Leading national lender closes loans three days faster and saves customers 15 percent on fees using Doma’s instant underwriting solution
The appearance and increasing acceptance of digital mortgages in recent years put pressure on traditional lenders to up their digital game. With significant capital reserves and highly skilled teams of software engineers at their disposal, most large lenders navigated this challenge with relative ease. A more difficult obstacle is improving the experience of closing on or refinancing a home, which is unnecessarily complicated and stressful for all parties involved.
Today’s savvy borrower can effortlessly shop around online for a trustworthy lender that offers fast turnaround times, low fees and great service. To remain competitive, the nation’s established mortgage lenders are laser-focused on reducing timelines to ensure every dollar works to generate revenue and improve profit margins, while simultaneously passing savings – of both time and money – onto borrowers.
In other words, having achieved the instant mortgage, the U.S. residential real estate industry is in a race to the ultimate finish line – the instant closing. One of the largest lenders in the world is determined to stay ahead of the competition and understands that the key is a carefully curated combination of increasingly efficient processes enabled by bleeding-edge technology.
They wanted to only touch loans with exceptions and get an instant clear-to-close on issue-free properties.
Key Returns
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84%
Transactions received a clear-to-close in under a minute
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93%
CSAT Score vs. industry average of 77%
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15%
Savings on fees for mortgage customers
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20%
Increase in capacity per loan processor
Engaging Doma
Considering known limitations of its existing vendors and the significant investment and expertise it would take to streamline the refinancing process with internal resources alone, the lender decided to look for a long-term partner at the forefront of technological innovation.
The lender immediately understood Doma was far ahead of other providers in terms of technology, innovation and talent, and the best potential partner to develop a bespoke turnkey solution that would allow it to deliver customers the best e-closing offering in 2021.
Having achieved the instant mortgage, the U.S. residential real estate industry is in a race to the ultimate finish line – the instant closing.
Innovating Together
In April 2019, the top five national lender started a pilot with Doma in three key states. The company determined to allocate 25 percent of the volume in two of the three states, and up to 75 percent of the volume in the third. Using Doma’s secure API, the lender seamlessly integrated the solution directly into its existing systems, with zero downtime and no disruptions for its loan officers and processors.
By June, Doma had integrated order acceptance, document delivery and messaging with their Title Production System (TPS) and the lender’s in-house loan origination system (LOS). At the same time, the mortgage division partnered closely with Doma’s dedicated customer support team to align workflows and ensure smooth operations between the lender and title company.
The two teams quickly established a highly collaborative relationship and ensured feedback was being shared promptly and in both directions. This allowed everyone to focus on increasing operational efficiencies, reducing operational expenditures and moving quickly towards the lender’s goal of a 20-day cycle for the majority of refinance transactions.
Impressive Results and Expansion
In January 2020, the top five national lender collected and analyzed the results of the 9-month pilot. For loans processed with Doma, the lender’s mortgage division was pleased to receive an instant clear-to-close for 84 percent of transactions.
Comparing the instant loans against the traditional loans, they saw:
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3
Day reduction in business days to close
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15%
Davings on fees for mortgage customers
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84%
Transactions received a clear-to-close in under a minute
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5%
Lore loan applications close successfully
By combining the Doma instant underwriting solution with vastly improved operations, the mortgage division also increased capacity per processor by nearly 20 percent.
Key Factors That Impact Time to Close
Traditionally there are seven key factors that impact time to close, each containing a signficant number of subcomponents. While some steps can be completed in parallel, the cumulation creates a 30-45 day process that results in long wait periods for borrowers and lenders.
By combining the Doma instant underwriting solution with vastly improved operations, the mortgage division also increased capacity per processor by nearly 20 percent. Most importantly, the lender achieved a 93 percent CSAT score across all files processed with Doma, which far surpasses the industry average of 77 percent, as well as most of the top five national lender’s closest competitors.
With such stellar results, the lender ranked Doma as a top three vendor. Its mortgage division decided to expand both the number of states and proportion of title and escrow transactions it processes with Doma in 2020. The lender expects to achieve a 20-day closing by the end of the year.
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About Doma
Doma is architecting the future of real estate transactions. The company uses machine intelligence and its proprietary technology solutions to transform residential real estate, creating a vastly more simple, efficient, and affordable real estate closing experience. Doma and its family of brands – States Title, North American Title Company (NATC) and North American Title Insurance Company (NATIC) – offer solutions for current and prospective homeowners, lenders, title agents, and real estate professionals. Doma’s clients include some of the largest bank and non-bank lenders in the United States.
