Tuesday 28 March, 2023
The results are in. PEXA’s latest Refinance Index numbers indicate refinance volumes are up over 27% from this time last year. Refinance applications are in, and new home loan applications are on the way out – with prospective buyers’ borrowing capacity slashed as a result of rising rates.
After the 10th interest rate rise in a row, and more than 800,000 fixed rate loans due to expire this year, the number of refinance applications will naturally increase – and are heading to record levels.
In the refinance game, the stakes are high. Borrowers applying to refinance want a lower rate, and they want it quickly. They’re also spoilt for choice from multiple lenders offering cash incentives and introductory lower rates. If – in an applicant’s eyes – a lender is taking too long to process a refinance application, the borrower will cancel the application faster than you can say ‘$5,000 cash bonus’.
While there is a lot of focus on getting to “yes”, did you realise that approximately 8% of approved borrowers still don’t make it from approval to settlement? Tellingly, over 90% of those fallovers occur in the window between loan documents being sent out and the borrower returning them.
So getting from “yes” to loan document execution is the new ground zero in the refinancing war.
The reality is that it takes an average of three days for paper loan documents to arrive with a client. By the time the documents make their way back to you, on average you will have waited 10 days. Add in another 5 days for the approximately 50% of paper documents that are returned with a page or signature missing.
That’s a far cry from digital loan documents which can be executed in a matter of minutes. In fact, we see that over 20% of documents are returned within 24 hours, with the average being signed and returned within 3 days.
That means more often than not, digital documents are out and back before the postman has even delivered the paper equivalent to your borrower!
So shred the paper and go digital. KWIL is Galilee’s digital mortgage solution. It guides you through the signing process, from upload right through to the return of completed documents. It’s faster, allows for easy fixing of errors and is an easy-to-use workflow for your customers.
As KWIL speeds up the signing process, the fall-over rate is significantly reduced – if not removed entirely – as customers aren’t left wondering about the status of their application and where their documents are at.
Busy times are ahead for lenders. Ensure you can keep up with the busy times, and get ahead of the competition by switching to digital.
To learn more about KWIL, click here. For information about Galilee and our services, visit our website.