Tech Innovations for Mortgage Brokers

Constant innovation. Forward-thinking development. Willingness to adapt. Simplifying business practices.

All of those phrases are firmly implanted in the brain of United Wholesale Mortgage President and CEO Mat Ishbia, and fittingly apparent in how UWM runs its daily enterprise. That tech-centric attention of Ishbia and the 2,200+ group members in the Troy, Michigan-based mortgage giant is what has distinguished UWM as the most commonly used wholesale mortgage lender by mortgage brokers throughout America.

In a fairly obsolete industry when it comes to technology, where the only consistent change is that the variation of daily rates of interest, UWM is a breath of fresh air in the mortgage industry with a seemingly endless flow of technology innovation and advancements, especially on their mortgage brokers affordable websites.

More than any other wholesale lender, UWM has made it a point in recent years to regularly bring new technology platforms, programs and enhancements to the industry. All of it is geared around one thing: to provide essential marketing tips for mortgage brokers and help them stand out and compete against mega banks and retail lenders whilst using custom web design. UWM wants mortgage brokers to be the obvious choice in each circumstance for customers nationwide.

“The most important message we push out in national media is that mortgage brokers are the best option for borrowers to get a mortgage,” Ishbia stated. “Everything we do is about making sure mortgage brokers have the best technology, the best tools, and the easiest processes so they can deliver the best service to their clients.”

In recent months, UWM made headway in the mortgage industry by becoming the first lender to offer the first 100% virtual eClosing. While eClosing existed before UWM’s recent digital eClosing launching, previous products were a “hybrid” version — meaning that an in-person notary was needed to attend the closings with the creditors and commercial agents and they digitally passed around a tablet computer or notebook computers and signed each record. UWM’s version has no such requirement. Borrowers have ultimate flexibility and can finish the whole closing process in the comfort of their own home or literally anywhere, by communicating with a distant notary via Face Time or Skype. Virtual e-closings are truly the way of the future.

Prior to digital eClosing, another important UWM unveiling has been its Blink technology, an all-digital, multi-functional loan portal which permits borrowers to initiate the loan application process to purchase property, pull their charge, eSign files, verify assets, and monitor the status of the loans — from any mobile device or pc. Compared to other consumer-facing mortgage programs in the business, Blink offers borrowers the advantage of working with a mortgage agent throughout the whole process, if they need assistance or advice.

Completing the cycle of complete digitization, UWM’s doc-less system united its eSign technologies with systems that securely and automatically verify income, assets and tax returns.

UWM’s approach to creating the loan process as simple as possible through its technology stems from its valuation of relationships over transactions — a rarity among wholesale lenders around the nation.

While more or less every other wholesale lender in the nation offers both retail and wholesale providers, UWM is solely committed to the wholesale channel. The company decision to be wholesale concentrated makes a radically positive impact on a broker’s bottom line, because a wholesale lender who doesn’t steal or attempt to keep a mortgage broker’s customer is worth their weight in gold.

“Brokers tell us all the time that they appreciate working with UWM because our technology and service are great, and because they don’t have to worry about us running off with their loans,” Ishbia stated. “A broker’s client list is their livelihood. Their ability to grow their business and do repeat business with past clients is how they feed their families, how they put their kids through school.”

UWM is always on the leading edge of partnership tools, ensuring that mortgage agents always have potential business opportunities by staying in front of their various customers:

  • UConnect: following on from when a borrower closes their loan, UWM monitors their prospective mortgage credit attracts for mortgage brokers. If the debtor is in the market for a refinance or purchase, UWM joins back the borrower to the first mortgage agent who shut the loan.
  • UTrack: exactly like tracking a package being sent through the mail, UTrack enables mortgage brokers, borrowers and commercial property agents to view in real time in which the loan is in the process, from underwriting through closure.
  • Unite: UWM sends quarterly personalized home mortgage worth mails to borrowers, on the mortgage broker’s behalf, which are loaded with invaluable information regarding their home, their loan and what is going on in the market.
  • Client Loyalty Supervisor: a customizable reporting dashboard comprising the entire mortgage brokers past customers where they will get notified and prompted to send personalized mails to their borrowers for their birthday, loan anniversary and, most of all, when rates vary in their favour.

Considering UWM’s unwavering drive to be the technician trendsetter in the wholesale mortgage industry, it’s easy to see why more mortgage brokers are opting to work with the lender which has outperformed its competition for almost three consecutive years.