How much is one billion?
One billion seconds would take 31.7 years to pass. A stack of one billion-dollar bills would stretch nearly 68 miles into the sky.
And for us at Docutech, one billion is the number of mortgage lending documents ConformX, our dynamic document generation engine, has generated since launching in 2004.
In the lending process, the customer’s experience is largely driven by the many documents a borrower must fill out, review and sign. Today’s consumers expect and demand a loan process that is quick, easy to understand and accessible in any format – online, mobile or hard paper.
Recently published data reflects declining originations, however; is a different story beginning to emerge? For example, the Monitor Report recently published by Black Knight Financial Services, showed that overall mortgage originations took a dive by nearly 35 percent in the first quarter of 2017. The report also disclosed other statistics of potential concern, including the fact that refinance originations dropped by 45 percent (a 20 percent drop from last year) and the amount in first-lien mortgages originated decreased by 9 percent to settle at the lowest point since the end of 2014.
The constant onslaught of new regulations over the past six years has forced lenders to become more nimble when adapting to change and innovations. Compliance concerns are tightly linked to nearly every technology decision, whether related to documents, data integrity or reporting fair lending.
For most industries in which signing on the dotted line concludes the transaction, putting a solid eSignature experience in place is pretty straightforward. Many companies simply push a signature pad across the desk instead of a paper document. Things aren’t quite that simple in the mortgage business. Here, we ask borrowers to sign many documents throughout the entire mortgage process. Some of the docs must be executed early in the process, others at least three days prior to close and then even more at the closing table. Establishing a consistent, easy-to-use, seamless eSigning experience for the borrower across the entire mortgage origination timeline has been problematic in the past. Not anymore.
In every person’s life there are significant moments that will stick with them forever--graduating high school, moving out of Mom and Dad’s house, purchasing their first car and of course buying their first house. While the process of buying a home can be one of the most exciting times in a person’s life, today’s complicated home buying process can quickly put a damper on the situation.
Buying a new home is a major milestone in a person’s life. It’s also one of the most stressful and difficult financial transactions most people will ever undertake.
In our recent white paper, “A New Home, A New Life - Improving the Borrower Experience” we talk about ways lenders can be a part of the homebuyer’s home purchasing bliss instead of an annoying part of a difficult process that the consumer would rather do without.
Buying your first home is a very exciting time. Nothing is quite the same as standing on the sidewalk in front of your new home and knowing that you hold the keys to your dream. But, as a colleague of mine once pointed out, “What’s not so exciting is looking at how much it’s going to cost you, and thinking that moving back into your parent’s basement isn’t such a bad idea after all.”
