According to the Iress’ Mortgage Efficiency Survey, the effects of the pandemic have created a groundswell of change which reaches far beyond the well-documented volume decreases caused by lockdown.
Indeed, the analysis discovered between April and June 2020 lenders had been forced to revise their technology development plans to reflect the increasingly digital landscape the Covid lockdown had established.
But while the need to engage with consumers in a remote way has caused lenders to fast-track digital adoption processes, it has also meant there is more need for humans to get involved at certain stages.
Human involvement
In fact, Iress found, the underwriting stage of the mortgage process was experiencing increased human input.
Iress’s survey found while digital services provided the efficiency and transparency consumers are looking for, the changes in societal earning patterns brought about by furlough schemes and rising numbers of self-employed meant automated decision making was not necessarily appropriate for many.
Instead lenders are looking to manual checks to ensure decisions are made fairly and in line with lender philosophies.
Steven Carruthers, Iress’s principal consultant for mortgage lending, said: “While there continues to be a drive to automate as much as possible, a hybrid approach incorporating human interactions at key moments in the mortgage process is also proving important.
“Lenders recognise they need to continue to automate but the balance point varies between lender peer groups, and all see the value in this hybrid approach.
“Covid-19 has placed a laser focus on how lenders and their customers want to engage with each other from here. The powerful combination of technology and humans is at the heart of this.
“We’ve changed our approach to the survey this year, making it far more qualitative to reflect the subtleties and nuances in the market. This has meant we’re able to uncover trends purely quantitative surveys cannot”
