Robots Won’t Be Taking Your Job: Mortgage Automation Isn’t The End
By Mike Gulitz, founder and CEO, Jungo
This article originally appeared in Scotsman Guide.
If websites like WillRobotsTakeMyJob.com are any indicator, people are scared that the rise in automation will cause the human workforce to suffer. According to WillRobotsTakeMyJob.com, mortgage originators’ jobs have a 98% chance of falling victim to the rise of computers. This makes the industry a job force on the edge.
Mortgage automation may be changing the industry, but robots aren’t going to take your job. However, let’s be clear: if you don’t use automation, you’re going to see your volume start to decline.
What Can Mortgage Automation Do For You?
Digital Applications
You can buy pretty much anything online, from a new car to dog food. So, it’s no surprise that digital mortgage applications have gained so much traction.
Ellie Mae’s Connecting with Borrowers Online study found that in 2017 and 2018, 51% of borrowers uploaded their bank statements online. 48% uploaded some portion of their application online. 43% completed their whole application online.
Borrowers who utilized digital tools during the loan process were far more likely to report an excellent loan experience.
Customers who used an online loan portal were 18% more likely to return to their LO for another loan.
Clearly, it’s hard to overestimate the benefits offered by digital loan applications.
Borrowers love them because they provide a simple entry point with easy-to-understand interfaces. Many digital applications also offer a guided loan application process, prompting the applicant one step at a time. This minimizes the chance that the user will be overwhelmed by being presented with the entire application at once.
Processing Automation
The mortgage landscape isn’t just going digital on the customer front-end. Loan processing has also seen a massive amount of automation. This is all to the chagrin of nervous members of the job force.
But, a rise in technology driven back-end processing shouldn’t make you consider leaving the mortgage industry. Instead, all processing automation does is minimize the amount of data collection. Technology-based solutions can now take over repetitive tasks like following up with clients and tracking document collection.
Underwriting can be made much more efficient if the underwriter isn’t spending their time searching for missing documents, or dealing with misnamed files. All these tasks slow down the loan application process, which means less closed loans for you.
If you’re not using processing automations, you’re not closing as many loans.
Marketing Automation
Another realm that has seen increased automation is marketing. With the rise of FinTech software platforms, mortgage originators can now automate their digital communication. Marketing strategies, such as drip email campaigns or text updates, can be scheduled and automatically sent. All of this can be accomplished with very little hands-on effort from you.
Additionally, the content creation of this messaging can be taken off your to-do list. Marketing companies customize email templates for common mortgage originator messages.
Why You Shouldn’t Be Scared to Lose Your Job to Mortgage Automation
The amount that mortgage automation can accomplish in the industry is growing. However, there are still certain aspects of being a mortgage loan originator that a computer just can’t replace.
Rumors are swirling about automation and AI stealing mortgage industry jobs. But borrowers still want (and need!) a human on the other end of their mortgage experience.
Origination
You may get leads from online sources, but lead qualification still requires a human element. Automation may remind you to follow-up with a lead, or even send automated emails or texts for you. However, sitting down to discuss a borrower’s mortgage options is only possible through you.
Realtors send their buyers to their most trusted mortgage professional, not to a computer that receives the digital loan applications. Professional relationships still require living, breathing humans, working together to reach common goals.
The Human Touch
With the rise of the digital mortgage, one might expect the need for human interaction to dwindle. But, instead the types of interactions are simply shifting.
Even if borrowers are applying for mortgages online, they will still have questions. More often than not, these borrowers will not feel confident in answers that come from a computer.
Remember this: how often would you prefer to ask Google or a chatbot a question, instead of a real person? Chances are, most of us would rather speak to a human.
This is especially true when it comes to questions about a mortgage. Buying a home is one of the biggest decisions that most borrowers will ever make. But having a knowledgeable mortgage professional available to answer any queries will put them at ease.
Automation means that you will have more time for such situations just like this. Thanks to technology, your customer service can be even more incredible.
What Will Automation Give Mortgage Originators?
A Farther Reach
Technologically powered mortgages give a wider range of borrowers the chance to buy a home. The traditional loan application process can be very daunting. Automated digital mortgage applications, however, offer a more customized user experience.
With the help of automation and technology, you can reach more borrowers. For example, those who may have been daunted by the traditional loan application process. This will boost your volume, and help a new era of home buyers along the way.
Freedom From the Mundane
Less data collection means that you will have more time for the “human” part of your job. Without the necessary tasks of follow-up calls, loan status updates, and document gathering, you can fill your day with more productive tasks. Such as building realtor relationships or calling on new leads. Automating the low priority tasks means that the important ones get more space on the calendar.
This will inherently make your job more relationship based. You can stop staring at a stack of papers all day. Instead, focus your time and energy on the people behind those applications.
Increased Efficiency
The rise of mortgage automation means less mistakes and increased speed and efficiency. And these aren’t baseless promises. According to the Institute for Robotic Process Automation, for every 100 steps in a process, humans will make about 10 mistakes. Many of the steps of the loan process are easily replicable and delegated to automation. Therefore, mistakes and inefficiencies will drop.
This will keep you from making simple but frustrating mistakes. Plus, it could even save you from facing compliance issues down the road.
More Time
No more beating around the bush: automation is good for you.
But, if you’re not using automations, you’ll fall behind the pack. Your technology-loving competition will have much more time than you to offer exceptional service. And they will earn all the customers you previously relied upon.
So, yes, automation will in fact eliminate some mortgage originators, but only because they have not embraced it.
The mortgage originator job will become even more relationship based. With automation, you’ll have the tools and technologies to keep you efficient and accurate. Free up time by not needing to do data collection and lower priority tasks. Then, you’ll have the ability to actually connect with customers and professional partners.
Automation Will Change the Mortgage Industry
You’ve probably felt the touch of automation for years, and that isn’t showing signs of slowing down. But, if treated properly, mortgage automation has the chance to actually make the job market better and stronger.
There are doomsday predictions that automation is stealing all mortgage jobs. However, one can’t forget the very human elements of the job that a computer can’t replace (at least not yet!).
Mortgage automations aren’t going to take your job.
However, if you don’t progress with them, you won’t be able to keep up with the competition. You’ll be competing with loan originators who have made automation a part of their businesses. They are spending more time on the valuable relationships that are increasing their production.
If you do embrace mortgage automation, watch out, because your volume is going to skyrocket. With automation, you’ll spend more time doing the things that make you great. Face-to-face interactions, meetings of value, and building relationships.
And just like that, the mortgage originator’s job is here to stay.
About the Author
Mike Gulitz is founder and CEO of Jungo. Jungo develops the mortgage industry’s first tier-one, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application. His years of industry experience and professional mission led him to creating high-performance cloud-based CRM applications. Jungo offers a best-in-class marketing and CRM solution designed for mortgage and real estate professionals.
