5 ways to make a mortgage origination shop more efficient

Lenders are constantly looking for ways they can streamline their operations and produce savings for themselves and their borrowers in order to compete in a leaner market this year.

In line with the adage, "What gets measured gets managed," one way mortgage companies are doing this is by identifying and analyzing certain procedural metrics and using them in order to identify ways produce savings or improve service levels by reorganizing their operations.

With that in mind, here is a look at five ways mortgage lenders and servicers have found they can improve operations by analyzing origination processes, according to Black Knight, a vendor that recently added a new business intelligence platform to its lineup of broader mortgage technology offerings.

Origination costs
Net mortgage production expense at small and medium independent mortgage banks averaged $8,244 per loan during the third quarter of 2018, according to Richey May.
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Find the path of least resistance

Segmenting the origination process by loan type or employees and finding the most efficient route for a mortgage based on historic experience can reduce cycle times by 10%.
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Check the locks

Proactively monitoring loans in the pipeline for rate-lock expirations and then notifying relevant employees in time to do something about it can help head off processing issues.
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Keep tabs on the competition

Automatically identifying cancelled, withdrawn and denied loans that competitors have funded can give mortgage lending executives a better understanding of what the broader uptake for loan products is like, and what they can do to be more of a contender in the future.
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Automate customer retention

Proprietary algorithms and models can help mortgage lenders retain customers by predicting to a borrower's likelihood to refinance or obtain a new mortgage within the next 30 to 90 days.
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Make sure it's documented

Technology can be used to proactively monitor the timeliness of all disclosures sent out during the origination process and alert managers if there are problems.
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