brand names for their service capabilities as they are for the technology – and financial institutions are no different. We covered a few best practices regarding software support last month, so now’s a good time to take things a step further with three more key considerations that will help your financial institution avoid getting burned -- especially during these hot summer months.

There are few things worse than making a long-term investment in a piece of technology and finding out a few months down the road that it’s obsolete or can't deliver. As a young kid, my older brother and I petitioned our parents for a video game system. For anyone familiar with Atari systems, which happened to be where all of the hoopla and hullabaloo was back in the mid-1980s, they will remember that there were several versions of systems instead of one system that took center stage and could play all of the games.

Did you catch our digital lending webinar last week with special guest Jim Marous from the Digital Banking Report? Don’t worry if you missed the webinar, you can request a link to the recording by clicking the button below. Even though Jim also spoke at our recent User Forum this spring, this webinar’s focus took things a step further as Jim outlined results of his 2019 Digital Lending Survey and content from his recently published 2019 Digital Lending Review. Following his presentation, Jim fielded a few questions from attendees, so we thought we’d share them here since his responses tie so closely to the evolving digitalization discussion so many financial institutions are having today. Here are some of the questions and Jim’s thoughts:

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve focused on digital lending best practices, but it continues to be such a hot topic these days. Here’s a link to where we left off in case you wanted to check it out. Moving forward, here are three more key considerations every financial institution’s loan origination system must incorporate to maximize success in the digital segment:

If you ask any financial institution that’s recently enjoyed success with its indirect lending program, chances are that success will in some way be attributed to the relationships built within that institution’s dealer network. Those relationships involve several key factors – far beyond showing up once a month with donuts and slightly lower rates.

My car isn’t really that old, but it’s old enough to where I held my breath last month when I took it in for an emissions check so I could renew my registration. Luckily, it passed, and I didn’t have to visit my mechanic for needed repairs – unlike a friend of mine. She’s looking at a pretty hefty price tag before her car meets regulatory standards and her registration can be renewed.  Whether it’s your car or something much more serious like your financial institution’s loan software, finding the best solution to help meet regulatory standards as well as a trust-worthy provider can sometimes be harder than expected.

Collections will never be the same.  XpressCollect, the latest addition to MeridianLink’s market-leading suite of products, has quickly been recognized as one of the most powerful and innovative collections tools. With its robust and intuitive platform, XpressCollect maximizes efficiency and minimizes costs. The web-based platform provides unmatched benefits that start with a sleek user interface that delivers the ultimate user experience. XpressCollect not only replaces tedious workflows of the past with increased automation, sophisticated analytics and easy-to-use functionality, it also evolves with your financial institution’s operations and goals. As you may know, we hosted an introductory webinar yesterday to provide more information about XpressCollect and its benefits. In case you missed it, you can request the recording link below. Here’s some of the Q&A following the presentation and demo to give you some more insight on how XpressCollect works:

Digital lending best practices continue to be a major focal point for many financial institutions as they strive to optimize the mobile user experience for their customers and members. As we’ve previously discussed, this often goes beyond the functionality of the loan origination system, itself, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that there are several key factors every institution must consider when evaluating whether its loan software can help it meet its goals.  This week’s blog post features three more of the most important best practices every financial institution needs to consider when evaluating digital lending technology and processes:

While digital lending, robust decisioning and cross-sell functionality are all atop most financial institutions’ list of priorities when evaluating loan origination systems that could properly fit with their goals, processes and strategies, regulatory compliance still finds its way into the mix – and rightfully so.  As regulatory pressures continue to mount, financial institutions need technology they can count on to help them meet compliance requirements and efficiently handle regulatory audits. Regardless of the system you choose in the end, here are three best practices your solution should satisfy that will ease the burden of regulatory compliance: