One of the highlights of the 2009 Mortgagebot Client Conference is the unveiling of Mortgagebot’s new Benchmarks 2009 report. This bi-annual report is a comprehensive survey and analysis of the online lending trends, practices, and procedures that have been implemented at the more than 5,000 mortgage-lending Web sites that Mortgagebot maintains for its more than 900 clients nationwide.
“Once again, we’re pleased to provide this unique and insightful research to our clients,” said Mortgagebot president and CEO Scott Happ. “Our Benchmarks 2009 study analyzes the overall online lending practices of all Mortgagebot clients, and the results can help them get a sense of how effectively they’re responding to industry trends—and how well their businesses compare with their peers.”
“Our client family is made up of banks and credit unions of every size and description,” noted Happ, “so our study represents the real-world activity of a broad spectrum of lenders from coast to coast. Half of our clients have less than $500 million in assets, but half of them have more. We’re also pleased to be able to serve about 40 of America’s top 100 banking institutions, and nearly half of the country’s top 100 credit unions.”
Benchmarks 2009 is the third such study to be done by Mortgagebot, the first one having been published in 2005 and the second one in 2007. The new study is divided into several sections that present detailed data analysis on such topics as:
► Loan purpose and approval rates
► Application volumes by origination channel
► Submitted and abandoned application trends
► Online borrower activity and demographic profiles.
According to Happ, Benchmarks 2009 presents useful insights into the realm of consumer-direct, Web-based mortgage lending—insights that can help banks and credit unions sharpen the focus and direction of their lending businesses. The study reveals that for Mortgagebot’s hundreds of bank and credit-union clients:
► The online channel continues to generate more loans. Approximately 40 percent of lenders take more than 25 percent of their applications via the online channel—up from only one percent at the start of the decade.
More and more borrowers prefer the online channel. During 2008, the number of people completing online mortgage applications increased in every demographic category from 30 to 69 years of age. The “Gen X” demographic continued to outperform other groups, with nearly one in three of all online mortgage applications coming from adults in the 30 to 39-year-old bracket.
Online borrowers’ household income is increasing. Despite a challenging economy in 2008, the household income of online borrowers rose to $93,717—an increase of 10 percent compared to 2006.
► Today’s online borrowers have increasingly solid credit ratings. The average credit score of online borrowers continues to climb—rising from an average of 709 in 2006 to 732 in 2008.
Happ also noted how online disclosures are becoming more and more common. “Disclosures are a very hot topic these days,” he said,” and we’re pleased to note that in 2008 almost three-fourths of the disclosures generated by our clients were delivered online. And despite the rumor that ‘no one can get approved,’ two-thirds of all the loans that were submitted through third-party underwriting engines were approved online.”
“It’s also interesting to see how lenders are increasingly taking an integrated, multi-channel approach to mortgage applications and origination,” observed Happ. “For example, we introduced our PowerSite Pro application toolset for loan officers in 2006; and after just three years on the market, 56 percent of our client organizations have implemented PowerSite Pro—compared to three years ago, when almost none of our clients’ loan officers used advanced online application tools.”
Mortgagebot conducts its Benchmarks studies as a part of its ongoing commitment to help its clients improve their online lending success. The research is conducted, analyzed, interpreted, and published at no charge to Mortgagebot clients.
For more information, visit www.Mortgagebot.com.
