ING DIRECT, wholly owned by the banking multinational, ING Group, has a broad spectrum of understanding of technology available across the globe.
So a recent upgrade to ApplyOnline+ for ING DIRECT was a well-informed and simple decision.
“We wanted to provide brokers with the best resources and easiest means to deal with ING DIRECT and upgrading to
NextGen.Net’s ApplyOnline+ was the obvious decision,” says
Mark Woolnough, Head of Third Party Distribution.
As a branchless bank and given 90 per cent of ING DIRECT’s mortgage production comes through third parties, staying ahead of the game - in terms of technology and broker support - is paramount.
“We always listen to the broker community regarding ways to remove barriers to business growth. Our aim is to make the broker experience seamless and efficient. Upgrading to ApplyOnline+ is beneficial for both brokers and ING DIRECT,” maintains Woolnough.
Referring to the optimum service proposition in which brokers have access to a multitude of lenders on their panel in order to provide the most appropriate mortgage solutions for customers, Woolnough talks of the challenges inherent within this framework.
“One of the issues facing brokers is that they feel they should be competent and up to date with the policies and processes of their entire lender panel. However with so many lenders and the increasing burden / impacts of compliance most will concentrate on a smaller and more manageable panel.”
“ApplyOnline+ has removed many frustrations in the end-to-end process by providing speed, scale and certainty around what meets a lender’s requirements, irrespective of whether the scenario is simple or complex,” he says.
Praising the ApplyOnline+ features Woolnough singles out the dynamic supporting checklists, which allow the assessment and servicing metrics used by ING DIRECT, and all other lenders, to identify any potential problems with data entry likely to cause a request for new information and reworks.
The serviceability calculations, he says, gives brokers greater confidence and certainty about whether data meets the policy requirements and criteria of the lender. “If it doesn’t, it allows them to pinpoint an area they need to clarify with the customer.”
ApplyOnline+ gives ING DIRECT a rich and comprehensive range of options for brokers, says NextGen.Net Sales Director, Tony Carn. “Not only do they have an upgraded lodgement capability; they also have an ApplyOnline Broker Centre, which the small proportion of brokers who lodge directly to a lender can use.
“ING DIRECT also has a separate variations lodgement module, which is well supported and a great tool for customer retention, making it an easier and clearly defined process for brokers to do variations for existing customers.”
Woolnough is keen to emphasise that this is also an investment to make the bank’s processes faster, simpler and more efficient and “to give brokers the feeling that they are in control of the application process”.
“Often what gets lost in these conversations is that this is a two-way street,” he says. “Sometimes brokers feel that when banks talk about quality it’s a one-way blame game.
“Upgrading to ApplyOnline+ enables lenders to identify areas in their own processes that historically may have contributed to the inefficiencies.”
