To ease the reverse mortgage experience for the company’s borrowers and originators, Longbridge Financial is launching a consumer-facing servicing website for its customers. Through the new platform, which will be rolled out in stages and will first be available to new customers starting June 3, borrowers will be able to access their loan information via web or mobile device.
“Many of our borrowers come from the forward side, where they were accustomed to having mobile or online access to their loan information,” says Richard Burke, who leads servicing for the Mahwah, N.J-based company. “We quickly learned that when they were boarded through the subservicer, that this was one of their frequently asked questions.”
Longbridge has been working on the development of the platform for the last year, with plans to make the technology available to its $1.7 billion servicing portfolio. Through a phased approach, all customers with loans boarded currently will have access starting June 3, and the service will be rolled out in the next several months for all borrowers of loans that are originated, sold to and serviced by the company. The site has been tested among some existing borrowers.
Through the platform, borrowers will have access to loan summary details, recent transactions, answers to frequently asked questions and more; and they can also download and upload forms via the site, such as occupancy and draw requests.
“People expect to have this, so that they can check their loan balances, and download common forms they might need. Those can all be prepopulated with their data,” says Chris Mayer, Longbridge CEO. “We think originators should be able to tell customers how to access information about their loans. We expect others will do this over time, and wanted to take the lead on it.”
Longbridge has been servicing reverse mortgages since 2016 and began issuing Ginnie Mae securities in August 2017.
The company launched in 2012 and currently ranks among the top 10 reverse mortgage lenders by volume with market share of more than 4%, according to industry analysis by Reverse Market Insight. The company is also a top 5 ranked issuer of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage-Backed Securities (HMBS).
