For years, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has urged the adoption of eMortgages and eClosings as a way to make the mortgage process more understandable, more transparent and more efficient for consumers.
Most industry insiders say it’s not a matter of whether the eMortgages and eClosings will eventually become the norm – but when. Yet a survey by 2016 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae found many industry stakeholders slow or reluctant to adopt eMortgages and eClosings. That survey identified many barriers to adoption, including service technology requirements, lack of support by service providers, costs too high for current volume and systems that don’t work together.
“eBusiness has been so far delayed in mortgage banking for no good, apparent reason – other than it’s a little bit of a challenge to do. We switched over to closing everything electronically on Nov. 1, and we’re so glad we did,” Mid America Mortgage President and CEO Jeff Bode said.
Bode will be part of a panel of lenders discussing their experiences with eClosings and eMortgages at the 2017 National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) on June 7-9 in San Antonio, Texas. Other panelists are Wells Fargo Consumer Lending Vice President Strategy and Financial Reform Penny Reed and North State Bank Mortgage President Ken Sykes, who participated in an eClosing pilot program in North Carolina.
The session is titled “Lenders: Postcards from the eWorld” and will focus on what has worked, what hasn’t and how title agents can work with their lenders on eClosings and eMortgages.
“We thought that we’d be able to drag others along with us, and that just hasn’t happened. There are multiple reasons for that. I do think the eClosings and eCommerce is so much easier than the paper process. And I think going forward in the future, having an eProcess is going to be more significant,” Bode said.
He said attendees will learn from lenders what they’re doing, the barriers they faced in adopting eClosings and eMortgages, and mistakes to be avoided. Bode said he is looking forward to the perspective of the other panelists and the audience.
“With eClosing, it saves data the whole time and you don’t have to reconcile those pieces of paper back to the data,” Bode said. “It does require doing everything correct up front, and it’s not forgiving on preparation, but once you have your preparation right it never goes off track.”
For more information on the 2017 NS3, including the agenda and a list of speakers, click here. You can register for NS3 online or click here to get information on how to register via mail, fax or phone.