Fast, Frictionless, & Fully Automated: The Path for Mortgage Digital Progression 

Welcome & Housekeeping 

Ryan Saniuk 

00:13 – 00:49 

K. Well, welcome, everyone. 

I was told that at o’clock, we go live. Right, Molina? I know you’re backstage, but we go live at o’clock. 

I like that. She said, we don’t know if she doesn’t know if we say that in our country, but if we don’t, we’re going to start now because I liked it. 

So welcome, everyone, to the webinar, Acima Inside Track, presented by sponsored by MeridianLink. Today, we’ll be discussing fast, frictionless, and fully automated, the path for mortgage digital progression. 

However, before we get into the actual meat of the presentation, we’d like to actually introduce Cameron Hinton from Acuma. Cameron? 

Camryn Hinton 

00:49 – 01:58 

Thank you, Ryan. Hey, everybody. 

I’m Cameron. I am the, associate director of member relations and events with Acuma and super excited to kick off today’s webinar. 

Thank you very much to MeridianLink for sponsoring this Inside Track. And, also thank you to everyone for being here. 

They have lots of great information to share with you. And before we get into that, just wanted to give a quick update on ACUMA. 

So we have some in person events coming up. We have our ACUMA Regional Summits, April 8th 9th in Pensacola, Florida. 

This is a credit union only event. So if you can make it, we’d love to have you. 

If you’re a credit union member or a non member of ACUMA, this is an event for you. Also, continue to stay tuned to our our continued virtual education and then our workshops and our annual conference, both in person coming up later this year. 

Again, thank you to MeridianLink and to all of you for being here. I will kick it right back over to you, Ryan. 

Thanks. 

Ryan Saniuk 

01:58 – 03:56 

Great. Thanks, Cameron. 

Nice to see you as always. Now back to our our, webinar of today. 

Again, fast, frictionless, and fully automated, the path for mortgage digital progression. Before we get started, I’d just like to introduce you to the thought leaders from or the 2 thought leaders from MeridianLink who will be tackling the meat of this, thought leadership presentation today. 

First is Vince Furey, senior VP of MeridianLink. He actually came over from the OpenClose acquisition a little over 2 years ago like I did. 

As for myself, I’m a marketing consultant for MeridianLink and their mortgage product. And then that brings us to David Wazoric, and we were just having a conversation backstage. 

David actually just hit his 18th year, with MeridianLink, and we were discussing how rare that is. So pretty incredibly, David’s able to speak to just about everything. 

Meridian Lincoln is an expert in the mortgage product, and he’s the product manager for mortgage. That being said, we just have a few housekeeping legalese items. 

Take a screenshot. We will pull you at the end on this to make sure that you studied this properly. 

That’s a joke. Also, I was told now do me a favor. 

I was told that if you have questions before I’ve said to put them in the chat, do not put them in the chat. Please put any questions in the q and a box, and, that way, if we’re able to get to them at the end of the presentation, we will answer them then, but we will not be going, one off questions here and there. 

That being said, let’s move on to today’s agenda. Well, here’s what we’ll tackle, and here’s what you’ll walk away. 

The landscape, priorities, and challenges, from challenge to opportunity will be the second section. Your digital progression blueprint will be the 3rd. 

Section 4, sustained growth, and then 5, what are the next steps? So on to priorities and challenges, the landscape, what borrowers want, digital shifts, and competitor spending. I’d like to turn it over to Vince Fuhrer. 

Vince? 

Understanding Digital Progression 

Vincent Furey 

03:56 – 05:52 

Thank you, Ryan. So, you know, digital progression is kind of a buzzword that we hear and we use quite a bit in the marketplace. 

But, you know, some people know what it means, some people don’t. Some people apply their own definition to it. 

And I think what we want to do here is give you an idea of what it means from the perspective of MeridianLink and what MeridianLink is doing to help our customers navigate on their digital progression journey. Because it is a journey, it’s not something that happens overnight, and that’s what we’re going to talk about today. 

There’s certainly some priorities and challenges out there that we’re going to talk about. But what you’re looking at right now is a study that was done by Jack Henry. 

It surveyed, I believe, 250 institutions. And gleaning from them what’s, you know, what’s most on their mind in terms of their focus and strategy for 2025. 

And you can see, you know, from the top, growing deposits is number 1. We hear a lot from people that have balance sheet challenges, need to grow deposits to, to, give themselves more balance sheet flexibility, always want to increase operating efficiency, grow loan growth that kind of goes along with, deposit balance sheet good balance sheet growth, incur improving the account holder experience, new account holder acquisition, add adding digital products and solutions, and leveraging data. 

The interesting thing about digital progression is it encapsulates all of these. So if you put yourself on the right digital progression plans, you’re going to positively impact all of these key areas within your institution. 

You’re on mute, Ryan. 

Ryan Saniuk 

05:52 – 06:31 

Thank you, Vince, for that background. And now we’re going to go into the first poll for today to make this a little bit more interactive. 

What is your top digital priority in 2025? Is it adding digital products and solutions, leveraging data, b? C, increasing operational efficiency? D, growing loans? E, improving customer experience, or f, customer acquisition. So please pick the top one. 

And, Melina, if you’d like to share that live poll, that would be great. If you’re unable to do that, that’s not a problem. 

And what we’re going to do is con or currently move on with the presentation as people continue to input, their answers to that poll question. 

The Current Landscape & Market Pressures 

Vincent Furey 

06:31 – 11:56 

Vince? Thank you. So current landscape, you know, there there’s some key challenges you need to keep in mind when you’re formulating your own digital plan. 

Certainly market saturation, increasingly crowded marketplace, you know, the FIs, you know, Fintech startups like the Sofis of the world, while they’re an FI now, they didn’t start that way. And we’re seeing more and more of those types of institutions grabbing market share. 

And then what digital platforms are out there, and how do you best utilize them within your organization? Major shift to online and mobile originations. Really the consumer driving demand for convenience. 

You know, act access anytime, anywhere in their own personalized experiences. And then customer retention. 

You know, we see specifically in the credit union space an aging demographic. It’s harder and harder to get new members, especially in the lower demographics. 

And how can, you know, adopting a digital progression plan help with going downstream and moving what is a national average member, average age of 56 down into the forties and below. And then adapting to that change, you know, globally across the organization embracing a digital transformation plan, leveraging the data and analytics that you have to help support that plan, and leveraging AI in little bits and pieces, to help support that change, and then enhancing digital security within that process. 

You can see from the statistics on the side of the slide, it’s what the market demands. And 90% of consumers and homebuyers are interested in a more fully digital mortgage experience. 

They want access on demand. 75% of recent homebuyers cited digital mortgage process accelerated their process, And 71% of homebuyers cite that digital mortgage makes for a makes the process easier. 

And it’s that instantaneous, access that gives that sense of of ease and convenience. This is even more prolific in the, Gen z and millennial demographic. 

We’re seeing a massive shift in our home buying population to late millennials and early Gen z’s. And you look at that population, I’m sorry. 

There. And you look at that population and, you know, this is a population that grew up with a mobile device in their hand. 

They’re used to being getting access to everything instantaneously, and that’s what they expect. That’s how they expect to be served. 

There was a there was a survey done by the financial brand, and you can see the 2 quotes here. The second one is the one that I’m going to key in on where Gen z demands a fully on screen solution with the ability to shift from chat to video or voice without breaking the digital connection. 

So they want the digital connection. They demand the digital connection, but they want to be able to shift to live interaction on an on a, on a needed on an as needed basis without having to go through special motions to make that connection. 

There’s a huge opportunity. David’s going to touch on this here in a little bit. 

But as I mentioned, massive shift of the home buying population to millennials and Gen Zs. 67% of millennials are likely to buy a home in the next 2 years. 

80. 4 percent of Gen Zs intend to buy a home in the next 6 years. 

We’re also seeing a massive transfer of wealth. So with wealth comes capital to invest and to buy homes. 

So we’re going to see the home buying population become more and more weighted towards the millennial and Gen z. And digital progression, how you you affect your processes and your systems to attract and retain that those populations is going to be critical to your success. 

So, this was from a cornerstone Advisors, a prominent consulting firm. They do an annual digital banking performance metric research study. 

It’s a lot of words, but that’s what they call it. And we’re seeing a massive shift in investment in digital progression, in technology. 

Year over year, 2022, 20 3, 20 4, you know, for each $1,000,000,000 in assets in year 22. 2022, the financial institution invested 200,000. 

In 23, they invested 425,000. And in 2024, they invested 780,000. 

So your peers are making it a priority. They are investing in their digital transformation. 

And if you’re not, you are quickly going to left be left behind because these are monumental numbers. I mean, we’re talking year over year. 

Ryan Saniuk 

11:56 – 12:04 

What is it? A Well and, Vince, to actually give some more context to that, it’s $780,000 per 1,000,000,000 in assets under management. 

Vincent Furey 

12:04 – 12:05 

Correct. 

David Wieczorek 

12:05 – 12:06 

Yeah. 

Vincent Furey 

12:06 – 12:32 

Yep. So, I mean, monumental increases, almost 300% increase in technology spending as these institutions adopt the digital progression plan and invest in they’re vest they’re basically investing in the next generation of, of depositors and borrowers, and that’s what you really need to focus in on. 

Ryan Saniuk 

12:32 – 13:05 

Which actually will bring us to our next poll, which is what is the prime, excuse me, what is the primary barrier preventing digital transformation at your institution? So is it resource constraints, a, or b, legacy systems? C, could it be cultural resistance, which happens from time to time? D, lack of strategic vision? Or, e, security or compliance concerns? We will leave that poll open as we continue to move forward with the presentation. And now back to you, Vince. 

From Challenge to Opportunity 

David Wieczorek 

13:10 – 16:01 

Thanks, Ryan, and thank you, Vince. Hello, everyone. 

Really, the takeaway from Vince’s slides, is that the world is changing rapidly. I mean, we all know it. 

The pace of change is challenging for both people and for businesses. So going into this section, I really want to talk about why facing and dealing with change is so difficult, why we sometimes fail, but how facing that change, especially for credit unions in this mortgage market is both necessary, and really full, of opportunity. 

Okay. So first, you know, maybe it’s a little bit cliche, but the way we see it, digital transformation, it’s not a one time project or, you know, a box to check. 

It’s an ongoing journey. So simply going digital, implementing a new POS or online banking system, is really isn’t enough. 

The reality is is that the landscape is always changing. Technology evolves, your institution evolves, customer and staff expectations shifts as the market conditions transform. 

And that’s why really the image on this slide, you know, of a of a road just kind of stretching towards the horizon, I think is so fitting. Because transformation, it isn’t about reaching a final endpoint. 

It’s about maintaining forward momentum. And, you know, behind every horizon, there’s going to be another challenge or an opportunity, and ultimately that requires flexibility on your part. 

And so I think while adaptability is key, really so is having the right partner there by your side. You know, someone who can help you navigate those unknowns, provide their expertise, and ensure that you’re equipped to handle whatever, sort of lies ahead. 

Okay. So, you know, let’s be honest. 

Digital transformation is hard. If it were easy, I think everyone would have nailed it already. 

Right? But the reality is is that most organizations are going to struggle with it to some degree. And I think the stats you see, up on this slide here, are really testament to that. 

You know, skipping a couple down, there’s that 187% of digital transformation efforts fail to implement a proper change management plan. I mean, that, you know, that’s like setting out on a backcountry hike without a map or a GPS or a guide. 

You know, you probably didn’t bring enough food or water or a raincoat. I’ve been in that situation myself actually. 

But kind of good luck. Not with mergers. 

Ryan Saniuk 

16:01 – 16:04 

Not with mergers. Yeah. 

David Wieczorek 

16:04 – 19:00 

Actually in the outdoors. Yeah. 

I yeah. Stupid me younger days. 

But, you know, good luck. Right? You’re kind of asking for trouble. 

So, first I think, you know, acknowledge the unknowns, but always go in, with a plan. Right? And another kind of, stat that I want to focus on here, take a look at this one towards the top. 

70% of companies say silos are a major roadblock. And it makes sense. 

Right? If your teams aren’t aligned, if your lending systems don’t talk to each other, you’re really not transforming. You’re just kind of layering new tech on top of old, inefficiencies. 

And if you look down kind of towards, the bottom stat there, data fragmentation. 74% of lenders say fragmented systems are their biggest barrier to improving customer experience. 

And really kind of the irony here, this stat comes from, you know, a competitor of ours that focuses on mortgage solutions. So if your platform isn’t built to support the full lending journey, from account opening, through consumer loans, mortgages. 

You’re going to really struggle to create a seamless experience for your members and your staff. And we really believe that breaking down these silos is important. 

And later, Vince is going to be talking about, kind of how our platform is purpose built to enable just that. Okay. 

So, you know, change is never easy, especially when it comes to transforming how we do business. But here’s the reality. 

We can’t ignore the fact that consumer expectations are evolving. You know, Vince spoke a bit about this. 

You know, Amazon can deliver nearly anything to our front door the very next day. And actually, you know, I find myself actually getting frustrated now, if I don’t see say free same day delivery sometimes. 

So kind of this level of on demand convenience has really become more of the norm, and it’s continuously raising the bar for every industry. And that’s mortgages in in included. 

And so in our space, that means a faster, more streamlined experience that aligns with today’s digital demands. You know, if we don’t keep up, we risk losing our customers, and really our staff, by the way, as well, to our competitors who will. 

So, you know, digital transformation, it might feel daunting, but it’s necessary for meeting borrowers where they are and making, the mortgage process faster, more frictionless, and more fully automated, for everyone. 

Ryan Saniuk 

19:00 – 19:13 

And, David, that example was really for CPG to consumer product goods, right, in terms of delivery. You know, when you’re talking like page loads or just something basics and for talking more digital, realistically, if you don’t have something done within 0 to 2 seconds, people get frustrated. 

David Wieczorek 

19:13 – 21:42 

Yeah. I mean, just everything comes along for the ride. 

Just our expectations in general, are increasing kind of across the board. Okay. 

So on this next slide here, you you know, let’s take a look at how the mortgage industry’s market shares evolved over the last 15 years. So credit unions, with their stable niche and kind of member focused approach have really held steady around 6 to 7% through this entire period, which is really a remarkable consistency considering all the change that we’ve had in in the mortgage industry over the about last 15 years. 

And now meanwhile, banks during that some same time, kind of in the in the wake of massive regulatory change after the great recession. You know, a lot of them had to, shift their business models and they started to strategically exit from that mortgage market. 

And, so what you see here is that the market share for banks went from a commanding 71% all the way down to only 30%. And really the big beneficiaries here were the non depositories, the IMBs. 

But it was no accident for them. They didn’t just inherit it. 

You know, I saw firsthand from my position, they really went after it the past 15 years. They stepped in and filled that gap largely through, strategic investments in technology, but also having a bit of that kind of pioneer mindset, as well. 

And so I think for credit unions, this is really a crucial call to action. Right? With and I think that with your strong member relationships, oftentimes you have lower rates, more personalized service. 

There’s really a huge opportunity here to capture more mortgage market share. And let’s face it. 

IMBs with their entire business reliant on mortgage volumes that are still subdued historically kind of by by the way, they’re vulnerable right now. So credit unions, you know, you you’re a lot more stable. 

You have a stable customer base. You have a consistent approach. 

You have diversified revenue streams. And so really, I think in this environment, you’re really better positioned to thrive, if you’re willing to embark on that journey and make the investments, that that you really need to make. 

Ryan Saniuk 

21:42 – 21:59 

And beyond that, David, too, it’s like for credit unions, if I can use a Chris Berman as to go back to that last slide, you almost have a Mendoza line, right, where you have your loyalists that are in that 6 to 7% range who are only going to go to credit unions. So the opportunity to grow off of there is just tremendous. 

David Wieczorek 

21:59 – 24:24 

Yeah. It it’s a huge potential. 

Okay. So we know we need to change. 

We know the opportunities there, especially for credit unions in this market. Let’s talk about how, we can help you, in your mortgage tech, advancement journey. 

And so, you know, when it comes to digital adoption, not every organization moves at the same speed, or with the same mindset for that matter. And I think that’s normal, you know, it’s to be expected. 

But what matters most is knowing, I think where you fit on this digital adoption curve. Because your organization’s culture, your your appetite for risk and comfort with the unknown is ultimately going to shape the right strategy for your transformation. 

And so, let’s take a look at the curve. At the leading edge, we have the disruptors. 

So these are the pioneers. There you you could see them as the bold risk takers who don’t just embrace change. 

They’re sort of the drivers of it. Next, you have the innovators. 

They may not be quite as bold as the disruptors, but they still have a strong appetite for pushing the boundary and are quick to adopt new technology when they see the opportunity. And then there’s the explorers. 

So this group is is taking a more measured approach. They’re curious and forward thinking, but prefer to kind of dip their toes in the water first. 

You have the mainstreamers, who follow. These organizations, they’re kind of one step more cautious. 

They sort of wait and see what works for others before making a move themselves. Kind of prioritizing stability, over speed. 

And then finally, you have, at the tailing and they’re the traditionalist. And they’re really rooted, more in the legacy systems and processes, and they tend to only adopt change when it becomes absolutely necessary or unavoidable. 

And so for that, I think we want to go into our next, poll. You know, does your like, where does your organization currently fall within? 

Ryan Saniuk 

24:24 – 25:20 

Exactly. So how would you, so if you had to, and I guess we’re making you consumer as in this poll question, how would you label, your financial institution’s digital adopter status? One, traditionalist, and, like, Dave, if I could just rephrase with some notes that I took is how David, kind of positioned these. 

No. You’re rooted in your in your legacy tech, and you really just adopt when necessary. 

B as a mainstreamer, where you follow the leader, more of a wait and see approach. C is an explorer, which is a measured approach, dip the toe. 

D, which is an innovator, which is you have a strong appetite for taking on those next gen tech opportunities. And then e, which is a disruptor excuse me, disruptor, which is truly the bold risk taker. 

That person who’s constantly looking to be ahead of the curve, if not at the front of the curve. So if you would put your, answers into the, into that poll, Molina, that would be wonderful. 

And we will move on with that as we take in poll answers. David? 

Your Digital Progression Blueprint 

David Wieczorek 

25:20 – 34:45 

Sure. Thanks, Ryan. 

So now I think when we think about digital transformation, it’s really tempting to imagine kind of like a straight line path, kind of like a Kansas highway. But the reality is is really different. 

The path is often it’s winding, it’s full of unexpected turns, you know, blind corners. But, you you so you may not be able to see from where you’re starting to where you want to end up all the time. 

Right? And here’s the thing. It’s even more challenging because every lenders journey is going to be unique. 

Your challenges, your goals, your systems, your customer base, they’re all going to shape the ideal ultimate path for you. And that that’s ultimately where many lenders falter. 

They approach digital transformation with kind of a one size fits all minds set expecting, a path that worked for someone else. Oftentimes in a very different scenario is is also going to work for them. 

And so we think, navigating this journey successfully requires more than just technology. It takes experience and guidance. 

You need someone who understands those potential twists and turns, who’s traveled these sorts of twisted roads before, and who knows where the pitfalls may lie. And so I think what’s really needed is an experienced and trusted partner. 

Someone who could tailor the transformation process to your needs and help you find the right path forward. Because really at the end of the day, digital transformation again, like I said earlier, it’s not about checking a box or reaching a finish line. 

It’s ultimately about progress and making sure that progress is sustainable to your organization and align with your, unique goals. And that’s kind of where we step in. 

So in our business, we’ve launched an exciting new framework that we’re calling a digital progression blueprint. This framework is a flexible model that that builds on over 2 decades of our company’s experience working with thousands of lenders, across mortgage, consumer lending, and account opening. 

We’ve taken the most common themes, and desired success outcomes, And we’ve used them to develop a methodology for steadily marching towards those outcomes and a framework for assessing where you’re at today, and getting to where you’d like to be. And that’s what I’m going to be going over, on the next few slides here. 

Okay. So from our experience, you know, working with successful credit unions, we’ve noticed 4 key outcomes that consistently make a big difference. 

And the first one is is growth. Right? It’s and with growth, it’s not just about boosting loan portfolio or attracting new members. 

It’s about delivering a seamless user, and staff experience that truly sets you apart. Next there is deepening relationships. 

You know, when you, offer personalized relevant services right, at the right time, that’s what helps you build trust and encourage members to consolidate more of their financial needs with you. Then there’s, increased efficiency. 

So really, that’s all about streamlining manual processes and automating repetitive tasks. It it it doesn’t just save time. 

It improves accuracy and really enables you to scale with confidence, and to focus on higher value activities like relationship building. And so you could see how kind of some of these outcomes connect with each other. 

And then finally, there’s, reducing risk. You know, whether it’s staying on top of evolving compliance requirements or, you know, leveraging the latest fraud detection tools, proactively protecting your institution is what lays the groundwork for, the long term stability that you’re going to be looking for. 

Okay. So how do we ensure that we’re always making progress toward these desired outcomes? Well, at MeridianLink, we believe digital transformation is really best approached, kind of as a as a continuous progression towards greater maturity and sophistication in your business. 

And that’s where this, virtuous cycle that you see here, comes into play. So rather than forcing kind of that one time massive overhaul, we start by doing a business review, you know, assessing your institution strategic goals, your current state, your constraints. 

We want to know what matters most to you, where you excel and where do you see room to grow. And so based on these insights, we’re going to work together to create a multi step digital progression blueprint. 

It’s going to be unique to your organization and it’s going to align with your priorities and set achievable milestones. And then, you know, that feeds into the execution phase during which we’ll stay connected to you through regular touch points, reviewing progress and making adjustments as needed. 

That way if market conditions shift or we release new products or features or your, organization just changes focus, we could pick, we could pivot very quickly without losing a whole lot of momentum. And so what you see here, it’s this closed loop partnership, which promotes kind of a crawl walk run approach designed to ensure that you’re progressively you’re progressing sustainably, and not kind of getting out in front of your your skis there. 

Okay. So that was kind of a lot of methodology. 

Right? What we really need, what we really needed to help our customers was a concrete tool to equip them with, working with our own account managers, CSMs, we call them, within various key, areas of their business. And that’s where this digital progression scorecard that we developed comes in. 

And so this scorecard model focuses on 5 core dimensions. You have member experience, share of wallet, growth, instant decisioning, process automation, and data centricity. 

And each of these dimensions represents a pathway toward higher levels of, digital sophistication. And what we do is we outline clear milestones that differentiate what an institution looks like at different stages of maturity within each of these dimensions. 

And so, again, rather than expecting dramatic one time leaps, what we really recommend is kind of incremental steps informed by our technology and best practices from serving a wide range of financial institutions. And that’s how you’re going to see kind of that progressive, growth. 

And so our our customer success managers, they’re going to use this model to understand your priorities, constraints, and aspirations. And then that feeds directly into the digital progression blue blueprint that we co create with you. 

And so this slide just kind of outlines a hypothetical example of this. So imagine we’re meeting with one of our credit unions to map out their digital progression journey. 

You know, first, we evaluate their current situation and future goals. Next, we guide them through our digital progression scorecard, which helps them to pinpoint specific areas they may want to focus on. 

So in this example here, you you see that the focus ended up on share of wallet growth and process automation. And then with these, focus areas in mind, we’re going to take that and develop a multi phase, multi year plan. 

Again, following that starting small, that crawl phase, gradually expanding capabilities. Now you’re walking, and then ultimately scaling to advanced operations. 

And then and then that’s when we’re running. That’s when we’re cooking. 

Right? So throughout the rollout, we schedule, you know, regular checkpoints like I mentioned earlier, and that allows us to discuss any changes in in priorities and ultimately pivot the plan, kind of as needed. And so with that, you know, I hope my sections were helpful to you all and provide insight into how we’re bringing people and process together to help our customers. 

I’m going to hand things back to Vince here, and he’s going to go into more about how our technology fits into the journey, as well. Oh, and you’re muted, Vince. 

Purpose-Built Mortgage Technology 

Vincent Furey 

34:45 – 49:58 

Alright. Thank you, David. 

So you see the title here, purpose built for digital progression. We also like to say within the more our mortgage, division, purpose built for lender innovation. 

And what’s that mean? As David alluded to earlier, you know, we have 2 decades of working with thousands of financial institutions across multiple business segments. And one thing that we found was that one of the things that was really burning their efficiency and ultimately leading to a poor consumer experience was the jointedness of their systems. 

And that’s where the MeridianLink 1 strategy was birthed, so to speak, of unifying our systems. The idea being that, you know, knock down the typical operate barriers you see between operating units within an institution, interconnect those systems to allow you to cross transact which creates a more seamless, efficient, user system user experience on the back end, which then translates ultimately in a better, more unified member experience on the front end. 

And that’s, again, what we call MeridianLink 1. So for example, mortgage talks to consumer, consumer talks to mortgage. 

We talk to the core banking system. We interact with with, account opening. 

So just as a real life example or a few real life examples, let’s say you have a applicant who’s not yet a member and you want to establish membership. Most of the people we talked to, it was, hey. 

Go out to back out to the website, hit this drop down, click this button, and submit a new account at opening transaction. Or I’m going to send your information over to Mary. 

Mary is going to call you, and they’re going to kick off that process. With MeridianLink 1 directly from within mortgage, you can essentially hit a button to create a new account opening transaction and immediately facilitate that onboarding and establishing membership without the loan officer having to leave the system that they’re in. 

They can source data from the core to prepopulate, information into a mortgage application so you don’t have to ask a member a bunch of questions on data that you already have in your system. There’s automated cross sell functionality so that post close, you know, we talk about share of wallet. 

You know, what other what other types of products do you offer that may benefit this member? Well, our system will do it automatically. After a loan closes, there’s a cross fill screen that’ll pop up and say, hey, this member qualifies for this auto refinance or this credit card offer or this, unsecured consumer loan. 

So you can do things like, you know, after they purchased a home, click a button, send them a notice that says, hey. Congratulations on the new home. 

Great news. You qualify for this $50,000, line of credit with these terms. 

Do you need to renovate a bathroom, update a kitchen, hit accept, kick off that transaction. So things that really just make it easier to immediately transact with that member at that point in time and not have to shuffle them around the organization. 

From a mortgage tech stack perspective, this is where we really talk about purpose built for lender innovation. David, identified early on that, you know, our industry shifts very quickly, and customers want to be able to capitalize on those shifts and pivot very quickly. 

So we wanted to create a platform that had the customer facing tools that they could innovate within the system without having to wait for the vendor or have costly SOW, evaluations and bills, facilitate that innovation. So this kind of encapsulates our entire tech stack. 

I think I’ve seen pretty much every mortgage tech vendor in the country has their wheel diagram. I can tell you with great confidence, our wheel diagram is better than everyone else’s wheel diagram. 

But it all starts with MeridianLink Mortgage in the center, you know, the core LOS center of the ecosystem and then the, components that function around it. We’re a 100% cloud native, so real time access anytime, anywhere. 

But moving into the top right section, Burning Link Mortgage Access is our member facing point of sale, very intuitive, interactive borrower application experience that layers in all of the automation for things like VOE, VOI, VOD, credit, AUS, pre prequal automated prequalification, automated loan conditions, and then ultimately a member dashboard where they can interact and collaborate real time throughout the life cycle alone. We have, price my loan, which is our our, program eligibility and pricing engine. 

I think it actually it does a disservice by just calling it a PPE. It really is a automated decisioning engine with a eligibility and pricing component, also an automated fee engine that works seem you know, is seamlessly part of the system. 

That doesn’t work seamlessly, with the system. It is seamlessly part of this the platform. 

Of course, we are a paperless system and have a very advanced edoc management system. These next really three is where this, lender, purpose built for innovation really come in. 

Very sophisticated workflow automation roles engine that is customer facing that you can control and continue to build upon over time. So things that in a lot of systems are monotonous tasks that occur over and over again that a user’s hitting click, click, click, click, click, waiting for things to react to take an action. 

I’ll use a simplistic example because it’s required on every single transaction, you know, flood certification. You know, normally, a processor’s hitting a drop down, going to a vendor screen, ordering it, waiting for it to come back into the e folder, reviewing it in the folder, determining if it’s in a flood zone or not. 

If it’s in a flood zone, they go put a condition on a loan. Where with our workflow automation, you can have all those things happen automatically based on a trigger, and that trigger could be loan assignment, completion of data, where the loan is in the process. 

That based on this trigger, automatically pull flood, automatically identify if it’s in a flood zone. If it is in a flood zone, automatically put a condition on a loan, automatically create a task for a user to send the flood notice to the borrower, all happening electronically without anyone having to, take any actions. 

Again, simplistic example. Certainly, other many, many other use cases, but I use that because it’s you know, flood’s required on every loan. 

And then the custom screen designer. This is a no code, widget, kind of drag and drop, no engineering, skills whatsoever where you can customize user experiences. 

So, for example, you know, people in our business tend to wear a lot of hats. They’re not always pigeonholed into a specified role, and maybe you want to create a specified step by step user experience for this QC person or this specific role, you can very quickly, in our system, just by dragging, dropping, design those screens and, deploy them to individual users and groups of users. 

And then connectivity, really, really important. You want to be able to interact with, key, third party vendors that you rely on very quickly. 

You want to be able to transact within your system. Anytime you have to go outside your system to interact with those partners, it burns efficiency, risk data leakage. 

So we have a very, comprehensive API and webhook infrastructure that both our customers can use for interacting, for any of their needs, but, also a vendor service framework so that vendors can integrate with us very easily, to support those in in system transactions. We always want to make sure that if there’s a critical vendor that you you use in your process, that you have the ability to transact within system. 

And because of that, framework, our marketplace has 100 and 100 of integrated vendors, and it’s constantly growing every day. I happen to just be at the, an MBA conference the last 2 days and spoke to 5 or 6 vendors that are in the process of integrating with us right now. 

So it’s a marketplace that continues to grow. And when you have those, like, really progressive companies that come in, we’re seeing a lot, you know, with AI where they have these kind of AI tool plug ins that can do some really cool things where there’s not a long go to market for that. 

They can quickly integrate and our and our customers have the ability to take advantage of that service. And then the last one I’ll mention here is is, mortgage credit link. 

If you don’t if you’re not familiar with that, it’s a platform that most of the CRAs transact on. I believe something like 65, 70% of all CRAs, transact TriMerge credit reports within mortgage credit link, which is a MeridianLink product. 

The nice thing about that is all of these vendors that are connected through, Credit Link also support a host of other types of services. So it’s kind of like a vendor service hub and allows for even a broader, set of, vendors to interact with in system. 

And then one of the coolest things Ryan alluded to the fact that I joined the institution via the acquisition of OpenClose. One of the things that kind of blew me away in the whole MeridianLink 1 model was the debt optimization, workflow. 

It is, US patented workflow. And, basically, what it does is it transform a loan transforms a loan officer from just, you know, looking up products and pricing and quoting that to a borrower to really looking at the borrower’s entire debt portfolio and how they can optimize that to put the member in the most affordable mortgage and product available. 

So for example, let’s say a loan officer is working with a borrower. They’re not quite qualified. 

Or maybe they qualify, but they have to pay 2 points. They’re light on cash. 

They don’t necessarily want to pay 2 points. There’s a button in the system that says optimize. 

And what it does is it takes that loan payload and the and the all the credit data, moves it over to consumer, and looks at what consumer loans are available to consolidate debt and put the member in a better borrowing position. It comes back and says, hey. 

If your borrower were to consolidate, you know, these 4 liabilities into a new consumer loan with these terms, we can lower their monthly debt obligation by $185 a month, and now they qualify for these mortgage terms. Would you like to execute? Hit execute, and it automatically kicks off the consolidation loans, put the appropriate loan conditions on on on the loan. 

And if we’ve seen this be transformational within an organization because so many things, you know, loan level price adjustments, you know, you can have, you know, 2% deviation in DTI and have a dramatic impact on the loan level price adjustments on a loan and what the rate, ultimate rate is to the consumer. Mi. 

Mi is all risk based. Now you could you take someone who’s your is in the system at a 42 DTI, you dead optimize it, dropping to 36. 

That can have a 20, 25 basis point, variation in what their monthly MI could be. So it could be a game changer in terms of affordability, allowing them to get into the home they want to get into in a rising, rate and home, cost environment or just getting into a home that they would have been, excluded from, otherwise. 

Alright. So what’s next? You know, we we’ve talked a lot. 

David gave us a great framework on how we approach digital progression. So what’s the first thing you do? You know, the first thing’s an assessment and an honest assessment, and it’s good to have an outsider looking in, as part of that assessment. 

So, you know, do a current assessment of, you know, where you really sit on the digital progression journey, what are the outcomes you’re looking to achieve, and what’s the timeline that you’d like to achieve those outcomes. And those outcomes that, like David was talking about, it’s a winding road. 

Those outcomes can be, you know, spread out over time, but it’s very important that you do an honest assessment, really identify your goals, and plot that out in a in a reasonable time frame that you would like to achieve those goals. And then and then designing the plan. 

You know, how are you going to do how are you going to go about doing that? What’s the process, look like in in designing the optimal, member journey? And then finally, modernization. What systems need to be impacted to be able to achieve those goals? And what timeline are you dealing with with current vendor contracts? Which what level of prioritization has is on one or the other. 

And then, of course, that drives goes further into, you know, what are the solutions in the marketplace that will help you achieve those goals. David, Ryan, anything to add there before I kind of close this out? 

David Wieczorek 

49:58 – 50:01 

No. I think you nailed it. 

Thanks, Vince. 

Vincent Furey 

50:01 – 51:40 

Alright. So if you would like us to get in touch with you, to talk about our digital progression audit and, and if you want us to help in that evaluation process or if you just want to talk about your current mortgage tech stack and get an idea of, you know, what we can provide you, just answer the poll question yes. 

Someone from my team will reach out to you, and we’ll talk further about, you know, what you’re looking to achieve and see if it’s something that we can we can help you with. And then lastly, q and a. 

I’m not sure. I haven’t been monitoring the q and a. 

I don’t I’m not sure if anything’s in there. Let’s see. 

Does MeridianLink’s browser based credit union software ensure that oops. Sorry. 

There’s a question here. Does MeridianLink’s browser based credit union software ensure that all consumer data is securely hosted within the United States? Of course, we are we are a cloud native across the organization, so it’s, all of our data is hosted in regional deployment within Azure, all stateside. 

So, and we leverage all the most modern tools in terms of, encryption and access and all those, important components. 

David Wieczorek 

51:40 – 51:56 

And what doc vendors do we integrate with? So, yeah, today we integrate with, 3, Doc Magic, IDS, and DocuTech. 

Vincent Furey 

51:56 – 52:24 

And I heard as Jennifer posted, how can we get a copy of the PPT? We’ll make that available to those that registered. Alright. 

I don’t see anything in here. Ryan, you want to close this out? Yeah. 

Ryan Saniuk 

52:24 – 53:17 

If there’s no other questions, we can, give people 8 minutes back. That was, really, really well done, gentlemen. 

Some great insight and intel in there. I know some people on here are clamoring and just saying, okay. 

You know, how can this impact my business? I also know that the last poll question, if you want us to contact you is a big ask after maybe just a 52 minute webinar. But at the same point, we’re here. 

We’re here. Let you process this. 

We’ll be distributing, the, version of this PowerPoint, after this webinar. And if you ever have any questions, you can, you have, we can get you Vince Furey’s contact information as well potentially in that, web or PowerPoint that we’ll distribute after the fact, and you guys can go from there. 

But, ultimately, Vincent, David, thank you guys for your time, insight, and expertise, to the audience. Appreciate you giving us, an hour of your highly valued time, and we look forward to working with your credit union in the near and distant futures. 

Thank you. 

Vincent Furey 

53:17 – 53:18 

Thanks, everyone.