The coronavirus is no longer only a medical nightmare, as nationwide lockdowns and the partial shutting of businesses have created a heavy financial toll on people and the economy.
The mortgage lending industry is not exempt from the ongoing crisis. And it isn’t just the forbearance program and the limiting of borrower’s cash flow that worry lenders.
COVID-19 has worsened an already acute staffing shortage problem in the mortgage industry. An article in American Banker indicates how banks are forced to shift employees from banking services to mortgage processing.
Refinancing Applications Are at Record Levels
The Fed’s attempt to stimulate the economy by reducing interest rates to near-zero levels has backfired for the lending industry. The refinance index of the Mortgage Bankers Association, a critical indicator of refinancing activity, shot up 78.6% during the week ending on March 6, 2020, as more borrowers rushed to benefit from lower interest rates.
Legal Bottlenecks in the Mortgage Underwriting Process
Another major issue involves the physical steps in the mortgage underwriting process. Before the onset of the coronavirus, only 23 states had legislation in place to authorize digital notarization. Irrespective of how quickly a lender processes the loan if the involved parties aren’t willing to visit the notary office, nothing much could be done to complete the process.
The same issue applies to title searches, lack of electronic filings for record purposes, strict employment verification norms, and traditional appraisals.
How Technology Can Address Most of These Challenges
While regulatory limitations require the government’s attention, there are some prominent ways to ease the lending industry burden.
FundMore.ai offers an automated underwriting software that uses AI and Machine Learning to reduce the average file analysis time from the traditional 5.5 hours to just a few minutes minutes.
Here is how FundMore.ai changes the traditional mortgage underwriting process.
- FundMore.ai utilizes predictive modelling and pattern recognition to assess credit risk.
- FundMore.ai uses machine learning to extract data from documents and convert them into useful information.
- FundMore.ai collects and stores all relevant information in one place to boost the application processing speed.
FundMore.ai represents the next dimension in mortgage lending.
Are you committed to preparing your business for the next big thing in the mortgage industry?
If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch. We’re always ready to assist Canadian and US lenders.