In This Time of Increased Competition for the Borrower, How Do Lenders Leverage Technology to Encourage Customer Loyalty?(business analysis)

As the volume of new mortgages and refis wanes, competition for borrowers is heating up. Today's loan applicants, aware of increased competition for their business, are talking to multiple lenders at the same time. Borrowers with existing loans are continually being solicited to switch their accounts to another institution. This is creating two distinct challenges for lenders: gaining new loan accounts and preventing current customers going elsewhere.

The key to overcoming these challenges is strategic life-of-loan relationship management to secure customers and keep them loyal. This relationship building begins with the origination process. When an applicant makes initial contact, the lender must immediately secure their confidence by providing responsive service and open lines of communication. Providing a positive customer experience during the application process establishes this bond between the borrower and lender. By supplying excellent service over the life of the loan, the lender will have the opportunity to offer additional products that expand the borrower relationship and encourage customer loyalty.

The initial contact with prospective borrowers is critical to gaining their business and establishing a solid relationship for the future. Not only are loyal customers more receptive to new offers from their lender, they are more apt to contact the lender first when they are seeking additional financing or have other life events that require financial instruments. Fiserv provides end-to-end technology and services designed to assist lenders in managing loan relationships throughout the lending lifecycle.

Borrowers Choose Lenders who are Attentive and Responsive

First-time mortgage borrowers - or borrowers looking at a lender for the first time - will evaluate the lender's accessibility, courtesy, and responsiveness. Fiserv loan origination technology positions lenders to manage the borrower's experience across multiple customer-service channels: the retail branch, lending Website, contact center, and voice response unit.

For example, the Fiserv UniFi(r) PRO Mortgage loan origination system (LOS) enables this high degree of customer responsiveness. The system includes task-management and decision engines designed to evaluate application data and perform automated tasks based on user-defined business rules and system parameters. Fiserv LOS solutions streamline the application process by sharing and exchanging loan data with other business applications and other vendors' systems. This results in faster pre-qualification and more accurate product recommendations.

Involving the Borrower in the Management of the Loan Process