Inman

Real estate loan industry sees paperless future

Ease of integration with existing mortgage loan technology systems is among mortgage industry executives’ most important considerations when looking to adopt paperless technology, according to a new industry survey.

The survey indicates that the mortgage industry will make a significant move toward paperless mortgage processing over the next four years.

In Advectis’ second annual survey on paperless mortgage processing, mortgage industry executives were asked about their plans to move their organization toward paperless processing.

When asked about their adoption of paperless technology, most company representatives overwhelming said it was important to integrate new technologies into the systems they currently use. Almost half of the respondents said they preferred to use technology that uses a standard approved by the Mortgage Bankers Association or the Mortgage Industry Standards and Maintenance Organization, known as MISMO.

Participants identified the primary benefits of paperless processing as decreasing turnaround and processing time per loan, cost reduction and improved service.

Enabling collaboration with other mortgage players was ranked very important or somewhat important by 85 percent of respondents, a 64 percent increase from responses to this question in the 2004 survey.

A significant percentage of respondents indicated they believe the mortgage industry will be processing more than 50 percent of all loans as an e-mortgage, or totally paperless, in four years or less.

“Our results indicate that the market is bullish on e-mortgages, with an increasing amount of emphasis placed on the importance of collaboration,” said Greg Smith, president and CEO of Advectis, which conducted the survey.

Advectis provides a Web-based electronic document system, BlitzDocs Collaboration Suite, which enables all participants in the mortgage loan industry to capture, submit, organize, underwrite, audit, share and deliver loan documents electronically.

“As companies get more aggressive about technology, we expect to see the streamlining of loan processing continue to accelerate, as well as in the way the different parties work together,” Smith said.

A copy of the survey can be obtained at Advectis.com.

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