Mortgage origination is the process of creating a mortgage loan and this process involves all the stages from the initial application to the final approval and funding of the loan.
The mortgage origination process is a critical step in the home buying process, as it helps to ensure that the borrower has the ability to repay the loan and that the property being purchased is good collateral.
Thus, it is important both for lenders and buyers that the mortgage origination process is as fast and accurate as possible.
In this post, we’ll provide a detailed overview of mortgage origination, the steps involved, and how OCR technology and Nanonets can help improve this process.
What is mortgage origination?
Mortgage origination is the process by which a borrower applies for a new home loan and a lender processes that application. This can include various stages such as pre-approval, application, underwriting, and closing.
The process involves an origination fee also which is charged by the lender for processing the loan, which is typically a percentage of the total loan amount.
The process of origination aims to assess the creditworthiness of the borrower, and the value and condition of the property being purchased. Once the loan is originated and the paperwork is completed, the funds are disbursed and the mortgage process is completed.
Automate your mortgage processing, underwriting, fraud detection, bank reconciliations or accounting processes with a ready-to-use custom workflow.
Requirements for Mortgage Loan Origination
There are a number of requirements that must be met in order to successfully originate a mortgage loan. It's important to note that these can vary from lender to lender and can also be affected by the type of loan being sought (e.g. FHA, VA, conventional loan) or the location of the property.
Additionally, new regulations and laws can also affect the requirements.
Here are some of the requirements:
- Credit and income verification: Lenders will typically check the borrower's credit score and credit history to determine their creditworthiness. This includes checking for bankruptcies, foreclosures, and other negative credit events. Lenders will also verify the borrower's income to ensure that they have enough money to make the monthly mortgage payments.
- Review of employment history: Lenders will review the borrower's employment history to ensure that they have a stable source of income and are likely to continue to have one. This includes verifying the borrower's current employment and income, as well as any previous employment.
- Property evaluation: Lenders will evaluate the property being purchased to determine its value and ensure that it meets the lender's guidelines. This includes a property inspection and an appraisal, which will determine the value of the property and ensure that it meets local building codes and safety standards.
- Down payment: Many lenders require borrowers to make a down payment, which is a percentage of the purchase price of the property that must be paid upfront. The down payment is used as collateral and reduces the risk for the lender. Typically, borrowers are required to make a down payment of between 3% and 20% of the purchase price.
- Proof of insurance: Lenders will typically require borrowers to have insurance on the property, to protect against damage or loss. This may include homeowners insurance, mortgage insurance, and flood insurance, depending on the location of the property and the lender's guidelines.
- Other documentation: Lenders may require other documentation, such as tax returns, pay stubs, bank statements, and proof of assets, to verify the borrower's financial information and ensure that they have the ability to repay the loan.
Steps in the Mortgage Loan Origination Process
Mortgage origination is the process of creating a new mortgage loan.
This involves several steps starting from the pre-qualification phase, where the borrower provides their financial information to the lender.
The lender then uses that information to determine how much the borrower can afford to borrow and on what terms.
This detailed process includes the following steps, but is not limited to them.
- Application: The borrower submits an application, which includes personal and financial information, to the lender.
- Pre-approval: The lender reviews the borrower's information and provides a pre-approval, which indicates that the borrower is likely to be approved for a loan.
- Property evaluation: The lender evaluates the property being purchased to determine its value and ensure that it meets the lender's guidelines.
- Underwriting: The lender reviews all of the information provided by the borrower and makes a final decision on whether to approve the loan.
- Closing: Once the loan is approved, the closing process begins, which includes signing the loan documents and transferring ownership of the property.
Automate your mortgage processing, underwriting, fraud detection, bank reconciliations or accounting processes with a ready-to-use custom workflow.
How OCR and Nanonets can help with mortgage loan origination
One of the most time-consuming and error-prone steps in the mortgage origination process is the manual data entry and review of the borrower's information and documentation. This is where OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and Nanonets can help.
OCR is a technology that allows computers to recognize and extract text from images, such as scanned documents. Nanonets is an AI-based OCR platform that can be trained to automatically classify and extract information from these images or documents, such as personal information, income, and employment history.
By using OCR and Nanonets to automate mortgage processing or underwriting, lenders can significantly reduce the time and errors associated with manual data entry and review. Check out Nanonets' bank statement to JSON workflow.
Lenders can automate the underwriting process, including reviewing the borrower's information and determining their creditworthiness. This can include analyzing the borrower's credit score, income, and employment history, as well as the property's value and condition.
Lenders can also automate the process of managing and storing documents, such as mortgage applications and supporting documentation. This can include automatically organizing and storing documents, as well as ensuring that all required documentation is received and reviewed.
Furthermore, machine learning models can be trained to identify patterns and anomalies in the data, which can indicate potential fraud. This can include identifying inconsistencies in the borrower's information, such as a mismatched name or address, or suspicious activity on the property, such as multiple applications for the same property.
All of the above steps can help save time and reduce errors, as well as improve compliance with regulations. Automated underwriting can thus provide faster loan approvals, lower processing costs, risks and errors, leading to improved business and customer experience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, mortgage origination is a critical step in the home-buying process and involves a number of requirements and steps.
By using OCR and Nanonets, lenders can automate mortgage processing and underwriting, which can lead to faster loan approvals, and lower processing costs, risks, and errors, leading to improved overall business and customer experience. Get started <here>.
