NEXTGEN.NET sales director, Tony Carn takes a look at the impact of technology on the mortgage application process.
NEXTGEN.NET sales director, Tony Carn takes a look at the impact of technology on the mortgage application process.
MPA: What is the ApplyOnline Innovation Roadmap – and what’s coming up next?
Tony Carn: We are continuously looking to the future, innovating and evolving our ApplyOnline platform to ensure we have solutions to challenges our customers may face. Our Innovation Roadmap is our pipeline of future enhancements, and new products and services. Only recently we launched Lender Docs, which enables lenders to safely and securely deliver borrowers’ loan contracts back to the broker within ApplyOnline. Shortly we will release an enhanced Broker Supporting Docs user interface, which will streamline the process, further improving efficiencies and the effectiveness of our brokers. This new service will also enable lenders to customise what, when and how they electronically receive documents from their brokers. In the future we will see new capabilities which electronically support further product diversification, enhanced APIs available at point of sale and further enhancements to the ApplyOnline app.
MPA: What’s holding back lenders from using electronic lodgement for business lending?
Tony Carn: I think there’s a misconception out there that business or commercial lending is too complicated for electronic lodgement. This is definitely not the case. There are also great efficiency benefits for the broker. Typically, a portion of home loan borrowers are also self-employed business owners. That means when a broker captures all the data for the home loan, that same data can be used for their application for a business loan. No rekeying required. Only the additional fields need to be completed. With most paper applications for a business loan over 30 pages long, that’s a great time saver.
MPA: What’s your number one tip for brokers looking to get more out of ApplyOnline?
Tony Carn: I think the best tip I could give would be to invest the time in one of our free training sessions. There is definitely a return on investment. The capabilities of ApplyOnline are vast, with many brokers unaware of some of the fundamental efficiency tools. Just this week a very successful NSW broker attended our ApplyOnline Efficiencies Tools training session and was surprised by the features he didn’t know were there. Our relationship and training managers are tasked with ensuring our customers maximise ApplyOnline. They can provide one-on-one sessions or group sessions, or organise a webinar. Contact us at [email protected] to set up a meeting.
MPA: How close are we to truly paperless mortgage applications through brokers?
Tony Carn: I think as an industry we are continuously moving towards paperless mortgage applications. The more information we can verify electronically at the point of sale, the less paper we should need to support the application. A good example of this is the capability of ApplyOnline to verify and validate addresses, ACNs and ABNs through government data sources. A few barriers remain, though, where supporting documentation required to verify income and other loan details are still paper based – eg tax returns. When we get to a point where this data is available to access electronically to confirm details, we will be much closer to truly paperless mortgage applications.
MPA: What is the ApplyOnline Innovation Roadmap – and what’s coming up next?
Tony Carn: We are continuously looking to the future, innovating and evolving our ApplyOnline platform to ensure we have solutions to challenges our customers may face. Our Innovation Roadmap is our pipeline of future enhancements, and new products and services. Only recently we launched Lender Docs, which enables lenders to safely and securely deliver borrowers’ loan contracts back to the broker within ApplyOnline. Shortly we will release an enhanced Broker Supporting Docs user interface, which will streamline the process, further improving efficiencies and the effectiveness of our brokers. This new service will also enable lenders to customise what, when and how they electronically receive documents from their brokers. In the future we will see new capabilities which electronically support further product diversification, enhanced APIs available at point of sale and further enhancements to the ApplyOnline app.
MPA: What’s holding back lenders from using electronic lodgement for business lending?
Tony Carn: I think there’s a misconception out there that business or commercial lending is too complicated for electronic lodgement. This is definitely not the case. There are also great efficiency benefits for the broker. Typically, a portion of home loan borrowers are also self-employed business owners. That means when a broker captures all the data for the home loan, that same data can be used for their application for a business loan. No rekeying required. Only the additional fields need to be completed. With most paper applications for a business loan over 30 pages long, that’s a great time saver.
Fast fact
Commonwealth Bank spent $1.5bn on technology in the 2016 financial year, ANZ spent $1.4bn in FY2015, NAB spends around $1bn per year, and Westpac is aiming to up spending to $1.3bn over FY2016.
Commonwealth Bank spent $1.5bn on technology in the 2016 financial year, ANZ spent $1.4bn in FY2015, NAB spends around $1bn per year, and Westpac is aiming to up spending to $1.3bn over FY2016.
MPA: What’s your number one tip for brokers looking to get more out of ApplyOnline?
Tony Carn: I think the best tip I could give would be to invest the time in one of our free training sessions. There is definitely a return on investment. The capabilities of ApplyOnline are vast, with many brokers unaware of some of the fundamental efficiency tools. Just this week a very successful NSW broker attended our ApplyOnline Efficiencies Tools training session and was surprised by the features he didn’t know were there. Our relationship and training managers are tasked with ensuring our customers maximise ApplyOnline. They can provide one-on-one sessions or group sessions, or organise a webinar. Contact us at [email protected] to set up a meeting.
MPA: How close are we to truly paperless mortgage applications through brokers?
Tony Carn: I think as an industry we are continuously moving towards paperless mortgage applications. The more information we can verify electronically at the point of sale, the less paper we should need to support the application. A good example of this is the capability of ApplyOnline to verify and validate addresses, ACNs and ABNs through government data sources. A few barriers remain, though, where supporting documentation required to verify income and other loan details are still paper based – eg tax returns. When we get to a point where this data is available to access electronically to confirm details, we will be much closer to truly paperless mortgage applications.
