How the pandemic changed these mortgage brokers' approach to customer success
When True Home Loans Senior Mortgage Broker Mark Rogan started his career twenty years ago, the lending industry looked a whole lot different to what it does today. After a full 9 am to 5 pm day in the office, Mark would spend his evenings driving all over Sydney, meeting borrowers in their homes. Between travel, client meetings and time in the office, it wasn’t uncommon for Mark to work a 15 hour day and be back at his desk by 9am the next morning to do it all over again.
But things look a little different for mortgage brokers today.
With the help of digital innovations, the pandemic has changed the way mortgage brokers write home loans and service borrowers. While life is slowly returning to normal, and most of us are no longer spending time holed up in our homes, the convenience of engaging an online mortgage broker is here to stay.
“A lot has changed over the years,” says Mark. “Lender systems have improved, making it easier to submit applications, compliance requirements have drastically changed for the better, property prices have skyrocketed, and the best part, I can now meet with clients from the comfort of my home.”
When Mark joined the team at True Home Loans in 2021, its startup culture and vision to save 100,000 Australians an average of $5,000 a year on their home loans wasn’t the only thing that attracted him. They were “doing things differently” from the average mortgage broker and using Expertli’s exciting new tech right from the get-go.
An accelerated shift to online channels
The pandemic accelerated the shift to online channels for industries across the board. In-person meetings ceased, and mortgage brokers had to find ways to conduct business while still maintaining KYC standards and compliance.
Mark’s colleague and first-time Mortgage Broker, Johnie Kuy, is fairly new to lending, but he’s had a fifteen-year career in Procurement and can see the synergies between the two industries. “At the end of the day, we’re sourcing the right product for the right situation, and home loans aren’t much different,” says Johnie.
Being able to build genuine relationships is critical to finding your customers the right home loan for their needs. And Mark and Johnie both agree it was Expertli that enabled them to “bridge the gap between virtual and reality” in a way that’s even better-than in-person.
"With Expertli, we can get things done for customers quickly and efficiently,” says Mark. “In the old days, I'd need to coordinate with one or two people to find a time to meet with them at their home, and now that’s completely eliminated from the process.”
With everyone mostly working from home, people had more flexibility to meet virtually. With fixed and variable rates dropping as much and as quickly as they did in 2021, brokers needed to be able to respond quickly and having the right technology allowed the True Home Loans team to do that.
“Even though we weren’t in the same room, customers could see exactly what I’m writing down and have confidence that the information I collected is accurate,” says Johnie.
“Expertli provides the human factor you can’t quite deliver over the phone,” adds Mark. “Borrowers get the transparency they crave when talking about what is usually their biggest commitment, and at the same time, we get to visually display difficult home loan concepts that no amount of words over the phone could ever convey.”
And when asked about their favourite Expertli features, the two responded with big smiles.
“For me, it’s a toss-up between the flashlight and the servicing calculator,” says Johnie. “The flashlight allows me to draw attention to important information. While the servicing calculator saves a lot of time by letting me know if a customer is eligible for a loan in real-time.”
Mark adds, “the way it’s been developed inherently enables me to build rapport with my clients. They can not only hear and see me, but I can also see how they’re responding and if they understand what I am saying.
What the future of mortgage brokering looks like
The big question is whether or not there is still a market for in-person meetings? The truth is, there will always be borrowers who are more comfortable making big decisions in-person, but now those customers can benefit from the technology and process improvements brought on by the pandemic.
The team at True Home Loans use Expertli’s home loan module to complete fact find and get a customer's borrowing power in real-time – a tool that can be used in-person or with remote customers. And if you’re still holding meetings at the office or in borrowers’ homes, those meetings can be followed up by digital reminders, an online application process and even subsequent meetings via video if need be.
And the best thing to come out of the pandemic.
“The ability to service outside our own region, expanding to clients nationally and even clients living overseas!” Says Johnie. “That’s something we wouldn’t be able to do without Expertli.”
“Also, the fact that most banks now allow clients to be identified remotely and to sign loan documents electronically,” adds Mark. “This has greatly improved turnaround times and reduced the number of errors that often happen when loan documents are signed.”
With big banks and FinTech startups alike seeing the benefits new technology can bring to the home loan industry, we’re likely to see an influx of customer and business innovations over the coming years, inspired by the big changes brought about by Covid.