Mobile technology

Mortgage servicers are actively discussing with regulators how current rules could be streamlined, and future rules could be shaped, to minimize costs and hassles.

Millennials are on the verge of becoming the largest cohort of homebuyers. If lenders want to gain and retain their trust, they must start by recruiting a younger, more diverse and gender-balanced workforce.

National Mortgage News readers share their views on the most pressing mortgage and housing topics of the month. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of NationalMortgageNews.com articles and our social media platforms.

Despite the outcry prompted by lenders' commercials during Super Bowl 50, customer satisfaction surveys indicate borrowers are more than ready for the ease and convenience of digital options.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's indirect response to Quicken Loans' Super Bowl 50 commercial implicitly warns consumers to be wary of technology, which points to a bigger problem: does the CFPB even know what it wants from the mortgage industry?

From single-point-of-contact requirements to the need for better self-service options, servicers surveyed by National Mortgage News are taking a much-needed hard look at the full range of customer touch-points that they operate.

Amid a renewed focus on improving customer service and the overall borrowing experience, lenders surveyed by National Mortgage News indicate a strong interest in customer-relationship management software, but remain tepid about electronic signatures.

While regulatory pressures remain top of mind for the mortgage industry, lenders surveyed by National Mortgage News are shifting their attention from defensive-minded compliance initiatives to ones that improve companies' ability to compete.

Quicken Loans CEO Bill Emerson's term as chairman of the MBA underscores how the consumer-direct mortgage channel has grown from a quirky novelty to the force leading a technology revolution.

Xome, a Nationstar Mortgage Holdings effort to automate the home-buying process, has launched a notary mobile app.

To better serve millennial mortgage customers, lenders would be helped by understanding how the "fear of missing out" mentality drives this generation's consumer culture.

Lenders must leverage a variety of tools, from Boomer parents to mobile technology to connect and engage with millennial mortgage borrowers.

Upgrading communications technology is imperative, but only one way, for mortgage servicers to prepare for an onslaught of consumers accustomed to high-touch, individualized attention.

To avoid alienating a consumer base increasingly expecting digital options, lenders must take the plunge and update old loan origination systems that cannot accommodate today's technology demands.

Fannie Mae has introduced a smartphone application designed to help potential homeowners learn how to save for their first purchase.

Mortgage originators willing to help consumers overcome traditional financing hurdles can add more emerging segments of home buyers as clients.

The mortgage lender Nationstar Mortgage Holdings is pouring a lot of energy into a digital and mobile homebuying platform called Xome. The strategy could attract tech-savvy millennials but carries plenty of risks including whether consumers would be improperly steered to its products.

Mercury Network, the mortgage lender and appraisal management company software unit of a la mode, was acquired by private equity firm Serent Capital, the companies announced Thursday.

As more millennials enter the housing market, mortgage bankers continue to stress improved technology as a needed element in efforts to win these consumers, according to a member survey by Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative.

Millennials' expectations indicate a major shift in values that lenders can see as an opportunity from both marketing and business strategy perspectives.