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With ever-faster broadband speeds mixed with a flight to mobile apps, I believe the future for mortgage brokers in five years' time is a bright one. However, it's likely the role will look vastly different from what it does today.
In five years technology will have dramatically changed the definition of customer service. Traditional in-home visits where the broker sits with Mr and Mrs Applicant at their dining-room table will become a thing of the past. Instead, Mr and Mrs Applicant will have already explored home loan products using their favourite broker group's mobile app. When they're ready they'll select the videoconference button to be connected with their mortgage advisor face-to-face in a live videoconference.
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The videoconference format will mean a shift to brokers becoming more desk-based and matching specific loan products to the lifestyle aspirations of the applicants. Many lenders are already expressing a strong desire to move to 'straight-through' processing, which reduces consumer comparison shopping, compresses the time to a 'yes' and takes clients off the market sooner.
I would feel confident that within just a few short years most lenders will have addressed internal system and process challenges, allowing brokers to be connected live to the lender's origination systems armed with their ever-more sophisticated tablet customer relationship management (CRM) apps. The broker's CRM app will generate and submit the paperwork while still on the videoconference. Pre-approval will occur on the spot, quickly followed by the lender's official approval an hour or two later, all subject to digital signing by Mr and Mrs Applicant.
Fast forward two hours. The broker sees the pending loan application status change to 'approved' in their CRM. They initiate a second videoconference to give Mr and Mrs Applicant the great news. With a few taps in the CRM, they package up the lender's approved documents and digitally send them to Mr and Mrs Applicant's tablet app. They receive them while on the call and then promptly digitally sign them on the spot.
Technology can without a doubt improve process and the way we originate loans. My warning is that technology can equally replace the broker too. This story could have a very different outcome if lenders offer these same videoconference tools connecting them directly with consumers, thereby disintermediating the role of the broker entirely.
The speed at which technology is changing is both a broker's greatest asset and greatest threat. Brokers can't afford to take their eye off the technology ball. They will need to find new ways to stay ahead of and implement tech trends quickly to give themselves a first-mover advantage while also finding ways to provide a superior value-added user experience that lenders simply cannot offer.
