‘Don’t forget the personal touch’, finds PwC home lending study
- According to a new survey, consumers are open to digital lenders.
- But importantly, they want personal service to go along with the technology.
Mortgage lenders better not forget about personal service in the digital age. According to a recent study on home lending by PwC, borrowers are excited about the prospect of home lending options from tech firms, but don’t want to sacrifice personal service as a result.
Something simple, like a phone call after closing, can make a huge deal to a recent borrower. “Our survey found a direct correlation between a check-in call upon closing and a buyer’s likelihood to reuse and recommend a lender,” PwC concluded. As a result, 52 percent of borrowers who received a check-in call after closing said they would be very likely to reuse that same lender, compared to only 23 percent of borrowers who did not receive a check-in call post-closing.
Digital lenders are more likely to communicate in more impersonal ways, such as email instead of phone calls. While this makes it easy and fast for anyone to apply for and obtain a mortgage, it takes away the personal experience borrowers demand.
Consumers want to borrow from tech firms
Consumers need a personal touch from their lenders, yet still are interested in borrowing from technology companies. 42 percent of recent and prospective homebuyers would support a technology company as their mortgage provider, according to the study.
More than half of respondents aged 18-34 are open to using voice assistants, like Google Home and Amazon Alexa, during the mortgage process. Quicken Loans customers can already make a mortgage payment using Amazon Alexa, so it isn’t too far fetched to think the mortgage application process will migrate to these devices in the near future.
The best of both worlds
As consumers shift to digital mortgage lending options, it doesn’t eliminate the need for lenders to provide a personal service. This could open the door for local lenders who take the leap into digital as the perfect compromise. Big core providers like Fiserv are starting to help brick-and-mortar lenders, like credit unions, move to the cloud. This brings local lenders, which have a superior track record of customer service, closer to their tech counterparts in the digital services they provide.