Executive Interview: The Future Of Mortgage Technology

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Tavant is a digital products and solutions company that provides impactful results to its customers across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Founded in 2000, the company employs over 3000 people and is a recognized top employer. Tavant is creating an AI-powered intelligent lending enterprise by reimagining customer experiences, driving operational efficiencies, and improving collaboration. Our editors sat down with Brad Sivert, Head of Marketing and Proptech at Tavant, to get his take of market conditions and what’s next for mortgage technology.

Q: Why is having a digital lending platform so important in today’s world?

BRAD SIVERT: It comes down to user/customer experience and speed thru production. Sure, someone could pick up a phone, talk to a loan officer, an underwriter, then the appraiser, then the loan officer, then the real estate agent, then the underwriter again…finally print the paper, fill out the minimum 9-pages of an URLA plus the 40+ other pages the lender throws in, then scan it and email or fax it back in. Or you could have a digital platform, which is table stakes these days.

Q: Can you explain a bit more about how AI (artificial intelligence) plays into lending?

BRAD SIVERT: Either people make decisions or algorithms. AI-based algorithms that learn over time make recommendations for a person to help them make a more informed decision. Many think, AI-lending means there is no human involved. That is true in the happiest of paths, but normally AI-powered Lending-As-A-Service platforms make recommendations with ratings, such as “based on data we are 93% sure that…” and an underwriter or loan officer can make a pretty solid business decision based off of that. It’s kind of like the weather… the Weather Channel App tells us what is most likely going to happen down to the minute, but if you see there is a 18% chance of a Thunderstorm and open the door and it looks ominous, human instinct takes over.

Q: I have heard a lot about the Touchless Lending concept. Will you elaborate on that for us please?

BRAD SIVERT: Touchless Lending is the future, and for Tavant it is here today. Touchless Lending provides straight-through mortgage processing and automated underwriting as part of the end-to-end mortgage manufacturing pipeline. Loan officers, processors, and underwriters use Touchless Lending’s machine-oriented, optimized workflows to engage with borrower and property data to make better decisions faster instead of relying on physical documentation and manual data entry. The concept of Touchless Lending is the future, whether you work with Tavant or someone else, it is clear this is the best path forward.

Q: What do you see in the future for digital lending?

BRAD SIVERT: Digital Lending is now the norm. Remember the first time you downloaded your banks mobile app? You could see how much money you had in your accounts on your Blackberry or iPhone or Android. Digital Lending is there. A bit slow due to the industry, but over the past 4 years Digital Lending has caught up.

People shop for homes on their phones. They then shop for financing and mortgages on their phones, and many (especially during the pandemic) fully applied for a mortgage and bought their house via their phone. For banking they say, “Put a bank branch in your pocket.” For the American Dream of homebuying it’s more like “Find, Finance…walk in your Front Door” to a new home. And it is all from your mobile phone. Pretty epic.

INSIDER PROFILE

Brad Sivert leads the Fintech public relations and marketing initiatives at Tavant. He oversees the company’s marketing strategies and branding. Brad is a growth focused individual, with a passion for building out products and marketing solutions to help companies enhance their brand awareness.  His knowledge of the financial services and mortgage technology industry and the benefits of strategic marketing initiatives has led him to be selected as a presenter at leading industry events and conferences. He has shared information on the effect of Fintech on lenders. Brad has also authored several articles for industry publications to share his keen insights. It is his passion for Fintech and Proptech that has spurred his much-needed leadership beyond his role at Tavant.