STRATMOR: For Better Decision-Making, Lenders Need To Dig Deeper Into Their Data

In its April Insights Report, STRATMOR Group delves into the importance of sophisticated data analysis and shows how benchmarking, historical trend analysis, and peer data can significantly impact a lender’s success.

In the April InFocus article, Senior Partner Nicole Yung outlines several critical strategies that enable mortgage lending executives to transform raw data into actionable insights to improve decision-making and give their organizations a competitive edge.

Yung discusses the challenges facing mortgage lending executives looking to make sense of the data they have at their disposal and what additional information they need to consistently make more informed decisions. In particular, executives need benchmarking data from credible sources to accurately determine whether the metrics they are tracking are as good or as bad as they believe. 

Historical trend analysis and peer data, Yung writes, “add meaning to a particular lender’s metrics and can show them what impact their actions have on their ability to compete.”

STRATMOR believes that the most critical metrics lenders should track fall into five categories:

1. Production: Lenders must keep a keen eye on their pipelines and actual loan closings.
2. Profitability: Are lenders measuring all-in profits or direct contribution? How does that compare to previous time periods? Are changes driven by revenue or costs? These are critical questions to ask when assessing profitability.
3. Productivity: While it is important to assess employees directly involved with loan production, it’s important to consider support and administrative FTEs as well.
4. People: average borrower and employees NPS and CSAT scores can help you determine if the customer or employee experience needs attention.
5. Pain: This is a special category that can be analyzed by leveraging information from anywhere in the organization to uncover inter-departmental friction that impedes efficiency and productivity.