Nine in ten lenders now use some form of digital mortgage during origination, up from 74% just two years ago, according to a survey of 100 lenders spanning banks, credit unions and independent mortgage banks. For the remaining 10%, the gap is starting to show up on the bottom line: lenders using eNotes can save up to $300 per loan, per a white paper from the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO).

The adoption curve is accelerating fast. MERS data shows eNote registrations climbing sharply year over year, hitting 15% of all loans registered on the MERS System in January — a milestone driven largely by a growing pool of investors now willing to accept eNotes, which lets lenders finally scale their digital pipelines instead of running them as a side process.

What changed in the spec

MISMO also quietly updated its SMART Doc 1.02 Implementation Guide, the technical playbook lenders and vendors use to build eNote and eMortgage processes. The update, developed by MISMO's eMortgage Community of Practice, adds:

• Options for ZIP code masking
• Clearer guidance on late charge amounts
• Mortgage broker and loan originator name/identifier requirements

"eNote volumes have continued to grow in the industry, and this guide gives lenders and their partners more clarity and practical guidance learned from years of implementations," said Charlie Epperson, senior vice president at FundingShield and co-chair of the working group behind the update.Epperson said the changes mostly came from lenders hitting real-world edge cases the original spec didn't anticipate, then bringing those gaps back to MISMO. Most of what's new, he said, clarifies and extends the original 2004 framework rather than overhauling it — MISMO has issued annual updates since a broader 2023 refresh, including 2024 additions for home equity and second-lien mapping and a 2025 clarification for registry-operator eNote automation.

Why some lenders still haven't moved

Despite the savings case, the shift to full digital closing remains uneven. Cost is the main holdover barrier — implementation isn't a single purchase but a stack of integrated components, and pricing varies by vendor based on transaction volume, licensing structure, or enterprise terms. That variability makes it harder for smaller shops to budget for the switch, even as larger competitors scale.

"While lenders must make an upfront investment and commit the necessary resources to implement and integrate these technologies, the long-term business case is strong," a MISMO spokesperson said, noting that the savings only materialize once adoption reaches scale — meaning half-measures may not pay off.

Borrower satisfaction, not cost savings, is what lenders report as the top payoff of eClosings, according to the survey — a reminder that the competitive risk isn't just operational efficiency but customer experience versus rivals who've already gone digital.

Where AI fits in

Vendors are increasingly layering AI onto eClosing workflows to catch errors before they become "post-closing defects" — cases where a borrower misses a signature buried in a thick document stack. Digital platforms now block submission until every required signature is complete.

"AI can help make independent credit decisions with those calculations," said John Geertsema, managing principal at Capco. "This document comes in and it triggers some type of review by the AI. A lot of it is events-based AI that I'm seeing" — for example, automated reconciliation between loan estimates and closing disclosures, or field-level extraction to validate accuracy.

With adoption at 90% and eNote volume climbing toward a MERS record, lenders still running paper-heavy closings are increasingly the outlier — and the newly updated SMART Doc guide gives fence-sitters fewer excuses to wait.