The last two years have brought sweeping changes for businesses across industries. The COVID-19 pandemic forced enterprises to adopt innovative strategies to keep their heads above the water. Some sectors experienced more changes than others due to their very nature. Housing and real estate is an example. Even in ordinary times, world events and political turmoil deeply influence the behaviour of the housing market. In such an unprecedented scenario, it's only natural that the housing marketing and mortgage industry suffered heavily during the pandemic. 

The first time the virus caught us off-guard, we hunkered down, shut shop, and as a result, all non-essential economic activities—including the housing sector, ground to a halt—and mortgage rates hit record lows. But as the world rallied around and adopted a new normal, the demand for housing and loans surged again. But the extreme fluctuations were unsettling. Considering that this volatility is not healthy for the economy, some governments also brought in regulatory norms to tighten mortgage rates. In an ideal situation, mortgage rates must grow at a steady, moderate clip so that the economy is supported and aspiring home buyers are not adversely affected.

According to the latest Freddie Mac report, long-term mortgages will witness a reasonable rise of about 2.9% in 2021 and an estimated 3.2% in 2022. But, to keep up with frequent changes and remain future-ready, the mortgage industry will need to take some firm strides in an area it has not paid much attention to so far and step up its document digitization and automation efforts.

A clarion call for digitization in mortgage records

The mortgage industry relies heavily on paper processes. Companies have to store volumes of data related to loan applications, customer information and identification documents. Most of this data is unstructured and in varied formats, and the mortgage administrative cycle is long. There is an immense amount of documentation right from the initial assessment by an expert mortgage broker and the pre-approval application to the formal finance approval and mortgage contract preparation. Each step of the lending process is time-consuming. That is where digital transformation proves to be a boon. Converting mortgage documents into digital formats reduces the administrative burden and allows faster processing. 

How intelligent data capture solutions speed up mortgage processing

Mortgage companies have a wide range of unstructured data trapped in scanned paper or digital documents and correspondence.

Intelligent data capture solutions utilize powerful ICR technology to capture information from mortgage and loan documents. It is smart enough to recognize key information contained in the documents or images. The system automatically segregates documents into appropriate categories for import into other existing business systems. With intelligent data capture solutions, repeatable tasks become far easier to execute. 

Here's how intelligent capture speeds up loan processing:

• It processes unstructured data or variable data in loan documents with the help of advanced features like NLP and machine learning.

• It processes application forms quickly and more accurately with reduced manual intervention.

• It automatically classifies mortgage and loan documents and eliminates manual document indexing.

• It eliminates costly steps like document classification, manual data entry, and document analysis. 

The OpenText Intelligent Capture platform is a future-forward solution to capture mortgage data and process it automatically using advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence technology.

Benefits of intelligent data capture for mortgage companies

Mortgage processing companies can benefit in several ways from intelligent data capture methods: 

Expedite processing timelines

Mortgage documents are wordy and tedious. Imagine the effort that must go into processing them manually! But with the intervention of technology, companies can convert mortgage documents into digital formats, reduce the number of steps, and boost processing speed significantly. 

Save Costs

Now, which company would refuse a chance to save costs? The expenses a mortgage company can save by automating mundane processes add up to a handsome amount in the long term. Digitization and automation allows the firm to minimize or eliminate manual classification of documents, manual data input, and human intervention for document scrutiny and analysis. 

Improve workflow and create an audit trail

No matter where documents come from—a scanner, shared folder, or an email—intelligent data capture solutions automatically capture key data from loan and mortgage data. Replacing the entire manual process of loan document sorting, scanning, indexing, and retrieving with an automated system brings in a remarkable increase in accuracy. The organization is thus able to maintain smooth, fast, efficient workflows. These solutions enhance not just everyday productivity but also improve the audit mechanism. They create a transparent audit trail, saving precious time, expenses, and human effort. 

Raise Turnaround Time and Customer Satisfaction

The loan and mortgage industry struggles with process delays due to complex documentation, which can result in disgruntled customers. These factors lower employee morale and affect their productivity. But automation and intelligent document capture solutions bring in some much-needed respite. By transforming the approval turnaround time ratio, improving document accuracy, and retrieving records fast, they enable an overall boost in customer satisfaction levels.

There's no doubt that intelligent data capture solutions like the OpenText Intelligent Capture can ease processes in mortgage processing by leaps and bounds. An organization trying them for the first time may feel intimidated by the technology, but an experienced digitization solutions provider can provide good guidance.

Revolution Data Systems is a market leader in document management, intelligent data capture, and business process automation solutions. 

We have helped many mortgage companies reap the benefits of digitization and automation.

We provide full-spectrum implementation, support, and hand-holding during the organization's digital transformation journey. 

To know how RDS can help you increase your loan throughput and witness efficiency like never before, get in touch with our expert OpenText Intelligent Capture experts today.