The connected credit union 5: Learning to lead through lending automation
Three simple words: Back to school.
They make you run and hide in your cubby like my younger brother did all through preschool, or they make you jump for joy like some of my stay-at-home mom friends who can’t wait to get back to their gym routines and childfree shopping trips.
As much as I treasure the summer months, I am a creature of habit. So I welcome the routine of the school year. I also welcome the opportunity each fall to learn something new myself and attend several industry leading conferences like the MBA’s Annual Convention and Expo.
As we are approaching the transition to fall, maybe it’s time for your credit union sharpen its pencils and take its lending practices to the head of the class.
Automate your loan process with workflow
Credit unions have been imaging for years. But capturing and storing loan documentation isn’t enough to stay on the dean’s list anymore.
By integrating with your loan origination software (LOS), enterprise content management ECM solutions not only shorten the lending cycle, but make it more cost-effective by utilizing electronic workflow.
With workflow capabilities available in ECM, lenders use rules-based processing for reviews and approvals. Timers and notifications alert users when loans need follow-up. By automatically forwarding accurate and complete documentation, credit unions drastically increase the speed of their loan processes.
Meanwhile, employees have more time to concentrate on member service.
But these workflow capabilities don’t end with the loan process. You can use workflows across your entire credit union – accounting, human resources, etc. – like we have been “studying” for the past few months in this blog series.
Use E-Signatures to quickly and securely complete loans
Today’s star students, I mean lenders, are making use of e-signature software. In lending situations, e-signature technology gives your members the ability to sign documents from any location, dramatically accelerating the lending process. Transactions also become practically error-proof, as a member applications cannot move forward without the completion of each required signature.
This is a huge time saver, as a simple missed signature can cause significant delays and even impact your credit union’s ability to collect on the loan.
Taking things a step further, you can integrate your e-signature and ECM solution. This allows you to electronically obtain signatures from people outside of your credit union by providing complete management of processes that require secure, electronic signatures in the cloud.
This is a great opportunity to earn an A+ on member service. If a member is homebound, your credit union has the ability to share this solution with them.
You are also able to manage the signature cycle within the ECM solution by automatically packaging documents and relevant signer information, sending this information securely to the e-signature vendor, and collecting the completed documents.
With the digitization of the consumer experience and today’s influx of nontraditional lenders, credit unions must continue to learn and evolve lending practices to outsmart the competition.
