Monday, August 9, 2004
Online Mortgage Lending Gains Popularity
By Sara Wolfe
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The success of online mortgage lending has surprised many credit unions. The number of members willing to use the Internet for such a large financial transaction is spawning a lot of interest.
Now that the influx of mortgage applications and refinancing has slowed due
to the increase in interest rates, credit unions can focus on examining the
processes followed for originating mortgage loans. One example that some credit
unions are looking into is an online mortgage program. Some may have thought
that online lending would only be successful for consumer loans, but member
response shows that mortgage activity can be robust in the electronic channel
as well.
Callahan & Associates Survey Consortium Group recently found that 22%
of online loan originations among its credit unions are first mortgages. The
opportunity for this type of online lending is significant due to the relative
complexity of processing mortgages as well as the size of most mortgages compared
to other loans.
