Blend
Sooner or later most industries face their transformational moment — a point in time when cumulative advances in technology and innovation thrust business-as-usual forward, sometimes at breakneck speed.
It happened to the transportation industry (ridesharing platforms); the hotel business (homestay marketplaces), the entertainment industry (streaming services), shopping (ecommerce giants), telecommunications (the rise of the smartphone), and many others.
For mortgage providers, the need for digital tools is pressing. Lenders are grappling with a host of new challenges: serving customers when face-to-face interactions are not an option; managing centralized teams that are suddenly working remotely; closing transactions without the luxury of in-person meetings.
With a technology partnership underpinned by a platform approach, lenders have access to a transformational relationship that supports digital agility.
The keystone powering this force for change is the end-to-end Digital Lending Platform, which replaces siloed point solutions and helps lenders maximize workforce productivity, cut loan cycle times, boost volume, and deliver exceptional customer service — no matter where your teams or customers may be.
What differentiates mortgage point solutions from a Digital Lending Platform?
You may have thought you had taken a big step forward the last time you purchased technology. But the system you have in place is likely not the technology designed to lift your organization’s overall performance and ensure your success as a mortgage lender of the future.
That’s because the point solution you purchased as an add-on to your LOS may do one thing decently well — in fact, it may do that one thing very well.
But “one thing” is the operative phrase here. Mortgage point solutions solve a single use case in the mortgage application process. They do not address the exponentially more useful moments that occur along each step of the customer journey, nor do they connect those disparate points with one seamless, intelligent flow that will delight your customers.
See why a point solution can’t compete with the platform experience.
Advances in technology have made the comprehensive effects of digital transformation possible. So much more digital data is available today, and advances in interconnectivity through APIs has greatly improved the mechanisms by which it can be exchanged.
Cloud technology has made the cost of all of this much lower. And artificial intelligence is enabling technology to adapt quickly and efficiently to improve human processes.
In contrast to a point solution, Blend’s Digital Lending Platform addresses multiple steps in the mortgage application process instead of just one. It touches multiple users within your organization, not just loan officers. It gives your loan teams the ability to connect to external data sources.
Blend’s DLP makes direct connections to a consumer’s financial data when authorized and automates verification checks. It connects previously siloed account and credit information into a mortgage application flow, delivering a modern-day checkout experience.
As a result of the automated pulls and fewer manual processes, it cuts days off of the loan production cycle, allowing you to reduce costs and increase volume.
It frees your loan officers from spending much of their day collecting and processing paper, giving them more time to generate business and serve as a trusted advisor to their customers, thereby deepening customer relationships.
Also, because it is not a closed, static system but one that facilitates growth, it gives your organization the ability to plug in additional services down the road, such as Blend Close.
On top of its enormous benefits to your loan teams, Blend’s DLP delivers a consumer experience that feels similar to how people shop for other goods and services
The experiential difference a lending platform provides
It’s in that key area — the consumer experience — that a Digital Lending Platform can really set your business apart from the competition.
By sticking with a point solution instead of opting for a Digital Lending Platform, your brand reputation is at stake. The contrast for your customers would be similar to the experiential difference between:
- Putting a check in the mail — don’t forget the stamp — or using an app to send cash instantaneously.
- Pulling out a wad of cash at the checkout register — don’t leave your wallet at home — or using an electronic payment method.
- Standing on a street corner in the pouring rain and trying to hail a cab, or sitting in a cozy restaurant and tapping a ridesharing app.
- Grabbing that old DVD and inserting it into an external optical drive connected to your computer, or watching a movie with your favorite streaming service on any of your devices.
You get the picture.
The old ways may still work, but they’re still the old ways: limiting, one-dimensional, and time-consuming.
Your customers deserve better. And you have a better option at your disposal. Your investment in a Digital Lending Platform is not only for this year and next, but for five, 10, 25 years down the road.
So you have an important decision to make. Directly before you is an opportunity to create an experience for your customers that will delight them today and last for generations to come.
Will your organization wind up like yesterday’s video chains, or will it be positioned to become the streaming services of our industry’s tomorrow?
Explore the value of a platform approach in more detail