Would you apply for a car loan using an iPhone? Or a home mortgage?
Apparently, many, many consumers would. “Customer demand is why we have introduced a mobile tool,” said Bill Hultstrand, a spokesperson for Lending Solutions Inc., an Elgin, Ill., provider of lending tools and contact center services used by hundreds of institutions around the country.
As for credit union customers, Hultstrand ticked off MCU, the $1.6 billion credit union that serves municipal employees and others in New York City, Digital FCU, the $4.2 billion Massachusetts institution, and BECU, the $9.9 billion institution in Seattle. Hultstrand cautioned that none of these had necessarily signed up for the mobile application tools. “We just launched this service because enough of our customers asked us to.”
When a member logs into a credit union’s mobile website, the LSI tool recognizes the mobile device and opens the appropriate loan application for the member.
“The goal of any service enhancement we introduce is to help our credit unions close more loans,” stated Lee Kolquist, CEO at LSI, in a prepared statement “Our mobile application facilitates this goal and is extremely user-friendly on the member side.”
In an interview, Hultstrand explained that a core LSI strength is its human touch – “In about 80% of the loan applications, there is need for contact with one of our underwriters.” That happens quickly: “Usually within a few minutes of the application submission an underwriter will get in touch with any questions or requests for clarification.”
