Credit unions are finding some of their strongest ever growth in mortgage underwriting by combining high-tech outreach with a high-touch approach to service-both to their members and real estate professionals.
For the $177 million Kokomo, Ind.-based Solidarity Community Federal Credit Union and the $264 million Tampa Bay Federal Credit Union, the technology improvement has come from Mortgagebot, a mortgage applications and underwriting company.
While Tampa Bay has used Mortgagebot primarily to expand member access, in terms of both time and geography, Solidarity has employed it as a tool to reach out to both its members as well as local real estate professionals.
DeeAnna Halloway, vice president for mortgage lending for Solidarity Community, said she has gone to make presentations to significant-sized realty offices in the area and had teams of agents in to visit the CU.
"We give them lunch, make presentations about our mortgage services and include training in Mortgagebot so that a Realtor with a prospective buyer can help them use our mortgage site to get a pre-approval," Halloway said. It's as if the credit union is an extension of the Realtor's service, she added.
