- December 19, 2022
From Start to Finish, Informative Research Has a Data Solution
In today’s competitive mortgage market, lenders often feel as if they’re running an obstacle course with each new borrower. That is unless they’ve discovered Informative Research.
Our data solutions smooth out any potential hairpin turns during the mortgage application and underwriting process. This helps keep every borrower on the “straight and narrow” to a virtually stress-free mortgage closing.
To illustrate how our products help, we'd like to tell you a story.
Meet Borrower Bob
Bob’s in his 30s and has been working as an engineer since he graduated from college. He purchased a one-bedroom condo eight years ago, but now he wants to upgrade to a home near a local lake. He wants more space so he can invite weekend guests so they can enjoy fishing and water skiing together.
We find Bob surfing his area’s MLS for potential lakefront homes. He’s spotted a few suitable properties but hasn’t decided on a lender.
Let’s hope he chooses Lender Lauren, as she has a major-league advantage over his competitors... she has Informative Research backing her up.
Meet Lender Lauren
While other mortgage lenders fret over this week’s market rates, Lauren isn’t biting her nails. Instead, she’s studying the latest leads that have just been delivered to her inbox by Informative Research.
Although she’s been a mortgage originator for more than ten years, Lauren recently joined a lender that subscribes to Informative Research’s Data Solutions. This suite of intelligent products helps Lauren find and communicate with more leads while saving her time.
Lauren has just identified Bob as a potential borrower by logging into Informative Research’s Prospect Insights.
Prospect Insights: Fast, Accurate Data and Reporting
The high-tech suite of tools that comprise Prospect Insights provides the data Lauren needs for highly-targeted, intelligent market analysis. These put Lauren ahead of the competition every week, no matter what’s happening in the residential lending market.
Another Informative Research (IR) product, MLS Pre-Mover, identified Bob as a potential lead for Lauren the same day his real estate agent listed his condo within the regional Multi-Listing Service (MLS).
Since Bob’s selling a home, he’ll need another... and Lauren may be first in line to offer him a deal on a mortgage. The sooner she reaches out to Bob, the better off they’ll both be.
Two days later, Lauren and Bob discuss Bob’s next move. Lauren can offer Bob the type of mortgage he wants, so Bob decides to move forward.
However, Bob’s not sure what his FICO score is. Lauren offers to check it out for him free of charge, without affecting his credit score...something Bob really appreciates.
Conversion Tools That Build Business and Trust
In just minutes, Lauren has some good news for Borrower Bob.
Using IR’s SoftQual product, Lauren reviews Bob’s FICO score, credit usage, account status and more without putting a hard pull on his credit report.
SoftQual is a win-win for Bob and Lauren for several reasons:
- It delivers results in minutes. This means Lauren can introduce Bob to her company’s mortgage products before Bob considers shopping for other lenders.
- Bob is now confident that Lauren’s keen to assist him and has the skills and tools to get him to closing without the frustrating delays he remembers going through during his condo purchase.
After Lauren studies Bob’s credit history, she knows he will qualify for a mortgage. So she asks Bob if he would like a mortgage pre-qualification before he completes a formal loan application.
After Lauren has Bob’s permission, she orders IR’s Tri-Merge Credit Report. She can do this immediately, as she doesn’t have to wait until she’s back in her office. When it arrives, Lauren creates a complete borrower profile for Bob in minutes...and he’s impressed.
A few days later, Bob formally applied for a mortgage and received conditional approval since Lauren and Processor Padma have access to IR’s Verifications Bundle.
Once Bob finds his dream home, he can make a fast, solid offer. And his offer’s accepted. It’s a win-win-win for Bob, his real estate agent, and the seller.
After Lauren provides Bob with a “to-do” list before closing, he shops for homeowners’ and flood insurance. He understands the need for flood insurance, as Lauren identified this through IR’s Flood Cert tool.
IR’s Action Center Helps a Fast Processing Pro Work Even Faster
Processor Padma is a stickler for accuracy and a smooth workflow, and Informative Research’s Action Center makes this easy for her and Lauren. It saves Padma hours when:
- Removing duplicate flags
- Ordering status checks of supplemental info
- Adding or removing co-borrowers
- Swapping borrowers on a joint credit report
- Ordering credit-score only and consumer credit reports
- Checking the status of rescores
- Fixing typos on any credit report
Informative Research has solved the #1 consumer complaint regarding the mortgage process: lack of communication*. Lender Lauren is building a positive, lasting relationship with Borrower Bob by delivering accurate data quickly. And that’s not all! Bob’s real estate agent is impressed with Lauren and is already referring additional clients to her for financing.
Lender Lauren Saves Bob’s Bacon
Many buyers don’t realize that their mortgage isn’t final until closing day, even though they’ve already been approved. This is because underwriters pull several credit reports before final approval. Bob is one of these buyers.
Lauren receives a Pre-Close Monitoring alert two weeks before Bob’s loan is scheduled to close. It tells her that Bob is shopping for a new boat. If he buys the boat, it will temporarily lower his credit score and disqualify him for his mortgage.
Lauren contacts Bob immediately and explains why his boat purchase needs to be postponed.
A week after Bob’s loan is finalized, Lauren receives a “thank-you” note from him:
“Lauren, I love my new house, and I must thank you again for finding me the best mortgage. I’m especially grateful you called me to postpone that boat purchase. If you hadn’t been watching out for me, I’d have lost this house to another buyer and still be stuck in that boxy condo.”
Before Lauren puts Bob’s note on her bulletin board, she writes a quick email to her manager, thanking her for choosing Informative Research.
Informative Research Makes Lenders’ Dreams Come True
Our ultimate goal is to simplify the loan process by offering lenders a straightforward, comprehensive customer service model. As the only company in the industry with three security certifications, we’re committed to protecting lenders’ client data.
Our clients trust us to constantly evolve our solutions to solve their everyday problems, speed up workflows and improve client communications, using our 70-year history of operational and technological excellence.
* Source: https://floify.com/blog/3-common-complaints-mortgage-lending
