Artificial intelligence-powered chatbots are popping up everywhere since the rise of ChatGPT.
Even in the mortgage industry, which is normally slow to change, things are no different: a Stratmor Group report found that 22% of lenders surveyed were using AI, either to court new customers, target current ones, or make better product offers.
While policymakers have warned lenders they will be on the lookout for potential fair lending violations, the lack of current rules means many companies are trying to determine best practices on their own.
But what makes these bots different from ChatGPT? Are they useful for borrowers and lenders, or are they purely a passing trend?
Below we compare the most prominent of these bots to ChatGPT by testing how well they give a quote to a prospective borrower.
Here's ChatGPT's answer:
Dwelly by DwellWell
For: borrowers Best use: fast answers to general questions Like ChatGPT: quick speed, good conversational quality, hallucinations Unlike ChatGPT: failure to respond at times
Homebuying platform DwellWell announced Dwelly, their Chat-GPT powered AI tool, on June 1. It's embedded in the website's homepage and gives several suggested prompts below the text box, like 'How do I find a real estate agent?' and 'How do I get pre-approved?'
DwellWell developed the tool to answer their customers' home buying questions. Sam Carow, the company's chief technology officer said it's meant to serve as an alternative to Google, where many mortgage and real estate search results lead to company blog pages.
"That can lead to biased information," she said. "You can feel like you're not really getting the full story and you have to end up doing a lot of that research on your own."
And though Dwelly is powered by ChatGPT, it uses more accurate home buying information because the DwellWell team embeds the bot with information from their website. DwellWell doesn't use it internally yet, but Carow said that's where she wants to bring it next: "assisting with a lot of the nitty gritty, boring paperwork that comes with home purchases."
The software has some quirks though. Because it was developed using GPT-3, it struggles with hallucination: when asked about its privacy policy, Dwelly sent back a link that led to a home organization service also named DwellWell.
Now, when asked the same question, it sends the correct link and key points from the policy. Carow and Mario Pena, their senior software engineer, said this is because they closely monitor Dwelly, flagging any incorrect responses.
"We're very quick to try to mediate that and just embed more information," Pena said. "So that way, next, any other user will be able to get the right information each time, and we do a lot of testing ourselves."
KAI-GPT by Kasisto
For: lenders Best use: reading large documents, finding specific information on websites Like ChatGPT: quick speed, good conversational quality Unlike ChatGPT: fails on first response, uses one source of information at a time
Kasisto, a financial digital service provider, launched their own large language model, KAI-GPT, on May 31. They launched KAI Answers, a chatbot-like tool that uses the LLM to answer questions, along with it. Kasisto is releasing the LLM to 47 financial institutions according to a press release. And it's only meant for bankers and lenders, not borrowers.
Rohit Goyal, head of generative AI strategy at Kasisto, said they're limiting use because of hallucinations: "any GPT technology can make up answers."
To use KAI Answers, bankers first select a source, either a website or a document, and upload it. Then, they ask a question and KAI pulls an answer from the selected source. Users can also turn on a side-by-side source view to see exactly where each answer came from.
KAI is "using its knowledge to go read these documents with a question in mind, and then give you an answer that's specifically from the document," Sasha Caskey, the company's CTO and cofounder said.
The tool's major issue right now: it consistently can't answer the first question asked of it. On the second try, it works fine. Kasisto's engineers are working on the problem, Caskey said.
AngelAi by Sun West Mortgage Company
For: borrowers and lenders Best use: giving loan quotes that are backed by Sun West Like ChatGPT: multiple chat windows Unlike ChatGPT: slower response time, poorer conversational quality, backed by Sun West, empathetic technology
Sun West Mortgage debuted AngelAi, their AI personal assistant tool, in late 2022. It was first called MORGAN, a combination of the words "mortgage" and "magic" according to the company's CEO, Pavan Agarwal.
He changed MORGAN's name after expanding its capabilities to do non-mortgage tasks, taking inspiration from customer feedback that said the tool was like a "guardian angel." Now, it can create property listings, check interest rates and walk buyers through their loan application, according to a Sun West press release.
AngelAi opens in an orange window with a main screen and a column on the right for errands, or separate chats. Before using the free tool, users must agree to a disclaimer that gives Sun West the right to record your data.
It also says that AngelAi's credit and income analysis, loan scenario guidance and document review are warranted when submitted or originated by Sun West. This is unique for a LLM — most other chatbots come with several warnings about false information and inaccurate financial advice.
"We stand behind everything, every decision it makes," Agarwal said. "If it gave you bad instructions and you submit that loan to Sun West, Sun West will honor whatever it told you, and we'll proceed forward with it… I'm putting my money where my mouth is."
AngelAi is also estimates how the user feels based on their responses and adapts accordingly, a concept called empathetic technology, he explained.
The downside is longer-than-normal wait times. Although AngelAi allows users to input multiple different errands at the same time, it still takes several minutes to come up with an answer. Angel's wait times are two or even three times longer than other mortgage tools on this list.
Bob by Beeline
For: borrowers Best use: fast answers to general questions, estimated quotes Like ChatGPT: quick speed, good conversational quality Unlike ChatGPT: gives an estimated quote after a series of questions
In early July, digital lender Beeline released Bob, their AI chatbot. Beeline's CEO Nick Liuzza told National Mortgage News they developed the bot to help them meet around-the-clock needs of millennial and Gen Z borrowers.
"60% of our applications come in after hours or weekends, so that means people are shopping for mortgages when everyone's sleeping or on the weekend," Luizza said.
Like Dwelly, Bob appears on Beeline's home screen along with a list of suggested questions. It looks more like ChatGPT than Dwelly, though, with a blinking black cursor and text that appears letter by letter.
But here's what makes Bob unique: it's "not a single AI but an AI orchestration system that ties together several AI's, with each specifically trained to do one task very efficiently to create one natural, rich experience," Luizza said.
Beeline says the bot can answer mortgage-related questions and give a pre-application quote, but can't answer any questions that require a mortgage license. Unlike AngelAi, Beeline warns that Bob's advice might be inaccurate and "does not constitute a credit decision or commitment to lend."
This gives Bob strict guardrails, which means the bot often tells users to meet with a human instead of answering their question.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency rule originally proposed last year aims to make it tougher to roll back measures designed to encourage more equitable lending.
The Biden Administration's title waiver pilot has started a broader discussion on whether the product is worth the money paid or even needed at all and can be replaced by an alternative.
The Philadelphia-based bank's parent company, Republic First Bancshares, had been roiled by a yearslong proxy battle involving activist investors groups and its former CEO.
Retail lenders, including Beeline, Tomo Mortgage and Rocket Mortgage, settled with the department over infractions like submitting a false certification to not having the proper liquidity to be in the program.
