UWM unveils AI tool to notify customers of refi options

United Wholesale Mortgage rolled out an artificial intelligence-powered tool that will ping borrowers when it makes financial sense for them to refinance their mortgage.

The technology, dubbed KEEP, sends pre-validated opportunities to homeowners, the wholesale lender said Wednesday. Details are also made visible to a borrower's broker in their KEEP pipeline in EASE, a UWM spokesperson added.

This will add "speed and efficiency of the mortgage process for both borrowers and UWM's broker partners," the megalender claims.

The tech offering coincides with growing concern that servicers with large portfolios and powerful technology to recapture business could dominate the next anticipated refinance wave. 

Once rates drop, UWM predicts that one of the biggest challenges facing originators will be "staying in front of their past clients and competing with the substantial budgets and aggressive marketing tactics of large banks and retail lenders."

"At UWM, we're doing everything we can to help independent mortgage brokers across the country retain the clients they've worked so hard to build trust with, especially at a time when retail competitors and large servicers are intensely working to solicit them," said Mat Ishbia, CEO of UWM, in a written statement. 

According to the wholesale giant, the KEEP system continuously checks and validates multiple borrower data points on previously closed loans to identify borrowers who are eligible for impactful monthly savings.

"KEEP's proprietary technology will create the easiest refi process ever — providing opportunity to the broker and significant savings to the borrower. It gives brokers the competitive edge they need to succeed in this market," Ishbia added.

Alongside of its newly announced AI tool, UWM also recently introduced a refinance product called Refi75, which gives a 75-basis-point incentive on any note rate for conforming conventional mortgages, as well as Federal Housing Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture rate and term refinances.

In anticipation of increased refinance activity, other lenders, including Better, have also moved to introduce products to the market that aim to streamline the origination process.

Lenders are fine tuning their refi products as a report from ICE Mortgage Technology reveals that the servicer retention rate for refinancings is at the second to lowest point in 17 years. 

Nonbanks in the second quarter had a retention rate of 28%, according to ICE. Mr. Cooper, the largest servicer nationwide, had a refinance recapture rate of 73% in the second quarter. 

Speaking at National Mortgage News' Digital Mortgage conference Monday, Sridhar Sharma, executive vice president and chief information officer at Mr. Cooper said the company's recapture rate is the result of its technology investments.