My partner and I would like to buy a house. We’re both Millennials in our 30s and we make enough money to dream about buying a home sometime soon. The problem is that a small fixer-upper where we live costs well over $300k.
We work a lot. We don’t have time for analog banking. If we have to make a series of phone calls and wait to get something done, we’ll find another way to do it.
If we’re going to drop $300–400k on something, we expect it to come without a headache. That may be a problem for traditional mortgage servicing.
When Does the Mortgage Experience End?
Here’s the thing: The mortgage experience doesn’t end after you buy the house. For many of us, we’re looking at 30 years of servicing. Honestly, that’s a much longer, more meaningful relationship than the application process.
When we buy a house, we want to know exactly what’s going on. What’s our escrow status? How much interest are we paying? How can we pay off more principal?
Surely, you prefer some level of transparency and control over your investments, too…
The problem is that most in-house bank and credit union mortgages run on old platforms. It can take a month of phone calls and waiting for simple inquiries.
It doesn’t have to. It can be as instantaneous and gratifying as contributing to your Roth IRA on Acorns. But you need to turn to nonbank mortgage servicers.
Should You Turn to Nonbank Mortgage Servicers?
Credit unions have been lagging behind big banks and fintechs in technology. Years ago, JP Morgan Chase automated hundreds of thousands of hours of legal work with AI. Many CUs we talk to aren’t even on the cloud yet.
There’s a major gap in financial tech. As the world continues to gravitate toward digital banking, analog experiences will lose market share to streamlined, digital ones. And when hundreds of thousands of dollars are on the line, younger generations prefer safety. Few things build trust more than account transparency, control over finances, and instant results.
(Don’t believe me? Read the Breach Clarity report about Gen Z and Millennials!)
This is where Valon comes in. Valon, formerly Peach Street, is a modern mortgage servicing company. Their platform is built for digital consumers. Instead of weeks (or a month) of phone calls, Valon shows the borrower everything in a convenient dashboard.
Their goal? To create a world where everyone has access to a simple, fair, and transparent homeownership experience.
And how did they do it? Instead of putting new skin on an old platform, they built theirs from the ground up. Their team of engineers and UX designers come from big-name places:
- Spotify
- Twilio
- YouTube
- Amazon Web Services
- The NFL (yes, really)
My point is this: credit unions aren’t going to build a product like this in house. These are people who brought you global UX standards in tech. Now, they’re turning their eyes to mortgages.
If you care about the member experience, then yes, you should turn to a nonbank mortgage servicer. They’ll also save you money and help with compliance, if that’s what you’re after.
How to Improve the Mortgage Servicing Experience
If I’m going to spend more money than I have, I want to enjoy the experience. Especially if that experience lasts 30 years. And like Valon says in their blog about how to improve the mortgage servicing experience:
“By bringing in modern UX principles to the servicing platform, financial institutions can significantly improve the borrower’s mortgage experience.”
That means digital ease and yes, digital transformation. It also means integrations and better communications between systems. Valon connects with popular tech and payment platforms to eliminate things like:
- Wait times for payoff statements
- Fees for account inquiries
- NSF fees
Honestly, the Fintech Friday series isn’t necessarily a soapbox for CU 2.0 to shill, so…
What Credit Unions Can Do Next
I hope this paints a picture of what a nonbank mortgage servicer can do for the member experience. It’s what I’ll expect when I buy a house (someday, I hope).
Here’s what you can do:
- Contact CU 2.0 to learn more about Valon.
- Visit the Valon website and check them out.
- Join our Quarterly Fintech Call list to receive updates on new market entrants and technologies (limited to credit union leadership).
And of course, don’t forget to subscribe to our blog. The form is probably around here somewhere…
