This document provides a summary of a study on mortgage lending performance benchmarking. It analyzes key metrics like pull-through rate, productivity, and cost to close for credit unions. The study found that pull-through rates average around 45% but can be increased through better follow up. Productivity varies widely from 2 to over 14 loans per employee per month. Lenders using a single, integrated system tend to be more productive. Cost to close also varies significantly from around $830 to over $3,200 depending on productivity and use of technology. Case studies on specific credit unions provide examples of how productivity and costs have changed over time in different environments.
A “Smart” Approach to Big Data in the Energy IndustrySAP Analytics
http://spr.ly/AA_Utilities - Most companies in the oil and gas (O&G), utilities and chemical process industries benefit significantly from global markets; however, they also face pressures that demand instant response to fast-paced international events. Energy companies are using real-time data and analytics to solve key challenges in hotly competitive global markets.
-Bloomberg Businessweek Research
Startup Fundraising One Page Sheet Through Patent Sales Presentation Report I...SlideTeam
“You can download this product from SlideTeam.net”
Here we present Startup Fundraising One Page Sheet Through Patent Sales Presentation Report Infographic PPT PDF Document one pager PowerPoint template. This is a patent sales sheet that covers almost every detail that needs to be disclosed in front of your audience including the product name, patent number, inventors, name of assignee, and the address of assignee. This patent sales sheet one pager PowerPoint slide showcases the key features and benefits of the product along with the key details of the product. This one pager patent selling sheet will assist you in attracting your audiences attention towards your brand. Showcase the projected revenue from selling the patent product using the editable bar graph on this PowerPoint one pager template. Conduct a comparative analysis between the actual and projected revenue of the patent product in this single slide. You can also depict the key amendments, if any on this readily available patent selling sheet PPT slide. Th readily available patent sell sheet is surely going to attract your potential partners and will also do the rest of the work for you. You just need to download this one pager and your presentation will get ready in minutes with few clicks. Make alterations in the text and the color of the template. You can also make modifications in the other elements of the slide by moving them. Get this slide and attract attention towards the new product by showcasing the benefits of your idea in a clear and concise way incorporating this PowerPoint template. Grab this Startup Fundraising One Page Sheet Through Patent Sales Presentation Report Infographic PPT PDF Document one pager template now. https://bit.ly/31Ibp0Z
Cloud-native Semantic Layer on Data LakeDatabricks
With larger volume and more real-time data stored in data lake, it becomes more complex to manage these data and serve analytics and applications. With different service interfaces, data caliber, performance bias on different scenarios, the business users begin to suffer low confidence on quality and efficiency to get insight from data.
Defines maturity profiles across IT organizational capabilities to transform organization from cost-center to value-center.
Whether a program is designed to enable a transformational change or, ongoing continuous improvement changes CIP provides the structure to select and use those components of the IT-CMF framework that are most relevant to their program at any point in time. It points to information, tools and templates, education and assessments when they are most appropriate on the user’s CIP roadmap
A “Smart” Approach to Big Data in the Energy IndustrySAP Analytics
http://spr.ly/AA_Utilities - Most companies in the oil and gas (O&G), utilities and chemical process industries benefit significantly from global markets; however, they also face pressures that demand instant response to fast-paced international events. Energy companies are using real-time data and analytics to solve key challenges in hotly competitive global markets.
-Bloomberg Businessweek Research
Startup Fundraising One Page Sheet Through Patent Sales Presentation Report I...SlideTeam
“You can download this product from SlideTeam.net”
Here we present Startup Fundraising One Page Sheet Through Patent Sales Presentation Report Infographic PPT PDF Document one pager PowerPoint template. This is a patent sales sheet that covers almost every detail that needs to be disclosed in front of your audience including the product name, patent number, inventors, name of assignee, and the address of assignee. This patent sales sheet one pager PowerPoint slide showcases the key features and benefits of the product along with the key details of the product. This one pager patent selling sheet will assist you in attracting your audiences attention towards your brand. Showcase the projected revenue from selling the patent product using the editable bar graph on this PowerPoint one pager template. Conduct a comparative analysis between the actual and projected revenue of the patent product in this single slide. You can also depict the key amendments, if any on this readily available patent selling sheet PPT slide. Th readily available patent sell sheet is surely going to attract your potential partners and will also do the rest of the work for you. You just need to download this one pager and your presentation will get ready in minutes with few clicks. Make alterations in the text and the color of the template. You can also make modifications in the other elements of the slide by moving them. Get this slide and attract attention towards the new product by showcasing the benefits of your idea in a clear and concise way incorporating this PowerPoint template. Grab this Startup Fundraising One Page Sheet Through Patent Sales Presentation Report Infographic PPT PDF Document one pager template now. https://bit.ly/31Ibp0Z
Cloud-native Semantic Layer on Data LakeDatabricks
With larger volume and more real-time data stored in data lake, it becomes more complex to manage these data and serve analytics and applications. With different service interfaces, data caliber, performance bias on different scenarios, the business users begin to suffer low confidence on quality and efficiency to get insight from data.
Defines maturity profiles across IT organizational capabilities to transform organization from cost-center to value-center.
Whether a program is designed to enable a transformational change or, ongoing continuous improvement changes CIP provides the structure to select and use those components of the IT-CMF framework that are most relevant to their program at any point in time. It points to information, tools and templates, education and assessments when they are most appropriate on the user’s CIP roadmap
Open Digital Architecture (ODA) is a blueprint for modular, cloud-based, open digital platforms that can be orchestrated using AI.
Designed to support our industry into the cloud native era, ODA sets the framework required
for CSPs to invest in IT, transforming business agility and operations by creating simpler IT and network solutions that are easier and cheaper to deploy, integrate and upgrade. Enabling growth, profitability and a cutting-edge customer experience.
The Organization Structure PowerPoint Presentation Slides contains a set of pre-designed templates that help to showcase the hierarchical structure of the company. The hierarchical structure PowerPoint template presents teams and departments roles and responsibilities. Using team structure PPT slide you can explain to people where they fit in the organization, what their responsibilities. Users can describe the reporting structure, divisions, and roles. Organizational design ppt slides enable customers to make presentations on functional structure, divisional structure, project matrix, matrix structure, team structure, and organizational architecture, etc. This contains editable slides where you can put your own text. This creative project matrix PPT template helps to communicate how information flows from one department to another. Download the organizational structure presentation graphics to explain the roles and responsibilities of employees. Advocate being generous with our Organization Structure PowerPoint Presentation Slides. Give a convincing account of all the blessings.
The best digital transformation frameworks in 2020run_frictionless
We review digital transformation frameworks from the world’s top digital transformation consulting companies. PwC, McKinsey, Accenture, EY, Gartner, CapGemini, MIT, Cognizant, Altimeter, Ionology.
> Read the full review here: http://bit.ly/31e9dtP
How to Use AI in Your Digital Marketing (1).pdfVolume Nine
How to use A.I. (like ChatGPT & Bard) in your digital marketing, including:
- A brief history of A.I.
- How language models work
- Major categories of how to use ChatGPT & Bard for Digital
- Tactical ideas for SEO, Social Media, Email Marketing, Content Marketing and more
- Ideas of where this is all going for Digital Marketers
- AI resources & our favorite A.I. Tools
Data as a Profit Driver – Emerging Techniques to Monetize Data as a Strategic...DATAVERSITY
The Digital Economy is changing the way organizations do business across the globe, and is set to transform the economy on an unprecedented scale. Business optimization, and entirely new business models are emerging as data-driven technology provides unprecedented opportunity for innovation and change. In many organizations, data not only supports business profitability, but data itself has become the critical business asset.
What does it mean to leverage data as a business asset? And how can today’s data-centric technologies support the data-driven revolution? Join our expert panelists as they discuss the latest innovations in the data landscape.
Digital Transformation Consulting ProposalBizzmaxx
The Digital Transformation Consulting proposal is a proposal to help customers to carry out projects using the Digital Transformation Planning methodology. Note that a staggering 84% of digital transformation projects fail to deliver their expected benefits resulting in enormous missing ROI, as well as the collateral damage to business strategy, shareholder value and team morale. What are the most important reasons why so many businesses struggle with digital transformation?
Creating a clearly articulated data strategy—a roadmap of technology-driven capability investments prioritized to deliver value—helps ensure from the get-go that you are focusing on the right things, so that your work with data has a business impact. In this presentation, the experts at Silicon Valley Data Science share their approach for crafting an actionable and flexible data strategy to maximize business value.
Requirements for a Master Data Management (MDM) Solution - PresentationVicki McCracken
Working on Requirements for a Master Data Management solution and looking for thoughts on how to approach the requirements? This is an overview presentation that complements my guide on how to approach requirements for a Master Data Management solution (Requirements for an MDM Solution). You may be able to leverage all or some of the approach described in this guide to formulate your approach.
BI Consultancy - Data, Analytics and StrategyShivam Dhawan
The presentation describes my views around the data we encounter in digital businesses like:
- Looking at common Data collection methodologies,
-What are the common issues within the decision support system and optimiztion lifecycle,
- Where are most of failing?
and most importantly, "How to connect the dots and move from Data to Strategy?"
I work with all facets of Web Analytics and Business Strategy and see the structures and governance models of various domains to establish and analyze the key performance indicators that allow you to have a 360º overview of online and offline multi-channel environment.
Apart from my experience with the leading analytic tools in the market like Google Analytics, Omniture and BI tools for Big Data, I am developing new solutions to solve complex digital / business problems.
As a resourceful consultant, I can connect with your team in any modality or in any form that meets your needs and solves any data/strategy problem.
This new issue in the CCBS leadership series provides you with a comprehensive country-specific analysis of culturally endorsed leadership practices and expectations for: Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the Emirates, Hungary, Israel, Japan, México, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Serbia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and last but not least the United States of America.
This book provides a reference for senior executives or those aiming to obtain a cross-border career, to understand cultural differences across societies, and how to act socially desirable. This publication contains contributions from more than 90 researchers from 29 countries who participated in the ‘Cross-Cultural Business Skills’ elective offered by the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA).
Denodo: Enabling a Data Mesh Architecture and Data Sharing Culture at Landsba...Denodo
Sylvain Dutilh, INFORMATION INTELLIGENCE SPECIALIST, Landsbankinn
Traditional data processing leaves large pools of replicated and unsynchronized data sets behind. In an era when data grows exponentially and is disconnected and spread across silos, it has never been more unnecessary to replicate data. In this session, Sylvain from Landsbankinn will walk us through his organization's journey of implementing a Logical Data Warehouse and a data-sharing program by leveraging Data Virtualization capability that allowed it to build a central, secure business rules repository and an agile, modern data mesh architecture.
The Data Driven University - Automating Data Governance and Stewardship in Au...Pieter De Leenheer
Data Governance and Stewardship requires automation of business semantics management at its nucleus, in order to achieve data trust between business and IT communities in the organization. University divisions operate highly autonomously and decentralized, and are often geographically distributed. Hence, they benefit more from an collaborative and agile approach to Data Governance and Stewardship approach that adapts to its nature.
In this lecture, we start by reviewing 'C' in ICT and reflect on the dilemma: what is the most important quality of data being shared: truth or trust? We review the wide spectrum of business semantics. We visit the different phases of growing data pain as an organization expands, and we map each phase on this spectrum of semantics.
Next, we introduce our principles and framework for business semantics management to support Data Governance and Stewardship focusing on the structural (what), processual (how) and organizational (who) components. We illustrate with use cases from Stanford University, George Washington University and Public Science and Innovation Administrations.
Bill Faloon on what's delaying regenerative medicine in 2023.pptxmaximuspeto
Bill Faloon describes how excessively restrictive drug testing and approval policies have delayed medical developments that could greatly extend healthy human life. These are presentation slides for a presentation he gave on February 9th, 2023 in West Palm Beach Florida with Jonathan Emord, who is considering running for a Senate seat in the state of Virginia with a focus on reform of drug testing and approval procedures in the United States.
Data Architecture Strategies: The Rise of the Graph DatabaseDATAVERSITY
Graph databases are growing in popularity, with their ability to quickly discover and integrate key relationship between enterprise data sets. Business use cases such as recommendation engines, master data management, social networks, enterprise knowledge graphs and more provide valuable ways to leverage graph databases in your organization. This webinar provides an overview of graph database technologies, and how they can be used for practical applications to drive business value.
(subtitle: Extending enterprise architecture beyond IT)
This presentation (in Notes View, to show slides and script) reviews some of the themes needed to break out enterprise architecture from the usual IT-centric constraints, as represented by most of the existing EA frameworks and toolsets.
[Core content copyright (c) Tetradian 2007; other copyrights and trademarks as indicated]
In this webinar, you will learn about four key mortgage metrics. You will also be able to benchmark your credit union’s performance comparative to other credit unions, and learn ways to improve your credit union’s mortgage lending program and ultimately your credit union’s bottom line. For more info: www.nafcu.org/mortgagecadence
Open Digital Architecture (ODA) is a blueprint for modular, cloud-based, open digital platforms that can be orchestrated using AI.
Designed to support our industry into the cloud native era, ODA sets the framework required
for CSPs to invest in IT, transforming business agility and operations by creating simpler IT and network solutions that are easier and cheaper to deploy, integrate and upgrade. Enabling growth, profitability and a cutting-edge customer experience.
The Organization Structure PowerPoint Presentation Slides contains a set of pre-designed templates that help to showcase the hierarchical structure of the company. The hierarchical structure PowerPoint template presents teams and departments roles and responsibilities. Using team structure PPT slide you can explain to people where they fit in the organization, what their responsibilities. Users can describe the reporting structure, divisions, and roles. Organizational design ppt slides enable customers to make presentations on functional structure, divisional structure, project matrix, matrix structure, team structure, and organizational architecture, etc. This contains editable slides where you can put your own text. This creative project matrix PPT template helps to communicate how information flows from one department to another. Download the organizational structure presentation graphics to explain the roles and responsibilities of employees. Advocate being generous with our Organization Structure PowerPoint Presentation Slides. Give a convincing account of all the blessings.
The best digital transformation frameworks in 2020run_frictionless
We review digital transformation frameworks from the world’s top digital transformation consulting companies. PwC, McKinsey, Accenture, EY, Gartner, CapGemini, MIT, Cognizant, Altimeter, Ionology.
> Read the full review here: http://bit.ly/31e9dtP
How to Use AI in Your Digital Marketing (1).pdfVolume Nine
How to use A.I. (like ChatGPT & Bard) in your digital marketing, including:
- A brief history of A.I.
- How language models work
- Major categories of how to use ChatGPT & Bard for Digital
- Tactical ideas for SEO, Social Media, Email Marketing, Content Marketing and more
- Ideas of where this is all going for Digital Marketers
- AI resources & our favorite A.I. Tools
Data as a Profit Driver – Emerging Techniques to Monetize Data as a Strategic...DATAVERSITY
The Digital Economy is changing the way organizations do business across the globe, and is set to transform the economy on an unprecedented scale. Business optimization, and entirely new business models are emerging as data-driven technology provides unprecedented opportunity for innovation and change. In many organizations, data not only supports business profitability, but data itself has become the critical business asset.
What does it mean to leverage data as a business asset? And how can today’s data-centric technologies support the data-driven revolution? Join our expert panelists as they discuss the latest innovations in the data landscape.
Digital Transformation Consulting ProposalBizzmaxx
The Digital Transformation Consulting proposal is a proposal to help customers to carry out projects using the Digital Transformation Planning methodology. Note that a staggering 84% of digital transformation projects fail to deliver their expected benefits resulting in enormous missing ROI, as well as the collateral damage to business strategy, shareholder value and team morale. What are the most important reasons why so many businesses struggle with digital transformation?
Creating a clearly articulated data strategy—a roadmap of technology-driven capability investments prioritized to deliver value—helps ensure from the get-go that you are focusing on the right things, so that your work with data has a business impact. In this presentation, the experts at Silicon Valley Data Science share their approach for crafting an actionable and flexible data strategy to maximize business value.
Requirements for a Master Data Management (MDM) Solution - PresentationVicki McCracken
Working on Requirements for a Master Data Management solution and looking for thoughts on how to approach the requirements? This is an overview presentation that complements my guide on how to approach requirements for a Master Data Management solution (Requirements for an MDM Solution). You may be able to leverage all or some of the approach described in this guide to formulate your approach.
BI Consultancy - Data, Analytics and StrategyShivam Dhawan
The presentation describes my views around the data we encounter in digital businesses like:
- Looking at common Data collection methodologies,
-What are the common issues within the decision support system and optimiztion lifecycle,
- Where are most of failing?
and most importantly, "How to connect the dots and move from Data to Strategy?"
I work with all facets of Web Analytics and Business Strategy and see the structures and governance models of various domains to establish and analyze the key performance indicators that allow you to have a 360º overview of online and offline multi-channel environment.
Apart from my experience with the leading analytic tools in the market like Google Analytics, Omniture and BI tools for Big Data, I am developing new solutions to solve complex digital / business problems.
As a resourceful consultant, I can connect with your team in any modality or in any form that meets your needs and solves any data/strategy problem.
This new issue in the CCBS leadership series provides you with a comprehensive country-specific analysis of culturally endorsed leadership practices and expectations for: Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the Emirates, Hungary, Israel, Japan, México, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Serbia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and last but not least the United States of America.
This book provides a reference for senior executives or those aiming to obtain a cross-border career, to understand cultural differences across societies, and how to act socially desirable. This publication contains contributions from more than 90 researchers from 29 countries who participated in the ‘Cross-Cultural Business Skills’ elective offered by the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA).
Denodo: Enabling a Data Mesh Architecture and Data Sharing Culture at Landsba...Denodo
Sylvain Dutilh, INFORMATION INTELLIGENCE SPECIALIST, Landsbankinn
Traditional data processing leaves large pools of replicated and unsynchronized data sets behind. In an era when data grows exponentially and is disconnected and spread across silos, it has never been more unnecessary to replicate data. In this session, Sylvain from Landsbankinn will walk us through his organization's journey of implementing a Logical Data Warehouse and a data-sharing program by leveraging Data Virtualization capability that allowed it to build a central, secure business rules repository and an agile, modern data mesh architecture.
The Data Driven University - Automating Data Governance and Stewardship in Au...Pieter De Leenheer
Data Governance and Stewardship requires automation of business semantics management at its nucleus, in order to achieve data trust between business and IT communities in the organization. University divisions operate highly autonomously and decentralized, and are often geographically distributed. Hence, they benefit more from an collaborative and agile approach to Data Governance and Stewardship approach that adapts to its nature.
In this lecture, we start by reviewing 'C' in ICT and reflect on the dilemma: what is the most important quality of data being shared: truth or trust? We review the wide spectrum of business semantics. We visit the different phases of growing data pain as an organization expands, and we map each phase on this spectrum of semantics.
Next, we introduce our principles and framework for business semantics management to support Data Governance and Stewardship focusing on the structural (what), processual (how) and organizational (who) components. We illustrate with use cases from Stanford University, George Washington University and Public Science and Innovation Administrations.
Bill Faloon on what's delaying regenerative medicine in 2023.pptxmaximuspeto
Bill Faloon describes how excessively restrictive drug testing and approval policies have delayed medical developments that could greatly extend healthy human life. These are presentation slides for a presentation he gave on February 9th, 2023 in West Palm Beach Florida with Jonathan Emord, who is considering running for a Senate seat in the state of Virginia with a focus on reform of drug testing and approval procedures in the United States.
Data Architecture Strategies: The Rise of the Graph DatabaseDATAVERSITY
Graph databases are growing in popularity, with their ability to quickly discover and integrate key relationship between enterprise data sets. Business use cases such as recommendation engines, master data management, social networks, enterprise knowledge graphs and more provide valuable ways to leverage graph databases in your organization. This webinar provides an overview of graph database technologies, and how they can be used for practical applications to drive business value.
(subtitle: Extending enterprise architecture beyond IT)
This presentation (in Notes View, to show slides and script) reviews some of the themes needed to break out enterprise architecture from the usual IT-centric constraints, as represented by most of the existing EA frameworks and toolsets.
[Core content copyright (c) Tetradian 2007; other copyrights and trademarks as indicated]
In this webinar, you will learn about four key mortgage metrics. You will also be able to benchmark your credit union’s performance comparative to other credit unions, and learn ways to improve your credit union’s mortgage lending program and ultimately your credit union’s bottom line. For more info: www.nafcu.org/mortgagecadence
Dutch Residential Mortgage Market Update & the SAECURE programAegon
An update on the Dutch residential mortgage market, the Dutch economy, Aegon's mortgage business and its SAECURE program. The SAECURE program was initiated in 2000 and is managed by Aegon subsidiaries Aegon Levensverzekering N.V. and Aegon Hypotheken B.V.. Aegon's proven underwriting criteria and servicing have led to the high performance of outstanding SAECURE transactions.
What's Trending in NATO Commercial Technologies and GamesJay Gendron
Nearly ten years ago, the training and modeling and simulations (M&S) communities teamed up to tackle a burgeoning issue – the use of commercial technologies and games in NATO. The challenge came from the cultural change inherent in the domain. Small businesses were the leaders in the game space, yet they were perceived as risks among acquisition authorities. The proponents pushed forward by forming a Modeling and Simulation Group workshop series called “Exploiting Commercial Technologies and Games for Use in NATO” to bridge the cultural gaps. Over ten years, twelve workshops have convened. Successes have been achieved and predictions made five years ago have been attained. This report provides (a) findings such as trends and possible explanations for factors contributing to attainment of workshop predications; (b) trends within technology, industry, and government with respect to commercial technologies and games for education and training; and (c) recommendations for consideration in planning future MSG commercial technology and games workshops.
Everything you need to know about the top economic stories from September 2014, including the Bank of England base rate voting split, lower unemployment rate and the No vote for Scottish independence.
Bill Handel, vp of research at Raddon Financial Group, reviews the current regulatory environment and discusses the challenges and opportunities, identified at the recent CEO Strategies Group workshops, that lie ahead for credit unions.
Remaking IT for New U.S. Mortgage Rule ComplianceCognizant
To benefit from the improved housing market, lenders need to play offense by finding new ways to efficiently comply with regulations, tighten controls over the lending process and better engage with customers.
What Title Companies Can Do Now to Prepare for the Future of Mortgage LendingKhurram Mukhtar
Uncertainties in the home industry are inevitable. Managing various parties like sellers, agents, and appraisal companies can be complicated. We understand the challenges that home finance professionals face in mortgage loan origination. However, these complexities raise the question of how title companies can prepare for the future of mortgage lending. In search of a better solution, AtClose sheds light on the minimum requirements with the lenders and title agents. Attempting to meet those underlying needs while catering to industry challenges, AtClose designed a complete title industry solution. Read the whitepaper to learn how AtClose's leading order processing technology removed the friction that has been denying the title industry efficiency for so long.
Find out more about AtClose: https://www.atclose.com/
Credit assessment is a method used by banks or other financial institutions that are useful to determine whether a prospective debtor is feasible or not get a loan. The way is to collect customer data taken from the application data customer lending other than by using a statistical program that contains a history of loan among other things on how the payment cycle is billing the customer, if the customer pays bills on time or not, how many credits are still in progress. This assessment helps the banks to analyze credit applications besides other qualitative factors. If the customer has a problem in the smooth payment, the information will be known by funders. Profile Matching is the decision support system method to rank the client feasibility. It can assess based on particular parameters given. There are several parameters to be considered. It helps banks or other financial agents to pass the client borrowing money.
Credit Assessment in Determining The Feasibility of Debtors Using Profile Mat...inventionjournals
Credit assessment is a method used by banks or other financial institutions that are useful to determine whether a prospective debtor is feasible or not get a loan. The way is to collect customer data taken from the application data customer lending other than by using a statistical program that contains a history of loan among other things on how the payment cycle is billing the customer, if the customer pays bills on time or not, how many credits are still in progress. This assessment helps the banks to analyze credit applications besides other qualitative factors. If the customer has a problem in the smooth payment, the information will be known by funders. Profile Matching is the decision support system method to rank the client feasibility. It can assess based on particular parameters given. There are several parameters to be considered. It helps banks or other financial agents to pass the client borrowing money
An Analysis of Factors Influencing Customer Creditworthiness in the Banking S...Dr. Amarjeet Singh
This research is based on Bahraini bankers’ perception on the factors influencing customer creditworthiness in the banking sector of Kingdom of Bahrain. We consider that the research was done in the Kingdom of Bahrain which has a growing banking industry. To enhance the whole procedure of the creditworthiness, it is vital for an employer to understand the most important factors influencing customer creditworthiness. The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors influencing customers creditworthiness in the banking industry. The creditworthiness can be assessed through qualitative factors, quantitative factors and risk factors. The research was conducted through a survey, using the questionnaire as the research instrument. The respondents of the study are employees of banks across the Kingdom dealing with creditworthiness. The statistical tools used in the study are Multiple Regression Analyses and weighted mean. The researcher has found that there is significant relationship between all three factors and creditworthiness, and they don’t equally influence the creditworthiness. The research provides recommendations to banks in assessing the creditworthiness. The researcher recommended that employees must use the most effective methods such as credit scoring to conduct the analysis of creditworthiness in order to make effective decisions. Moreover, the researcher recommended that analysts should take into considerations the most effective factors in the analysis process and they must not neglect other.
ExtraFunds is a proven servicer in the short-term online lending marketplace. ExtraFunds is currently seeking to expand its operations by raising capital via Crowdfunder. For more details about the offering, visit www.crowdfunder.com/extrafunds.
WNS’ commercial banking solutions coupled with cutting-edge transformational solutions enable superior customer experience & cost-effective commercial banking operations.
Get more details on - https://s3.wns.com/S3_5/Documents/Articles/PDFFiles/7064/274/3_Step_Changes_That_Transform_Commercial_Credit_Appraisal.pdf
Learn from the largest subservicer how best to evaluate and select the right subservicing partner for your credit union based on your portfolio, investor mix, product range and other key selection factors.
Nearly one-third of Americans surveyed by Securian Financial Group say they haven’t thought about what would happen to their debt if they – or their cosigners – were to pass away unexpectedly. Fewer than 13 percent say they have taken steps to protect themselves from the sudden loss of a borrower.
With the tsunami of new regulations from NCUA and the CFPB, getting good at compliance is becoming a key success factor for credit unions. In this podcast and presentation from the 2013 NAFCU Annual Conference, Toné Gibson explores how your credit union can develop a cost-effective approach to strike a better balance between compliance and operational efficiency. Through the utilization of three methodologies – strategic development, process excellence, and performance management – learn in detail how to reduce the cost of compliance.
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is the NAFCU Services Preferred Partner for Consumer and Member Business Lending & Deposit Services. More educational resources and contact information are available at www.nafcu.org/wolterskluwer.
Consumers are willing to pay for services that they find either adds convenience or delivers value. In this podcast and presentation from the 2013 NAFCU Annual Conference, Dave Schneider, Brent Dixon, and Paul Muse discuss how to expand your credit unions credit and debit opportunities and explore innovative products that can help guide your future credit union operations, including new approaches to increasing penetration, activation, and usage of the fundamental card. Also, learn to leverage new payment options that will appeal to Gen Y consumers, including Internet PIN debit, PINless at the point of sale, and payments and delivery of service through mobile.
Succession planning is the right people at the right time doing the right work. In this podcast and presentation from the 2013 NAFCU Annual Conference, Deedee and Peter discuss how you can develop a strategic organization successional plan to ensure the successful transition of key leadership for your credit union. This session covers an overview and best practices, levels and types planning, board evaluation, behind the scenes conversions, and the integration of board succession planning with CEO succession planning.
Rising Above Uncertainty: Opportunities and Challenges for Credit Unions in P...NAFCU Services Corporation
The retail financial services market is in a transformative period where new stakeholders and business models are reshaping the industry. Credit unions still have the opportunity for retention and growth, but must continue to compete. In this presentation, you will get an in-depth look at key market dynamics, including evolving financial services models and regulatory impact; learn about emerging strategies and their impact to credit unions, including EMV, prepaid, and mobile; and find out how to prepare for the future.
In this presentation from the 2013 NAFCU Annual Conference, Barrett Burns provides a comprehensive analysis of credit score models and discusses how your credit union can utilize them for member outreach and education.
Listen to the full podcast here: http://www.nafcu.org/NAFCU_Services_Corporation/Partner_Library/Credit_Scores__What_s_Behind_the_Number___Podcast_and_Presentation_/
2013 NAFCU BFB Survey of Executive Compensation and Benefits (Presentation Sl...NAFCU Services Corporation
First introduced in 2007, the NAFCU-BFB Survey of Federal Credit Union Executive Benefits and Compensation was created to better understand the compensation and benefits for the top five executives of Federal credit unions. For more info: www.nafcu.org/bfb
Study Confirms Debit Strength, Reveals Reward Trends (Payment Choice Study Re...NAFCU Services Corporation
TSYS partnered with Mercator Advisory Group to conduct the 2012 Consumer Debit Payment Choice Research Study. This unique study combines survey questions and focus groups, enabling researchers to have an interactive discussion with participants about payment choices and influences, technology awareness and overall user experiences. Learn more at: www.nafcu.org/discover
Before you embark on the critical path of defining (or redefining) your mortgage strategy, there are five basic truths you need to know and build into your planning. From expenses and technology to people and process, these truths are an essential part of any mortgage discussion. This webinar shares the research behind each tenet and how you can incorporate them into your strategy. Learn more at: www.nafcu.org/morgtagecadence
There is an unprecedented focus today around the future of retail branch networks. Credit union executives are seeking new ways to economically alter the scale, reach, and character of their branch assets to drive growth and enable expansion in profitable new territories and non-traditional locations. While the channel is universally acknowledged as best for both member acquisition and sales, the economics must change in order for this way of member-centric financial services to thrive and realize its potential in the new, consumer-driven, omnichannel environment. For more info: www.nafcu.org/ncr
2. Table of Contents
Mortgage Lending
Performance
Benchmarking
Briefing Paper
Executive Summary 1
What did we study? 2
What do we know? 3
What our customers know 5
What we can conclude 8
Summary 12
Afterword 13
Have questions? Comments? Dan Green, EVP, Marketing, is happy to
talk with you about this white paper and about benchmarking lending
performance. Contact him at dgreen@primealliancesolutions.com.
3. Executive Summary
The poet W.H. Auden, in his poem Archeology said:
Guessing is more fun than knowing.
Auden wasn’t talking about facts and figures. When it comes to measuring the work we do and how well
we do it knowing is not only more fun than guessing, it’s essential.
We simply have to know rather than guess when it comes to measuring mortgage lending performance.
Fannie Mae knew it in the early days of the last decade, preparing and publishing its Mortgage Focus
Study for several years until 2006. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) knows it too. From time out
of mind the MBA has published its quarterly and annual Cost Studies1 for mortgage production as well
as loan servicing. The reason both organizations emphasize these studies is there is simply too much at
stake to guess because financing homes for borrowers is every lender’s most profitable activity.2 While
historically true, lending in the post-Dodd/Frank era puts an exclamation point on it. Dwindling revenue
sources mandate squeezing every last nickel out of every last loan.
Knowing rather than guessing is not about greed. Maximizing revenues by minimizing the cost to
produce mortgage loans builds the bottom-line. At the same time managing expenses provides lenders
the opportunity to fine-tune pricing for buyers and refinancers alike. Is it possible to make more money
and offer borrowers more attractive financing? The answer is yes, but you must have a keen grasp of
performance metrics and be willing to constantly improve upon them.
Our Benchmarking Paper highlights the work Prime Alliance has done over the years with its customers
and other lenders. Generally speaking the results and conclusions found here are based on the
experience of a segment of the country’s top 500 mortgage lending credit unions. Our intent was to
understand pull-through rates, lending productivity and what it costs to close a mortgage. What does it
take to maximize the first two while minimizing the third? Read on. We’ll share what we’ve learned from
the success of our clients, the most efficient lenders in the industry.
1 Now known as the Performance Reports, produced both quarterly and annually.
2 Is mortgage lending the most profitable loan in a lender’s arsenal? The answer is yes, and it’s true from multiple perspectives. First, mortgage loans
placed in portfolio, due to their size and their duration, generate more interest income than any other consumer loan. Interest income generation
combined with typically low delinquency rates make home loans a profitable endeavor. It is also important to note that loans placed in portfolio are
the most profitable mortgage loans, though sale options can be lucrative, too. Second, mortgage loans sold into the secondary market may generate
a profit on sale, though this is not always the case. Profits here depend on market conditions as well as close attention to pipelines and sale execution.
Third, mortgage loans sold with servicing released produce sale proceeds for the servicing rights. The point is mortgage loans are incredibly versatile
which has a positive effect on their profitability potential.
1
4. What did we study?
Prime Alliance Solutions was founded on two primary objectives, the first of which was improving
the financing experience for home buyers and refinancers alike. The second of Prime Alliance’s two
objectives is:
Help lenders maximize efficiencies while lowering costs.
Unchanged since 2001 when we released the first cloud-based loan origination system to do more than
simply take an application, we can factually say greater efficiency leads to lower operating expenses
and reduced borrowing costs. Efficiency also leads to greater speed, which improves the borrowing
experience. Mortgage loans are a commodity; differentiation through a better process and better service
yields a competitive advantage, which is important for today’s relationship-based lenders.
Helping lenders maximize efficiencies while lowering costs is measurable more so than enhancing the
borrowing experience, which directed our study toward what we believe to be three critical, high-level
measures of lending performance:
• Pull-through rate is simply measured by dividing loans closed by loan applications taken. This high-
level though important metric measures opportunity as well as lost opportunity. The higher the
pull-through the better, generally speaking, though we recognize about 20% of today’s loans fall out
due to a variety of factors including borrower credit, tight credit standards, property value or the
borrower’s inability to find a property, or other conditions preventing approval.
• Productivity is simply measured by the number of loans closed per mortgage team member3 in a
given time period divided by the number of mortgage applications taken. Our preferred measure is
loans per month, though loans per year also works. This measure is so important because personnel
expense is the single biggest cost in every mortgage operation. Consequently striving for the highest
number of closed loans per employee per month has a significant bearing on the third important
metric, cost-to-close. Conversely, some strategies well worth pursuing may impede maximizing
productivity. That does not make them bad nor does it mean they should not be pursued. Managing
to metrics versus managing to strategy is a delicate, important balancing act. Trading one for the
other often makes perfect sense given market conditions, borrower demographics or other factors.
• Cost-to-Close is not simply measured. While the other two metrics lend themselves to quick
calculation this one does not. Though not simple to derive, there can be no guesswork here. It is the
most important of the three metrics because it has a direct bearing on profitability and competitive
pricing/positioning. Once armed with this metric it is easier to make a plethora of decisions, the most
important of which may be determining the rates and fees offered to borrowers.
The first important decision was choosing what to study. How to conduct the study was the second.
Comparing lender productivity and costs is historically difficult because no two organizations cost account
alike. Deriving directly comparable metrics meant standardizing both the data and the calculations. While
the first two metrics really are simple because they are the product of simple division, the definition of
what is included in their numerators and denominators is critical when comparison is the goal. The third
metric is much more difficult since there is not one agreed upon formula. This is where the MBA’s work
and the Mortgage Focus Study come in handy: not their calculations per se but the way in which they
present information provides valuable clues to formulizing an approach.
Once the formulas were determined the next hurdle was normalizing the data. This is easier than it sounds
since publicly available data is abundant. NCUA 5300 data, available for all credit unions annually and
some quarterly, combined with FFEIC data, provided every element save one. There is only one way of
obtaining the missing variable: by asking how many mortgage lending production4 staff a lender has.
Armed with formulas and data, it is entirely possible to know rather than guess about lending
performance which turns out to be both fun and informative.
3 The denominator in this equation - mortgage team members - includes production staff and management. It does not include loan officers.
4 See footnote 3.
2
5. What do we know?
While some credit unions5 post remarkably high productivity and correspondingly low costs to close,
there is significant room for improvement. It is also very important to note high productivity and low
cost-to-close is not the bastion of big credit union lenders, though several post impressive results.
Strong performance is the result of interplay between people, process, technology and strategy, which is
discussed in the What We Can Conclude section.
Here’s what we know about each of the three metrics: 6
• Pull-Through
A fun credit union mortgage lending fact: the long-run average pull-through rate from application
to closing is about 45%. Said another way, credit unions are losing as many as 35% of all mortgage
applications. The other 20% are loan denials, which is another fairly constant trend. Why is this
happening? Why can’t the industry get over the 45% pull-through barrier? Where are the missing
35% going?
There are at least two answers to the pull-through quandary. The first has to do with the housing crisis
and the subsequent recession. Pull-through may have peaked at 50% in 2007. Then came the crash and
an altogether different story unfolds. In the depths of the crisis it was only possible to close 40% of all
applications. Some recovery came with the refinance boom of 2009, when pull-through rose to almost
48%. On the mend? Not so fast. The ratio of closed loans to applications decreased in 2010 and again in
2011, no doubt as a result of tight credit standards, lack of housing stock and increased regulation.
The second answer to the question is pipeline poaching. From the largest lenders to community lenders
including credit unions, buyers and refinancers alike are automatically targeted within 48 hours of their
initial application. The race is on. Big banks, when hungry for home loans, turn on their marketing
machines and their call centers. They go to work as soon as a potential home buyer or refinancer makes
an application. Follow-through is relentless because closing every possible loan drives profits ever
higher. He who is most persistent gets the loan is the positive way of saying he who hesitates is lost.
Credit unions should play this game even though poaching and outbound calling may seem anathema
to their business model. Thirty-five percent fallout due to inattention is expensive. Outbound marketing,
in the form of drip email campaigns and regular check-in phone calls, could easily and inexpensively
increase pull-through. As explained in the Summary section, application or lead nurturing is the next
great mortgage lending frontier.
• Productivity
Productivity, measured in closed loans per employee per month, ranges widely from a low of just under
2 to more than 14, with the most highly productive lenders consistently achieving 8 to 10 closed loans
per month per employee.
5 While this study concerns credit union lending performance, the methodology used here as well as the results are likely not lender-type specific,
meaning there is a high probability the same metrics would produce similar results in other deposit-taking mortgage lenders.
6 The analysis and the results shown here are the work of Prime Alliance Solutions. We’ve been collecting data since 2009 and built our first
benchmarking model in that year. While the model and the analysis have been continually updated, the subjects of study: pull-through, productivity
and cost-to-close have remained the same.
3
6. One of the key differences between the most productive and the least is the
technology they use. Our study began in 2009 and included lenders that use the
One System traditional multi-system approach: one web- or enterprise-based system is used
can replace at the point of sale while a different enterprise-based loan processing system is
the traditional used to complete the mortgage cycle. While some level of integration typically
use of multiple exists between these two disparate systems, the combination of different platforms
systems to does not typically yield strong productivity. On the other hand, those lenders using
support all one complete system (see the sidebar and Afterword) for applications and loan
mortgage processing typically achieve higher productivity. Generally speaking the results of our
lending study are as follows:
operations.
What makes Closed loans per employee per month multi-system lenders: 2-6
one system Closed loans per employee per month one system lenders: 5-14
complete and
able to replace Variables other than technology are also at play; otherwise the range of results would
multiple be much narrower. Using the right technology is important, in fact, very important.
systems? While mortgage lending is possible without it, doing without is costly and hazardous:
costly from the perspective of low productivity as well as lost opportunity and
hazardous in that it is all but impossible to be compliant without systems that help
These eight enforce today’s rapidly changing rules.
functions:
1. Loan
People, process and strategy play equally
Origination important roles and are discussed in the What
2. Loan We Can Conclude section.
Processing
Second, those who remember Mortgage Focus may remember the most productive
3. Service lenders during the period of 2002 through 2006 closed as many as 17 loans per
Ordering employee per month. Tighter credit standards, increased regulation and the
necessary compliance focus make such an accomplishment all but impossible today.
4. Loan Even with perfect interplay between people, process, technology and strategy,
Underwriting closing a loan takes more effort today than it did before the housing crisis began
in 2007, a fact reinforced in the following section, What Our Customers Know.
5. Product and Regardless, 14 loans per employee per month is remarkable. Over time it may
Pricing be possible to once again reach or surpass the 17 loans per employee per month
achieved in the early years of the last decade. Technology will play a significant role
6. Documents in edging productivity higher. In this environment of complex regulation and intricate
pricing, sophisticated systems are absolutely essential for productivity to increase.
7. Secondary
Marketing • Cost-to-Close
8. Imaging Productivity and cost-to-close are highly correlative. The higher the productivity,
generally speaking, the lower the cost-to-close. There’s a broad range here, too.
For a full The lowest cost producers can close a loan for $830.7 The highest cost lenders are
description of burdened with a cost per loan of more than $3,200.
each function,
see the Here, too, the one-system / two-system dynamic is in play. Generally speaking the
Afterword, at results of our study are as follows:
the end of the
Paper. Cost-to-Close two system lenders: $1,500 - $3,200+
Cost-to-Close one system lenders: $830 - $2,400
It takes more than systems to lower costs, which is covered in the next section.
7 Multiple year average. Single-year cost-to-close figures are actually lower.
4
7. What Our Customers Know
Generalizing results is interesting and even helpful for comparative purposes. Knowing more about
specific credit union lenders is far more instructive. In this section the results of one credit union/Credit
Union Service Organization (CUSO), Wright-Patt/myCUmortgage, and a credit union, Mid-Minnesota
Federal Credit Union, provide valuable insights into business models, productivity, cost-to-close and
changes in the lending environment over the last several years.
Wright-Patt Credit Union/myCUmortgage
More is not always better except when more is describing data. In the case of Wright-Patt Credit
Union, Ohio’s largest, and its CUSO myCUmortgage, six years of valuable data was available. It tells an
interesting story of the evolution of a growing business model during some of the best and worst times
for mortgage lenders.
Wright-Patt started myCUmortgage in the early part of the last decade with the idea that all credit
unions, regardless of size or capability, should offer mortgages to their members. The CUSO opened
its doors at about the same time cloud-based mortgage origination and processing was beginning. As
the CUSO began to grow, Wright-Patt’s mortgage business did too. The need for easily distributable
technology that enabled mortgage origination and processing became apparent. By 2006 both the
credit union and the CUSO were fully utilizing Prime Alliance’s complete, cloud-based mortgage
platform.
A picture’s worth a thousand words, so the old saying goes. So it is with Graph I which juxtaposes
Wright-Patt’s mortgage lending growth with the productivity of its mortgage team:
5
8. Growth in closed loans is shown on the right axis and can be tracked by the green line. From
approximately 1,000 closings in 2006 to just under 7,500 in 2011, the trajectory of this credit union and
its CUSO through some of the most trying times in mortgage lending is noteworthy. As importantly,
productivity, shown on the left axis and illustrated by the red line, has increased from approximately
6 closed loans per employee per month to just under 10, proving that rapid growth need not be
detrimental to process and productivity improvement.
Making this performance all the more remarkable is the time period in which it occurred. The largest
spike in year-over-year growth took place between 2008 and 2009, the deepest period of the recession.
The largest gains in productivity took place during the same period amidst increasing regulation and
ever-tightening credit standards, though these factors, combined with RESPA-mandated changes to
initial disclosures in January 2010, began to take their toll that same year. Productivity began declining in
2010 for the first time in four years and has yet to rebound to its 2009 high.
Productivity and cost-to-close are highly correlative and should move inversely to one another. In
a perfect world volume and cost-to-close should behave the same way. As volume increases, scale
increases and the cost-to-close decreases. While Graph II does not contrast productivity versus cost-to-
close, it does show the relationship between volume and cost-to-close:
Cost-to-close, depicted on the left axis and illustrated by the orange line, was over $1,200 in 2006.
By the end of 2011 it had declined to just under $975, a 20% drop amidst average annual lending
growth of over 40% and a less than favorable mortgage climate, proving people, process, strategy and
technology have more influence over performance than external market factors.
Strategy is the primary component driving growth. Mortgage lending is a core strategy for Wright-
Patt Credit Union which focuses on affordable housing, first-time home buyers, Realtors®, outside loan
officers and, this year, HARP. “Prime Alliance enables us to serve members faster than our competitors.
The system helps us get through a loan from start to finish quicker, meaning the member gets to the
closing table faster,” said Tim Mislansky, chief lending officer of Wright-Patt Credit Union and president
6
9. of myCUmortgage. Another important element of the credit union’s strategy is helping credit unions of
all sizes prosper as mortgage lenders. By the end of 2011 myCUmortgage was serving more than 150
credit unions, a number that is rapidly growing.
What strategy is to growth, technology is to productivity and cost. “We fully implemented Prime
Alliance in time for the 2006 lending year as an integral component of our growth and efficiency
strategies. The technology has obviously helped on both counts,” said Mislansky. Prior to the bursting
housing bubble Wright-Patt’s costs were on a downward trajectory while productivity progressively rose.
“Even though underwriting now takes about two hours longer per loan than it did prior to 2008, Wright-
Patt and myCUmortgage’s efficiencies continue growing while our costs continue to decrease. Through
myCUmortgage we pass our low-cost structure on to our 150 credit unions customers, a number that
is growing rapidly, thanks to the value we offer. Just as importantly, our extremely competitive position
has helped Wright-Patt gain a 10% share of the local purchase-money market. This just would not be
possible without the Prime Alliance platform,” concluded Mislansky.
Mid-Minnesota Federal Credit Union
Membership in Mid-Minnesota Federal Credit Union is open to anyone who lives, works, or worships in
seven of Minnesota’s north central counties. The fifteenth largest credit union in the state with assets of
$236 million, its size and model is very different than Wright-Patt Credit Union’s, except for one thing:
mortgage lending is a core strategy and has been for more than 20 years. “We are and have been a
top lender in our markets for a number of years,” said Jon Tomlinson, director of mortgage services, a
position he has held for 19 years. Mid-Minnesota fully implemented the Prime Alliance platform in time
for the 2006 mortgage lending year, just as Wright-Patt did.
As Graph III illustrates, Mid-Minnesota FCU’s bet on the Prime Alliance platform has paid off and
continues to do so:
Productivity, read on Graph III’s left axis and depicted by the red line, started at just under 10
closed loans per employee per month in 2006, increasing to more than 14 in 2010. Mid-Minnesota’s
productivity achievement is among the best in the credit union industry. What is more remarkable is
consistent, year-over-year improvement during some of mortgage lending’s toughest times.
The cost-to-close trend tells a similar story. Read on the right axis and depicted by the green line,
the metric stood at just under $1,000 per loan in 2006, decreasing to under $800 per loan in 2010, a
good story as well. Graph III tells two other important tales. First, productivity and cost-to-close are
highly correlative and should always move inversely to one another. Second, achieving superior cost
7
10. and productivity performance such as this takes patience and perseverance. Getting to the inflection
point, the period in time where the two lines cross, does not happen overnight, nor does it happen in
six months. The reason for this is technology’s co-conspirators: strategy, people and process must be
made to work in concert, a reckoning that takes place over time.
What can we conclude?
We draw five conclusions from this iteration of our Benchmarking Study:
1. The Cost of Producing a Loan, Represented
by the Cost-to-Close, Remains High.
Significant savings, pricing and revenue opportunities exist
any time cost-to-close exceeds $1,500. What could be
gained by reducing the cost of loan production by $850?
There are least two ways to look at this question. First is from
the perspective of how mortgage loans are priced. What do
we charge the borrower? How do we make that determination?
Table I approaches this question from the fairly standard pricing
equation all mortgage lenders learn early in their careers:
Table I
Cost-to-Close Savings Estimator
Mortgage Rates Offered to Borrowers
Column Column Column
One Two Three
Loan Amount $ 175,000 $ 175,000 $ 175,000
Cost-to-Close $ 1,500 $ 850 $ 850
Pass-Through Rate 3.625%
Secondary Market Price 101.7116 101.7116 101.8931
Add:
Sales Premiums 1.7116 1.7116 1.8931
Warehouse Spread 0.0800 0.0800 0.0800
Servicing Value 0.2000 0.2000 0.2000
Points 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Fees 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Sub Total 1.9916 1.9916 2.1731
Subtract:
Cost-to-Orginate 0.8571 0.4857 0.4857
Hedge Cost 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Sub Total 0.8571 0.4857 0.4857
Total: 102.8461 103.2175 103.5805
Potential Price Improvement, in basis points 0.0.3714 0.7344
Price-to-Ratio 4 4
Rate Improvement Potential, in basis points 9.29 18.36
8
11. Starting with the market price of a loan at a rate thought to be attractive to borrowers, sales premiums,
warehouse spreads, servicing value, rates and fees are added to the price while the cost to originate and
hedge costs are subtracted. The result is the amount of profit the loan will produce.
Column One shows the cost-to-originate as $1,500 and assumes the loan is priced for 60 day delivery.
Other than the sales premium of 171 basis points, and over which lenders have no control, the cost-
to-originate is the single largest variable in the pricing equation as well as the single largest expense.
It is also the most significant variable over which lenders have control and, therefore, drastically affects
profitability. The result is a net gain of 285 basis points.8
Column Two holds all else equal save for cutting the cost-to-close in half to $850 which reduces
origination expenses by 37 basis points. Given the standard secondary market price-to-rate ratio of four
to one, such savings, rendered in basis points, means a potential for an almost 10 basis point decrease
in borrower rate.
Column Three introduces a third possibility. The hypothesis goes something like this: an efficient, highly
productive lender moves loans through the mortgage cycle faster closing loans more quickly. Therefore
loans are available for sale sooner which means rather than a 60 day delivery price the lender could,
instead, take advantage of the more favorable 45 day delivery price. The 60 day price in this example is
101.7116; the 45 day price is 101.8931, for an improvement of 18 basis points. The result in this scenario
yields the potential for an 18 basis point improvement in the rate presented to the borrower.
Improving borrower rates and, therefore, competitive positioning is certainly one way to view the
benefits of improving the cost-to-close. Another angle is pure profitability. Returning to Table I, look
again at the line labeled Total and the one immediately underneath, Potential Price Improvement. The
potential improvement is 37 basis points or, simply, the difference in basis points between a $1,500 cost-
to-close and an $850 cost. That’s 37 basis points to the bottom-line, pure profitability.
The message is clear: competitive pricing is largely a
function of efficient operations.
Efficient operations yield profitable lending operations. Table II helps put this in perspective, juxtaposing
cost savings per loan with the number of loans closed per month:
Table II
Cost-to-Close Savings Estimator
Mortgage Rates Offered to Borrowers
50
Loans Closed per Month 75 100 150 200 300 350
Reduction in Cost-to-Close $ 150 $7,500 $11,250 $15,000 $22,500 $30,000 $45,000 $52,500
$ 200 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $60,000 $70,000
$ 250 $12,500 $18,750 $25,000 $37,500 $50,000 $75,000 $87,500
$ 300 $15,000 $22,500 $30,000 $45,0004 60,000 $90,000 $105,000
$ 350 $17,500 $26,250 $35,000 $52,500 $70,000 $105,000 $122,500
$ 400 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $60,500 $80,000 $120,000 $140,000
$ 500 $25,000 $37,500 $50,000 $75,000 $100,000 $150,000 $175,500
$1,000 $50,000 $75,000 $100,000 $150,000 $200,000 $45,000 $350,000
$1,200 $60,000 $90,000 $120,000 $180,000 $240,000 $360,000 $420,000
$1,500 $75,000 $112,500 $150,000 $225,000 $300,000 $450,000 $525,000
8 102.8461 expressed represents a gain of 284.61 basis points.
9
12. A lender closing 50 loans per month saving $300 per loan reduces expenses by $15,000, thereby
increasing revenue by the same amount. Annual savings/revenue enhancement in this scenario
is $180,000.
2. Technology Matters.
One-system lenders, those whose on-line mortgage application and loan origination systems are one in
the same, are more efficient and enjoy a lower cost-to-close than lenders who rely on multiple systems
to originate and close mortgage loans.
Moreover, having one, cloud-resident system appears to produce the highest efficiencies due to the
fact lending teams are able to access their pipelines from any internet-connected computer. Members,
too, can make application from wherever they are at their convenience. With these systems, originating
and processing mortgage loans becomes an anytime, anywhere proposition. Lenders using enterprise
systems, in contrast, typically process loans during normal business hours since their platforms are not
easily web-accessible.
3. The Cost of Technology Does Not Matter.
The cost of technology in the singular context is irrelevant. Technology expense is only important in light
of its ability to increase productivity and lower the cost-to-close. Said another way, judging the cost of
mortgage lending technologies without assessing their impact on productivity and cost-to-close is too
narrow a view of the overall cost equation. A complete knowledge of existing performance metrics and
how they are calculated with the goal of improving results is the context in which to judge an investment
in mortgage technologies.
Another means of judging the cost of technology is the Technology Multiple: how much lower in cost do
operations become once the investment in technology is made? Divide total annual savings, as derived
from Table II, by the investment in lending technology. A multiple of 1.5 to 4 means the new lending
technology has paid for itself that many times over. This is also a means of objectifying the decision to
change technologies. ROI is one important measure. The technology multiple is another. Using both
together yields the best financial and operational decision.
4. People, Process and Strategy Matter, Too.
No more than buying a horse makes one a cowboy does buying technology make one an efficient,
low-cost mortgage lender. The best technology must be coupled with extreme attention to process
engineering and re-engineering, training and coaching mortgage teams on new technologies and
processes, and employing focused strategy. People, process, strategy and technology are integral to
maximizing productivity while lowering costs.
People, Process, Strategy and Technology (PPST) working
in concert result in the greatest efficiencies and the lowest
cost-to-close.
10
13. 5. Costs Also Remain High Thanks to Stagnant Pull-Through Rates.
The pull-through rate for mortgage loans throughout the credit union industry is stagnant at the mid-
40% mark. The calculation used here is purposefully overly simple for the sake of easy comparison.
Dividing the total number of closed loans by the total number of applications taken over a long period
of time yields the result. What’s the next step?
Most lenders do a poor job of following through on applications, especially pre-approval applications.
Buyers and refinancers alike are as easily distractible as they are convertible by other lenders. Moving
the pull-through needle above 50% means paying more attention to every borrower who makes an
application. Fortunately, automation can help. Technology is every bit the answer here that it is in the
mortgage process itself. Increasing pull-through, which equates to increased market share, decreased
cost, improved productivity and higher profitability, is dependent on solid lead/application-nurturing
technology, processes and strategy. Application nurturing, which combats pipeline poaching, is one of
the next big mortgage lending frontiers and one in which the competition is already intense.
Failing to Close Loans is Expensive. For that Reason
Alone the Pull-Through Dilemma has to be Addressed.
11
14. Summary
Guessing is more fun than knowing, though knowing is more powerful than guessing, especially when
it comes to something as strategically important as mortgage lending. Yet pursuing lower cost-to-close
and higher productivity outside the context of an overall mortgage strategy and the people, skills,
processes and technologies necessary to implement that strategy is likely to do more harm than good.
The journey from guessing to knowing, therefore, should follow these steps:
1. Define mortgage lending strategy.
There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for every mortgage lender let alone every credit
union. Market, community, member demographics and a host of other factors impact
the ultimate strategy definition. Starting here provides an aiming point. It also guides the
other decisions that make sure the bullseye is hit.
2. Define the people and skills necessary to implement strategy.
Does the defined strategy call for internal loan officers? External loan officers? How
are loan officers compensated? How do Realtors® factor into the strategy? What
type of support will origination staff require? How will production staff responsibilities
be divided? What will be required of underwriters? How many underwriters will
be necessary? Will loans be sold direct to the secondary market or through a
correspondent? Which loans will be placed in portfolio? What will become of servicing?
These are just a few of the questions that help determine the people and skills required
to fulfill the defined strategy. Additional helpful reference material is available at
www.primealliancesolutions.com and at www.cuhousingroundtable.com.
It is important to note, too, that strategy, once defined, may result in additional
compliance obligations. A myriad of laws, regulations and GSE requirements impact the
ways in which home loans are originated, processed, underwritten, closed, funded and
serviced. Once strategy is defined, the next step is to discuss potential implications with
compliance specialists. With identified obligations in hand it is time to ensure technology,
process and people are compliant. Here, too, technology can be a significant help.
3. Measure existing operations.
This is the guessing to knowing step. Measure pull-through, cost-to-close and closed
loans per employee. These are benchmark numbers; the key metrics upon which
improvements will be made and measured.
4. Establish new measures.
Once strategy is defined, necessary people and skills are determined and existing
metrics are known, it’s time to establish goals for improvement. Improvements should
be expected to progress over time: 6 months on the short end, to as long as 18 months
or more. The speed at which improvement occurs is a function of how rapidly an
organization implements strategy, enhances skills and improves process. In other words,
improving productivity from 4 closed loans per employee per month to 8 in a month or
two is probably unrealistic.
5. Choose a technology.
The benchmarking work described in this paper points to one-system technologies
producing better results. Such systems enable speed and efficiency because data
integrity / data integration is no longer an operational requirement. Staff spend their
time closing loans as opposed to managing technology.
To be clear, one-system means the mortgage point-of-sale technology, the technology that enables
members to apply any time, anywhere and loan officers to take applications regardless of the time of
12
15. day, day of week or their location, is simply another included tool that accesses the same database as
the loan origination system, the platform used to process, underwrite, close and fund loans. Adding
secondary marketing functionality into the equation further increases efficiency and profitability.
Disparate ‘integrated‘ systems do not, as our research shows, produce the same results in terms of
improved productivity and reduced cost-to-close. For further thoughts on functions ‘one-system’ should
include, see the Afterword.
Interested in knowing more?
Prime Alliance Solutions is happy to help. We take the guesswork out of mortgage lending, and we
provide the only true cloud-based, one-system lending solution available today.
Afterword
One-System v. Multiple Systems.
The very traditional, very long-standing practice in mortgage lending operations is connecting or integrating
multiple systems in order to provide loan officers, processors, underwriters, closers, funders, shippers, secondary
market managers and operations managers the tools they need to move a loan from origination through closing
and into the secondary market and loan servicing systems. The one-system approach, on the other hand, doesn’t
look at these as separate systems. Rather, it considers them the tools required to create a complete, preferably
cloud-based system. How many systems does it take to close a mortgage loan? At least eight:
Loan Origination. In the early days this was a paper 1003. When technology became common this
step in the process migrated to desktops and laptops. The internet took origination to the cloud.
Loan Processing. Paper files, typewriters, fax machines, couriers, calculators were all replaced by
typically centralized processing systems by the late 1990s. Most of these systems remain enterprise-
based, though there is movement toward the cloud and toward paperless systems.
Service Ordering. Phone calls, fax machines, email, scanning are all methods of ordering and
processing the service orders needed to close a mortgage loan. Either an off-line process or tasks
within the loan processing system, even today they seldom happen in real-time and are typically not
readily available to the borrower or, for that matter, every member of the mortgage team who may
need them.
Loan Underwriting. Most loans are underwritten through either Fannie Mae’s DeskTop Underwriter
or Freddie Mac’s Loan Prospector. Most, if not all systems today, are designed to send loans to and
receive findings from these two systems. Integration depth varies, however, from simple send and
receive to sending, receiving, parsing findings and using findings to drive workflow.
Product and Pricing. Pricing loans has become increasingly complex, especially as GSE guidelines
change and evolve. Consequently systems that manage loan level price adjustments in real-time
along with proprietary pricing rules are absolutely essential in assuring borrowers get the right loan
rate and pricing every time.
Documents. Like underwriting systems, documents are typically provided by a third party, either as
an integration or off-line. The best integrations make disclosures and closing documents available
on-line in minutes.
Secondary Marketing. It is uncommon to find secondary marketing tools integrated with most loan
processing systems. These capabilities are typically expensive third-party add-ins that rely on one or
two-way integrations or data downloads that then manage the function off-line, resulting in less than
best execution and profitability.
Imaging. Imaging systems for document and workflow management have been around the
mortgage industry for many years, though until recently have they been tightly integrated with loan
processing systems. Good imaging systems enable paperless lending, the most efficient, most cost-
effective means of producing a mortgage.
The one-system approach includes all eight functions and more in one package. The multi-system approach
includes the eight, though most integrations require maintenance as well as extra time managing data and data
integrity. The other difficulty with integration tends to be the data transparency that’s easily accomplished with
the one-system approach. When one-system includes all functions, sharing data with everyone who has a need to
see it, including the borrower, is easy.
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