How AI can drive career growth for mortgage professionals

Whether you fear it or embrace it, artificial intelligence is changing the way the mortgage industry works.

Despite some employee concerns that AI will replace jobs — especially after recent layoffs — executives are reassuring workers that they plan to embrace AI to complete menial tasks, creating more freedom and time to grow in other areas of the job.

Generative AI has already proven to be effective for some lenders who utilize it for daily tasks such as composing content and marketing material, helping with search-engine optimization or producing email responses. Still, that comes with caveats. "AI can be used to help research and write copy for marketing, but the resulting copy will still need to be verified and massaged," said one respondent to a survey conducted by National Mortgage News.

Companies are even more cautious when it comes to unleashing artificial intelligence in any sort of customer-facing capacity, although a few are examining how a tool could be designed to be compliant while still providing value and protection to a client. But the current lack of clear regulations did not deter some lenders from testing the waters with AI chatbots in the past year. Others are still "working out requirements to assess where they can potentially be used."

AI could replace upwards of 300 million jobs in the next few years, according to Katherine Campbell, founder of consulting firm Leopard Job and former AnnieMac Home Mortgage executive. "Anything AI can do, typically a human being is miserable doing," she recently told National Mortgage News's Maria Volkova. "The more AI takes over the dirty work and we elevate ourselves to only what humans can do, the more satisfaction people will have in their lives."

Mr. Cooper, as an example, has implemented AI into its work, but isn't replacing its experts with computers. The company uses the tech in fulfillment and due diligence roles, but takes a more cautious approach with AI in front-office functions, Sridhar Sharma, executive vice president and chief information officer at the company, told National Mortgage News' Andrew Martinez. Underwriters at Mr. Cooper use AI in a co-pilot mode, reviewing a computer's decision-making before moving forward.

"I don't think the fear is that it will replace all our jobs," he said. "I think the way we look at it as an opportunity for our team members to handle twice the loans that we handle today." The executive said Mr. Cooper grew from a $500 billion mortgage servicing rights portfolio to nearly $1 trillion with a relatively similar headcount, and said technology will be a big part of growing it to $1.5 trillion while retaining staff.

Read more about how the industry is continuing to implement AI and how this technology can drive career growth for mortgage professionals.

Despite uncertainty, AI will continue grow within mortgage industry

In a recent survey conducted by National Mortgage News, it's clear that despite uncertainty, AI will continue making inroads in 2024, particularly for internal functions like educating staff about laws or regulations or assisting them in their interactions with customers. "AI is being used in our call centers to transcribe calls, provide feedback on reasons for calls, recognize the customer's tone and provide solutions to the customer service representative in real time," one survey respondent noted.

The buzz surrounding AI, especially generative and machine learning models, has already led to the implementation of tools mortgage employees are using at Blend and Rocket Mortgage. Last fall, both companies introduced AI capabilities to streamline workflow and answer common questions loan officers posed.

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Mortgage industry employees dish on the future of AI

AI will not replace jobs according to mortgage execs

Of mortgage professionals that are afraid of the impact of AI, low-level mortgage staff harbor the most fear. As lenders, servicers and tech vendors plan more AI implementation, industry leaders are pacifying some of those concerns.

"[AI] should make their work balance more enjoyable, more fulfilling, and it should be used to take care of the menial tasks and the things that eat time up," Matt Lehnen, chief technology officer at Deephaven Mortgage told National Mortgage News's Andrew Martinez. "That's what we should be looking at automating and removing from people's plates."

Artificial intelligence is used today in a variety of both back-end and front-end mortgage operations, such as data verification, lead acquisition and underwriting tasks. Real estate players in the past year have debuted customer-facing generative AI chatbots in response to the hype around ChatGPT, while experts have speculated the tech will accelerate industry blockchain use.

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Mortgage execs placate fears of AI replacing jobs

AI hopes and fears vary across the mortgage industry

While opinions about where AI tools fit across the financial services landscape vary depending on the industry, common themes are also emerging over the benefits and risks, according to a recent report released by National Mortgage News' parent company, Arizent. In the research, Arizent surveyed professionals across seven different financial segments: banking, insurance, mortgage, wealth management, municipal bonds, accounting and technology.

Comments from mortgage respondents ran the gamut from "I don't see AI as being for the greater good" to "The uses for AI in the industry are infinite."

Compared to their peers in other fields, mortgage professionals appear to be dipping their toes in the generative AI waters more hesitantly, perhaps out of uncertainty, a wish to wait and see how technology develops or budget constraints.

Read more:

What makes mortgage professionals embrace, or balk at, AI use

How Leopard Job is helping companies adapt to AI

Former AnnieMac Home Mortgage executive Katherine Campbell's new company, Leopard Job, is founded on the belief that artificial intelligence and technological innovation is changing the work environment.

"I do believe we're in the biggest work revolution that has ever existed, in large part because of the onslaught of AI and the sort of ease of access to that, so that it is not only capable of replacing we're looking at around 300 million jobs here in the next couple of years, but it is really what should happen," Campbell said. "[We should be excited about this because] it takes away the mundane day-to-day tasks."

Campbell doesn't want those in the financial services industry to fear how AI will impact the back-end functions of a company. Instead, she's aiming to find a way for them to benefit from the technological transition that is taking place.

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AI will kill (some) mortgage jobs. One exec says that's a good thing

Hiring will occur again in mortgage industry

At the end of December, about 47% of respondents to a National Mortgage News survey said their employers were gearing up to hire staff over the next 12 months. The openings would come after massive waves of layoffs in late 2022 and early 2023 and amid high interest rates that an overwhelming majority of respondents say will continue to affect their balance sheets.

Many current employees are wondering how artificial intelligence will impact their companies' hiring prospects. For the second consecutive year, the majority of firms are pledging increased investment in technology, with 60% claiming they'll have AI tools in place this year. Watching those strategies, 32% of respondents told National Mortgage News they're worried those tech solutions will replace them.

Read more:

Mortgage companies plan to hire despite headwinds: survey