Veda driving innovation for mortgage brokers
Sydney, Australia – 23 February 2017: Momentum is growing among mortgage brokers, lenders and industry aggregators for a streamlined industry standard to verify the identity of home loan customers.
Veda, Australia and New Zealand’s leading provider of consumer and commercial data and insights and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Equifax, is leading the way for the mortgage industry to transition to a standardised and digitised process through its ZipID service.
The service, which puts a secure, foolproof workflow in the hands of brokers, helps to organise and simplify the face-to-face identity verification process, ensuring consistency and convenience for all participants.
Sean Simmons, Head of ZipID, said the support that Veda’s innovative service has received demonstrates industry enthusiasm to solve a common problem that causes unnecessary delays and frustrations.
“The current ID process when applying for a home loan is outdated, and needs to be fixed. It lacks consistency, is paper heavy and not broker-friendly. This causes brokers and customers unnecessary delays and frustration and adds manual processing cost to lenders. ZipID helps make ID checks simpler, faster and more accurate for brokers, consumers and lenders,” Mr Simmons said.
The Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) reports that more than half of new residential home loans were settled by mortgage brokers in the September quarter 2016[1], and broker channel share continues to rise.
“With the majority of mortgage applications now lodged through brokers, it has become increasingly important to address the challenge of achieving ease through digital solutions, while combatting fraud and mistrust at the same time,” Mr Simmons added.
Mark Hewitt, General Manager, Sales and Operations at leading mortgage broking group AFG, said rework required due to incomplete ID capture was having a significant impact on cost and time efficiencies for brokers, lenders and, ultimately, the customer experience.
“We’re excited to see the industry getting behind a simple, effective solution to this problem, and hope to see the momentum continue so we end up with a more customer and broker friendly process,” Mr Hewitt said.
Mark Haron, Director of leading mortgage aggregator Connective, agreed that the rollout of ZipID’s services would deliver a positive impact across the board.
“Connective is always looking for innovative technologies that will improve our brokers’ efficiency and free them up to focus on what they do best – building relationships with their clients,” Mr Haron said.
ZipID will make capturing clients’ ID information faster and simpler for our 3,000-plus brokers, while still meeting all the necessary compliance requirements. It’s a win for all parties, including our lender partners,” Mr Haron added.
Veda’s ZipID mobile app, now available for iOS and Android users, allows brokers to securely capture their client’s ID information using a smart phone or tablet in one fully compliant PDF report, wherever and whenever they are.
“We know that the current range of ID policies across the mortgage lending industry means brokers are faced with a patchwork of rules and paper-heavy processes that often lead to rework and delays,” Mr Simmons said.
“Veda’s ZipID app provides a practical solution to a longstanding pain point for brokers,” Mr Simmons concluded.
Veda also offers a solution for brokers who cannot meet with their customers in person; an innovative solution where trained representatives, who have passed police background checks, use Veda’s secure workflow to complete the ID process on the lender’s behalf at the customer’s home or work.