Editor’s Note: Prospect-Facing Engagement Tool Boosts Conversion By More Than 10% In Early Trials
FirstClose, Inc., a fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for mortgage and home equity lenders nationwide, introduced a new customer-facing debt consolidation feature to its FirstClose Equity platform that provides a guided, digital experience to help consumers see precisely how much they could save each month by consolidating their current higher interest rate debt with a home equity line of credit (HELOC) or a closed-end second.
The new feature, known as the Digital Loan Product Wizard, is the latest enhancement to FirstClose Equity, a one-of-a-kind home equity solution reduces operational touchpoints to elevate the overall consumer experience. It also shortens the closing process to five to ten days versus the industry average of 45 to 60 days.
To engage the new feature, a prospect enters a few pieces of information—their name, date of birth, property address, loan purpose (construction, debt consolidation, personal, etc.), and property use (primary or secondary residence)— creating a soft credit pull that instantly shows their potential tappable home equity as well as current credit card, auto and student tradelines along with their monthly payments.
The Digital Loan Product Wizard allows prospects to determine the size of the loan or line they want to consider and the amount they would like to draw down. They can also toggle back and forth between different potential home equity products that they might qualify for and compare interest rates and potential monthly payment amounts.
Consumers can then select which lines they would like to pay off, how much cash they would like to draw down and then see what their total monthly payments would be by consolidating the debt.
When the users are ready, they can begin the application process. Once the consumer submits the application, the feature delivers a PDF to the lender, showing the options that the prospect has been considering. At this point, the lender would begin its own outreach, origination and underwriting processes.
“Credit card, auto and student loan debt are currently at all-time highs, and so it is not surprising that debt consolidation is the fastest-growing category in home equity lending, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association,” said Ramiro Castro, Chief Product Officer of First Close. “Our new debt consolidation feature lets consumers get a real sense of what they could save by paying off higher interest debt and do it on a self-serve, no pressure basis. The feature is not designed to replace the loan officer in these transactions but rather to create a warm handoff to a motivated borrower. In our early piloting with several credit unions and one large national lender, we have seen a lift of more than 10% terms of conversion.”
Tony Garritano is the founder at PROGRESS in Lending Association. As a speaker Tony has worked hard to inform executives about how technology should be a tool used to further business objectives. For over 20 years he has worked as a journalist, researcher and speaker in the mortgage technology space. Starting PROGRESS in Lending Association was the next step for someone like Tony, who has dedicated his entire career to providing mortgage executives with the information that they need to make informed technology decisions to help their businesses succeed.
