By Anna Morris, Account Executive, Banking & Financial Services
This is part two of my mortgage experience, and it centers around document management in mortgage onboarding. In Part One of my epic mortgage experience (“Wasted Time: Top Process Failure Driving Customers to Abandon Mortgage Onboarding”), you got a small glimpse of my tendencies and personality. I clearly was frustrated with the amount of time wasted in the first few days of the process, but that frustration doesn’t compare to how irritating the next steps were.
After hand-delivering 116 printed pages to the bank, my Loan Officer came back to me saying that one of the two conditions preventing my mortgage from moving on to the next stage is a missing document: the statement of my current balance on my existing mortgage. After explaining that the document is part of the packet I delivered, he looked again and found it. This left me concerned, wondering how and why isn’t my bank appropriately attaching documents to my loan? And what else have they missed?
For the second condition, he asked me to provide a letter stating my intent to sell my current home. I provided the condition within an hour, optimistic that we’d immediately move onto the second underwriting review.
Wrong.
Here’s how the next few days shook out:
- The processor reviewed both documents and sent them to the underwriter
- The underwriter waited for the appraisal to come in prior to doing the second review to clear the conditions
- From the day the bank submitted the appraisal to the day the bank called with the next round of conditions, 15 business days passed
Our “modest 45-day-close” was making me feel quite nervous.
It may be hard to believe what the one condition they came back with was: “I need you to provide a letter stating your intent to sell your current home.”
I couldn’t decide if I should laugh, cry, or yell. “I provided that document to you over 25 days ago (15 business days).”
Misplaced or lost documents indicate poor document management during the mortgage onboarding process. This not only slows down the process, but it creates a downward spiral of negative emotions in the customer. In my case, these are the thoughts and feelings I experienced:
- Lack of trust in my bank
- Low confidence in my bank’s ability to close my mortgage on time
- Powerless as to the fate of my mortgage because even when I provided appropriate documents at faster-than-average-speeds, they still got lost
- Dissatisfaction with the process as a whole
What Could Have Made it Better
What would have made this experience positive is if my bank had an automated capture solution. An automated capture solution intakes documents in a digital/electronic format and uses/calls on those documents throughout the process.
To extend the solution, most organizations add workflows that ensure all document content is correct. A properly-configured automated capture solution with workflows can virtually eliminate the potential for human error (e.g. losing a document or not seeing that the customer already submitted it). In addition, this kind of solution would minimize the amount of time it takes the processor to sort and verify the document types, thus reducing the loan turn-around time.
Not only would an automated capture solution save time and stress on the bank’s side, but it would also provide the customer with comfort. Fortunately for my bank, I didn’t abandon the process. But unfortunately, I will not recommend my bank to others looking for a mortgage.
Watch our webinar, “5 Ways to Streamline Your Onboarding Process.”
About the author: Anna has been at Pyramid Solutions for four years now. She thrives as an Account Executive for the Banking & Financial Services Team and brings a smile to everyone she works with because of her bubbly personality.