It is perplexing that something everybody agrees on can be slow to actually take place.
Mortgagebot, a Mequon, Wis., seller of electronic loan application technology, has reported some interesting results from a survey it commissioned. It found that just 18% of commercial banks are able to accept apps online, according to an article in our sister publication American Banker.
Forty percent of banks and credit unions have no capacity to accept online apps at all, according to the story, and another 42% have a basic capability that must however be re-entered by lenders. (And while it might be easy to center on credit unions as being behind the electronic curve, that's not totally true. The bigger ones, like Navy Federal Credit Union, are fully functional if not ahead of the curve on e-mortgages.)
Yet, 71% of respondents feel that they will have to offer such technology in the future, with half thinking they will have to be online by 2012.
That suggests that there may be a rush to adaptation over the next two years. Certainly both lenders and vendors have been talking about the e-mortgage for the past dozen years, and there has been a lot of agreement about the need for it and the inevitability of it.
However, what still could be clearer is what should count as an electronic app. Should something that's keyed in a second time after being received online be considered one? Probably not. Should something that has come about after a telephone call be considered one? Probably not, if a visit to a branch ensued.
However they are tallied, electronic applications have been going up in the past couple of years even as overall originations have gone down. And that's a trend that's bound to continue.
Speaking of things electronic, our own website has undergone a thorough transformation intended to present our readers with more news, delivered more quickly, with more interactivity at a site that is cleaner and easier to use.
Breaking news items, previously posted twice a day at nationalmortgagenews.com, now will be posted as soon as they are written. Full versions of pertinent stories from our print publications, like NMN, Origination News, Mortgage Servicing News and Mortgage Technology will be posted as well, for the first time. Take a minute to check out our new look and functionality and as always, we'd be pleased to get your feedback.
