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The aggregation business is developing several tech products and embracing AI in an effort to help enhance customer and broker experience.
Lendi Group is developing new tech products for customers and brokers in a bid to simplify the home buying process and save brokers time.
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The fintech and aggregation business – which includes both the Aussie and Lendi brokerage brands – is in the process of testing a platform for use by brokers and customers that aims to let potential home buyers know their borrowing power and the best lender for them in minutes.
Lendi Group chief product officer Travis Tyler told The Adviser that the innovation was partly born from a need to simplify the mortgage application process.
“We wanted to create a place where you can easily do scenarios. There’s no such thing as a vanilla mortgage and there’s no such thing as a vanilla customer. There is always something quite different,” he said.
“My wife might be self-employed, or my husband’s going on paternity leave. So as they’re going through, rather than having to do a sequential application, they’re able to test different scenarios in the moment.”
Helping brokers stay connected to clients was also crucial, Tyler said.
“The most important thing is we don’t want our products to get in the way of our brokers connecting with their clients. Because at the end of the day broking and home ownership is a people based business and our brokers are going to remain at the centre of that,” Tyler said.
Tyler said that the company took an iterative approach to product development and was currently using feedback from up to 100 brokers using its platform to make changes to it.
Lendi Group is planning to go live with the as-yet-unnamed product in the next quarter and will announce several more future products next month.
AI to change broker role
With the rapid advancement of AI, home lending technology is changing at an ever-accelerating pace.
Last week, asset finance broker and tech provider LoanOptions.ai launched new AI-driven home loan technology in a bid to cut application times.
Lendi Group is also leaning into new AI-backed tech to save brokers time and improve customer service.
It has already gone live with a product called Voxi, which records and automatically transcribes calls before creating summary notes for brokers and suggesting the next steps for them to make.
Built on top of that is another AI-driven product called Voxi Coach that provides real-time feedback on all calls, giving brokers a score and suggesting prompts to associates.
Lendi Group reportedly plans to roll out these products to its broader broker network in the near future.
The company also uses an out-of-hours AI voice agent designed to free up time for brokers.
Tyler said that Lendi Group recognises AI’s potential to improve brokers’ customer service.
“Ultimately they [AI products] are either helping deliver better customer experiences or are automating things that are of no value and then giving brokers more time so they can better service their customers,” Tyler said.
Tyler expects AI to subtly change the role of brokers and their focus, saying: “Service will become a differential because processing will become ubiquitous. In 10 years, if your core business is helping people navigate the complexity of the home loan application process, that’s going to be a really challenging place to be.”
He said that instead they are encouraging brokers to focus on “building businesses and spending more time in your community, building your referral pipelines, building your self-generated business.”
The future of home loan tech
Despite creating opportunities, new tech may also pose risks to brokerages and aggregators, Tyler said.
“The challenge for smaller, independent groups is going to be how you’re investing in technology to amplify the broker experience. If you’re relying on paper processes, you’ll be left behind,” Tyler said.
Ultimately, however, he believes that tech can help brokers support everyday Australians more effectively to navigate an increasingly challenging property market.
“The challenge we’ve got in Australia is the decisions around homes have never been more important,” he said.
“What used to be a $300,000 home is now a million dollars. And the implication of getting that [buying or selling decision] wrong [is] tens to hundreds of 1000s of dollars, and for the average Australian that’s many, many years of savings.”
[Related: LoanOptions.ai launches home loan tech]
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