Forty-seven days is the average time to close a loan, but eager consumers expect a much quicker turnaround. Using an AI platform such as Capacity, mortgage companies can reduce the time and cost of securing a mortgage and even ensure same-day approvals.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, in particular, speed up the time-consuming tasks of gathering, reviewing, and verifying mortgage documents. The entire mortgage loan origination process becomes an assembly line that increases productivity and communication and improves the customer experience with technologies like chatbot functionality.

AI and automation can also replace optical character recognition (OCR), which grabs data and assigns it to the correct field, by interpreting mortgage application information with greater precision and speed. Plus, AI mortgage lending from Digilytics can read and react to text from emails, physical files, and other formats.

There are even more benefits of AI and automation.

Some mortgage loan origination processes use external agencies to process jobs, while third-party call centers help with customer service. An AI-powered support automation platform like Capacity allows lenders to communicate with customers in-house, improving compliance with privacy regulations and reducing costs.

Indeed, lenders can become a single source or one-stop shop for home buyers by offering additional services such as referrals to real estate agents, inspectors, and accredited contractors. Clients won’t have to go elsewhere to meet their home-buying and loan-processing needs, providing lenders with a competitive advantage in any work environment.

The borrower’s journey

The mortgage loan process can overwhelm many borrowers. There are a series of steps that make up the loan origination process. We list them below:

Pre-approval

Unless a borrower can pay cash, securing a loan with competitive mortgage rates is critical. In an overcrowded market, a pre-approval always helps. Showing a Realtor’sRealtor’s verification of a pre-approval gives borrowers a better chance of securing the home of their dreams.

Shopping for a home

Home-searching is when borrowers have to produce a budget, and some may use financial advisors or a mortgage loan calculator to determine their purchase limits. Buyers may also document a list of must-haves vs. nice-to-haves. Next, borrowers whittle down listings to select favorites, and real estate agents make offers.

Mortgage application

This stage is critical in the mortgage loan buyer’s journey because it’s about solidifying the numbers. Borrowers must bring income, debt, asset, and financial services documentation to lenders like commercial banks, credit unions, and mortgage companies. It is also the time to get any questions and issues out of the way before borrowers move further along the journey.

Loan processing

Waiting on loan approval is another step of the process. Mortgage underwriters and loan originators must verify all financial information a borrower provides and check credit reports for collections, bankruptcies, and late payments. An underwriter must also confirm information about savings accounts, debt obligations, and employment.

Loan underwriting

The mortgage underwriter is an indispensable part of the buyer’s journey. The underwriter can only approve a loan to close for borrowers who have passed all verification checks and have met the financial status requirements. Not to mention, the underwriter has to ensure a borrower can afford to pay the mortgage with funds left over for bills, living expenses, and any future increase in interest rates.

As is the mortgage loan origination process, borrowers are eager to move forward. When borrowers complete the buyer’s journey, it is a win-win for both parties. Yet, one of the primary concerns is how quickly all parties can get through the mortgage process. AI and automation can help. For example, these technologies can pre-fill and analyze application forms, saving the lender time and resources. AI can also identify application exceptions to enhance processing accuracy and alert mortgage loan officers about any issues with an application.