United Wholesale Mortgage announced several new initiatives at the AIME Fuse conference on Saturday. In a keynote session about the future of mortgage, UWM CEO Mat Ishbia previewed Bolt, an underwriting system that he said would enable brokers to underwrite a loan in 15 minutes or less, which will go live on Monday, Sept. 27.
Available first for conventional loans, Bolt will sort the data from a loan file, validate the information, provide income verification, split out the documents needed and print an initial approval in 15 minutes or less, Ishbia said.
“Every day that a loan sits out there, the likelihood that it closes goes down,” Ishbia said. “Time kills deals; Bolt saves deals. It’s the future.”
Ishbia also touted UWM’s Appraisal Direct program, which will bring the appraisal process in-house on Oct. 1, allowing UWM to contract with appraisers directly and offering appraisers and brokers a way to bypass appraisal management companies.
“Appraisals are slowing down the business, the industry, and costing consumers a lot of money. No one is happy with what’s going on,” Ishbia said.
How technology can help underwriters work more productively
HousingWire spoke to Sage Nichols about some of the current trends and technology in mortgage underwriting and how CoreLogic’s Complete Collateral is helping underwriters work more efficiently.
Presented by: CoreLogic
Ishbia said Appraisal Direct will allow UWM to assign an appraisal in hours. Appraisers will choose to work with UWM because the company will pass along the full appraisal fee paid by the borrower and pay appraisers the next business day after a successful appraisal completion, Ishbia said.
“The best appraisers in the country will want to work with us. Appraisers don’t respond to an AMC, but if you don’t respond to us — we do 70,000 loans a month,” Ishbia said.
Ishbia said the decision to implement Appraisal Direct was not about AMCs, but that it would force AMCs to do better. “If you collect a fee when I’m not going to collect a fee, then you better be really good.”
Talking about vendors, Ishbia also singled out title companies as ripe for disruption. “If you’re not adding value for what you bring, you’re not going to be around long,” he said.
Ishbia cautioned brokers to figure out their cost of originate a loan now, when rates were low and they were making money. “The world’s changing; the cost of origination is everything,” Ishbia said.
Throughout his keynote, Ishbia said his goal is to see the broker share of the market grow from one out of every five loans to one out of every three — and higher.
“I’m more focused than ever. I’m probably more hated than ever, too, which I enjoy so that’s ok…I’m betting on you and doubling down on brokers.”
