According to data released yesterday by Freddie Mac, mortgage rates continued to decline with the 30-year fixed-rate average reaching a record low in 10 of the past 11 weeks. The 30-year fixed-rate average fell to 3.62% — that’s down from the 4.6% from just a year ago.
How has your bank reacted to the news? Many community banks and credit unions were accustomed to offering just car, boat, and home equity loans to their customers and members for years. Now, however, those same potential borrowers are looking for residential home loans and are turning to those lenders they trust.
This has prompted many lenders to seek out bank loan software to accommodate those clients and members to provide them with their home mortgage needs. But to their surprise the search has been anything but simple.
The problem is the vendors they’ve used for years for their banking technology simply don’t offer residential mortgage software. And the few that do may offer partial functionality like a 1003 form. So bankers are forced to educate themselves on mortgage software companies and that can be a very daunting task.
When starting your search for bank loan software there are a few key things to ask. First, is the solution scalable — meaning will it grow with your organization in the good times and scale down in the lean times? Second, is it accessible from any computer from a web browser? So many solutions require certain hardware and networking solutions. Finally, what is the support system in place? Will you be trained, do they offer a live help desk, etc.
Start with these questions and you’ll be able to make better sense of what could be an overwhelming task of selecting a bank loan software.