Executive Conversations is a HousingWire web series that profiles powerful people in the financial industry, highlighting the operations and the people that make this sector tick. In the latest installment, we sit down with Dave Worrall, president of LoanCare, and Kiran Vattem, chief digital and technology officer of ServiceLink, to talk about innovations in servicing, especially new self-serve options.
Q. How does EXOS Servicing engage consumers throughout the closing process and into servicing?
Dave: The EXOS Servicing app provides complete continuity from closing to servicing so that a user doesn’t notice a difference between the interface when originating loans. It’s a completely different experience for the user than it was 30 years ago.
If you use EXOS during the closing process and then for servicing, the consumer can be in the same place throughout that process.
Kiran: EXOS provides an end-to-end consumer digital journey that compliments or augments a lender or servicer’s digital strategy. As part of that consumer journey, lenders can now extend the digital journey from loan origination to life of the loan servicing through our mobile/web/voice technology.
The consumer has a seamless and single interface from the time they apply for the loan to the time they close and into the life of the loan mortgage servicing journey.
Q. What are some of the innovations EXOS brings to servicing?
Dave: The most important thing, beyond presenting it for consumers digitally, is its unmatched ability to allow consumers to manage various aspects of their mortgage. The way that mobile and web technology has been configured in the past is for consumers to be able to view it, but when there’s an actual problem, the consumer has to make a call or send snail mail. It’s the last thing a customer wants to do.
What EXOS does is give consumers a long list of things they can do to manage their mortgage — things like setting up an ACH account and downloading their billing statements. These are things that allow the consumer to interact with their mortgage company on their own terms, versus having to call the company.
The other advantage of EXOS Servicing is that it brings mortgage information to your mobile devices. EXOS is the most comprehensive solution in servicing right now. It provides a platform for expansion in the digital space with Amazon Alexa, Google Home and wearable technology. It’s something that no one else in the space can offer their consumer; the immediate capability to interact with their personal financial information.
Kiran: The primary innovation that EXOS provides goes beyond the functionality of mortgage payments, bank set up, loan details, escrow and tax. What we provide on top of that is the servicer’s ability to have significantly higher portfolio retention through analytics and consumer communication via push notifications.
EXOS could provide real-time offers to the consumer based on behavioral analytics from app usage and portfolio analytics in the background. The other significant aspect of EXOS Servicing is that it is omni-channel and will always cover most or any of the interfaces that the consumers prefer to use, including web, mobile, voice (Alexa and Google home) and wearables.
Q. Why is now a critical time for this kind of innovation?
Dave: Because consumers now, more than ever, expect to be able to do business on mobile. When you want to check a balance or make a payment or do something with any type of service, you look for a mobile app first.
Kiran: The average age of a homebuyer is just over 30. As consumers increasingly become more comfortable with technology at their fingertips and start to prefer and expect self-service, lenders and servicers must think about providing information and communication capabilities at the consumers’ fingertips. Otherwise it impacts the lender or servicer’s reputation and stickiness with consumers and their ability to retain existing portfolio or gain market share.
Q. What benefits are servicers seeing by using EXOS?
Dave: What servicers see is a higher level of consumer satisfaction with the service they offer. EXOS Servicing reduces the cost of servicing loans because it encourages customers to do more self-service.
Kiran: For those servicers that use EXOS Servicing, we are seeing reduced call volumes, more and more consumers logging in to make payments, update contact information, etc. Overall, we see higher levels of consumer satisfaction, reduced operating costs and increased portfolio retention.
