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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 34 April 2024 F E A T U R E S T O R Y T he digital mortgage ecosystem promises a consumer-centric data-driven experience that provides convenience for home- owners and loan manufacturing cost savings for lenders. Fully digital closings should be the status quo, yet they are not. It's estimated that only 11% of lenders offer complete eClosings. I'm sure you can pick out a reason for the lack of adoption from your own expe- rience or from one of the many publica- tions on the topic. However, I'd like to offer a perspective on the adoption problem, a perspective that perhaps should never be uttered by someone who works for a digital mortgage technology provider. What if the very technology firms tasked with streamlining your operations into an eClosing utopia are to blame for perpetuating inefficiencies that make manual, in-person, paper-based process- es the preferred alternative? What if our attempt to eliminate process fragmen- tation through digitization created the need for a nebula of tech solutions that ultimately augment the complexities we were meant to solve? Successful mortgage closings depend on many elements to go exactly right. Most of the eClosing platforms lenders rely on do not offer end-to-end, soup-to-nuts functionality. This means that somewhere along the line, most lenders, even those who are committed to digital transfor- mation, are forced to rely on manual processes—and dare I say, paper. Not only that, but each of the tools needed to sup- port eClosings often comes with its own fees, integration workflows, contractual headaches, and learning curves. As revenue tightens and transac- tion volume slows for lenders, industry leaders such as Diane Tomb, CEO of the American Land Title Association (ALTA), are encouraging lenders to embrace technology solutions that help them further streamline their operations without significantly increasing costs. In other words, you shouldn't need multiple vendors and technology plat- forms to execute a complete eClosing. That's why all-in-one platforms are positioned as the future of the mortgage world. With a few tweaks—and some more robust technology—we can get closer to the consumer-centric, data-driv- en experience that homeowners and lenders deserve. Let's explore the inefficiencies of the current landscape and consider how to build a more efficient system: A Single Broken Link Can Disrupt the eClosing Process A complete eClosing cannot happen unless lenders have tools that can handle every aspect of this process. Most lenders are left patching together solutions from various providers—some legacy and some new. This creates major inefficiencies, duplicative costs, and implementation delays. Most platforms don't handle every as- pect of eClosing, and that means lenders are often forced to conduct certain steps manually, which results in wasted time and resources. The digital mortgage ecosystem requires many features to remain truly digital across a loan's lifecycle. Not hav- ing one of these vital features may force you to either bifurcate your processes to accommodate all use case, or opt to go into a paper-based process somewhere along the way: » eReady loan document set for origina- tion and servicing activities » Title and Settlement support ECLOSINGS AS A SOLUTION ... NOT THE PROBLEM Angel Hernandez of Stavvy takes a look at how disjointed tech stacks are costing every stakeholder in the closing process, from lenders to homeowners. B y A N G E L H E R N A N D E Z A N G E L H E R N A N D E Z is Chief Strategy Officer at Stavvy, a digital mortgage program built for real estate.