Doug Johnson serves as the chief financial officer of two hospitals
in the Wisconsin-Minnesota border area but doesn’t consider himself to
be especially tech-savvy.
Nevertheless, he was able to complete
the entire mortgage-application process for an Arizona vacation home
that he and his wife wanted to buy, entirely online. That included
shopping for interest rates and terms, inputting personal information
and uploading the required supporting documents, including copies of
income-tax returns, pay stubs, bank statements and more.
“It went
without a hitch,” said Johnson, 47, who admits he was initially
concerned about online security. “If you have access to the Internet and
a cheap scanner, that’s all you need.”
Johnson did the
mortgage-application process through Guaranteed Rate, a national
residential mortgage lender based in Chicago. The company’s software
guides applicants through the loan-shopping exercise and lets them input
personal data, see their credit scores, upload key documents through a
private and secure system and receive online approval. Applicants going
through the company’s all-digital route currently can qualify for a $250
credit on closing costs.
Guaranteed Rate claims it has the first
all-digital mortgage, but many competitors also are going in the same
direction, letting customers apply for mortgages, process much of the
paperwork and do related tasks day or night, using a desktop computer,
tablet or smartphone.
No longer such a slog
Applying for a
mortgage and supplying supporting documents — traditionally one of the
most time-consuming, paperwork-intensive and frustrating financial
exercises around — increasingly is being automated. That means
applicants will find the process easier, faster and, possibly, less
expensive than before.
Americans already have embraced online
interactions for other financial products and services. They pay bills
online, check credit card transactions, buy and sell stocks, adjust
401(k) balances and pull up their credit reports. The vast majority of
taxpayers file their tax returns online.
Five years from now,
digital applications and document submission for home loans might be
just as prevalent, though it isn’t quite there yet.
“It’s not as
widespread as you might think,” said Rick Hill, vice president of
industry technology for the Mortgage Bankers Association. Many people
still prefer to meet face to face with a loan officer, especially
first-time home buyers.
read more:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2015/08/14/digital-breakthroughs-improve-home-mortgage-process/31182619/
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