A growing number of industry insiders find mortgage lending compliance may slow down but will not stop increased demand for electronic transactions.
Regulation makes mortgage lending automation more challenging for more than 90% of e-mortgage transactions, according to a recent survey by Xerox Mortgage Services.
At the same time roughly 83% of the survey respondents, which included loan originators, correspondent lenders and servicers, think the mortgage industry will close more than half of all loans as e-mortgages within the next seven years, up from 68% in 2013.
The Path to Paperless survey shows that despite compliance pressures industry support for paperless processes continues to grow, said Jamie Williamson, vice president, sales at Xerox Mortgage Services. It found that as a result mortgage companies "are evaluating and implementing several paperless methods to extend electronic collaboration to all participants in the loan process."
Findings indicate 74% of the companies that participated in the survey are implementing new technologies, such as e-signature tools, and cloud-based collaborative network software options that help simplify e-mortgage lending from origination to servicing.
Currently 70% of the survey participants said they already have paperless loan origination and underwriting platforms, with another 21% expecting to have such capabilities by yearend. Year-over-year 20% of these mortgage professionals experienced an increase in e-closings.
The next evolution in e-mortgages will be mobility, Williamson added, as only 13% currently participate in the mobile initiative, while 77% of respondents "would like to use their mobile devices to complete transactions," but have security risk concerns, he said.
