An electronic supporting documents service which cuts down formal approval time for loan applications has had promising uptake by brokers so far this year.
NextGen’s Supporting Document service was launched at the end of last year, with lenders St George,
Westpac,
NAB, and Macquarie currently offering it. Five other lenders will take it up over the next couple of months.
The service provides brokers with an online dashboard of all supporting docs required for each specific loan application. The broker then takes all the docs the borrower has emailed them and drags and drops onto the screen to comply with each lender condition.
NextGen’s system ApplyOnline then files, houses and sends the document package to the lender without anything having to be faxed or emailed.
NextGen sales director Tony Carn tells
Australian Broker he is “really pleased” at the take-up rate so far, with 25% of supporting documents to applicable lenders now being lodged through the service.
To compare, when NextGen first launched electronic documents 10 years ago it took around three years to get up to a 30% usage rate, Carn says.
“We expect the usage rate to get even faster as brokers advocate the service,” he said. “I know change can be hard at first, but once brokers have invested half an hour into learning how it works, they will realise is faster and offers far more benefits for brokers and lenders because it is paperless.”
Carn says the system saves brokers time and hassle – “because in at least half of all loans submitted, lenders ask for more information” – as it provides a conclusive list of supporting documents.
“With the checklist being definitive, it means the broker can hand the file over to an administrative assistant or even outsource it, because there is clarity on what exactly is needed. This is important because it means brokers – who let’s face it, are good at what they do – drive more sales,” he says.
The system is also beneficial to lenders as it helps them keep all documents in one place, and being electronic there are no drop-outs in the delivery, so there is no reason for lenders to ‘not receive’ or ‘misplace’ paperwork.
There is no cost to use the system for the broker, but Carn says it is important to take the time to understand the technology from the start – “people shouldn’t be afraid of technology”.
NextGen runs regular webinars and is on hand to answer questions about the system, which uses OCR to warn the broker if there are tax file numbers in the documents so they can be removed before sending to make sure privacy requirements are met.
Carn believes “99%” of brokers will move to embrace the system, and went as far to say he thinks lenders will make it mandatory in the future.
NextGen has had favourable feedback so far – business development managers have commented on the lack of queries from brokers “as they have the answers at their fingertips” using the service, Carn says.
