Your tech stack will play a pivotal role in your success no matter the market. It’s imperative to ensure it’s optimized to provide a best-in-class borrower experience and to allow you to efficiently originate from application to close.
In this Mortgage Power Up Session, Niko Pavlou, Blend product marketing manager, speaks with special BMO Harris Bank guests Nathan Anderson, director of retail product strategy, and Wade Bundy, VP, senior business transformation manager, about how they’ve partnered with Blend to transform their digital strategy with an industry-leading digital mortgage experience. We are also welcoming back Jordan Brown, MarketWise Advisors CEO, who will discuss what’s next in tech innovation for the mortgage industry.
Watch the webinar here on demand, and check out the highlights below to learn how BMO Harris Bank evolved its digital customer experience to boost its engagement and pull through.
Key findings from MarketWise’s ROI Study for Blend
In January 2023, Blend released the second annual MarketWise ROI Study ebook in which Blend customers were surveyed about the impact they saw from the Mortgage Suite. Here are some important findings:
- Customers experienced an 11% average annualized ROI expansion and 8x average ROI
- There was an average 37% increase in transaction speed, which drove the 34% increase in borrower closing rates
- Nine hours average were saved per file and seven days were cut from the loan lifecycle
- There was an average $636 impact per loan
For more detailed information on our results, download the ebook here.
BMO Harris Bank’s digital evolution
The need for BMO Harris Bank to transform its digital mortgage offerings originated in the increasing demand to meet changing consumer needs and preferences. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, BMO saw more consumer desire to engage digitally. However, since securing a mortgage can be a complex, long, and emotional process, it was challenging to find the balance between keeping a personal, human touch with their consumers while still finding ways to make the process more efficient. They determined that a mix of digital and in-person offerings was their best bet, and they found that solution in Blend.
BMO chose to implement the Mortgage Suite not just because of Blend’s vast knowledge of tech but their understanding of how customers and lenders interact. We know that the customer-lender relationship is intimately connected, and BMO’s desire to preserve human interaction in their transactions is vital. With the Mortgage Suite, we enabled BMO’s mortgage professionals to do just that while also providing them with the tools and features they needed to spend less time on menial tasks. BMO’s loan team was able to leverage automation throughout the origination process, consequently cutting time spent on each loan to get their customers to close faster — while also giving themselves more time to personally create and grow customer relationships.
Driving adoption of the platform was simple enough as well. Since the Mortgage Suite is intuitive, easy to use, and seamless, BMO’s loan officers and bankers were able to realize the benefits of their tech early on. Additionally, Blend helped BMO’s staff feel confident to push out their application link and let the tech guide borrowers with less friction.
Innovating the mortgage industry
BMO continues to prioritize smoothing out digital mortgage challenges with the flexibility of Blend’s Mortgage Suite. With borrower service at the forefront of their business model, BMO’s team understands the imperative to create a fully frictionless, accelerated, and personal experience — a process that Blend is dedicated to providing for our customers.
In the near future, we can see the mortgage industry move towards significant technological changes, including the use of AI, blockchain, and niche operations solutions. As these innovations come to fruition, Blend is prepared to grow and evolve with the industry and our customers’ needs. No matter the market, we can help increase transaction speed and drive pull through while enabling our clients to create meaningful lifelong customer relationships.