How to Personalize Banking with Lending Software

Over the last couple of years, borrowers have voluntarily and not so voluntarily changed the way they interact with financial institutions. The rise of digital touchpoints is more common now than ever before and will continue to push the banking industry forward like we have never seen before. The community bank or credit union needs to provide that personal touch to stand out among its peers, and the right lending software can be your greatest instrument for success.

Traditional commercial banking requires a commercial lender to spear head all interactions. Typically, the lender has direct contact with customers through phone calls, emails, and many in-person meetings. While this will continue to be the case for the near future, “how can we do more loans with the same employee headcount” is a question that bankers are going to continue to focus on. As capacity of these lenders and those that support the lending processes grows thin, lending software can help bridge the gap and improve the overall borrower experience. Here are a couple examples:

Lending software that works for you, not just with you.

After meeting with a prospective borrower, that data needs to go somewhere and then give you actionable items for follow-up. Lending software should provide you a place to enter new information once, and then use that information in your CRM and pipeline activities. Triggers setup to simply send a welcome letter instills that extra level of personal touch to ensure the borrower knows their needs are being taken care of. This welcome letter is not some manually created document that requires more personally hours, it can and should be generated out of the lending software using the data you have already entered.

Digital transformation can make or break.

The constant back and forth with a prospect can breed frustration for both a borrower and for the lender. Capturing all the documents the financial institution needs to complete a loan request should be the job of lending software. Manual checklists that are stored as paper posted in your office or cube does not empower users when changes are made or updates to policy are needed. The right lending software will look at each individual loan request, the collateral, the type of borrower, and create the checklists for you, enabling your financial institution to focus on opportunities for growth – not reviewing outdated loan checklists. Now, the lending software is working for you instead of just being a requirement to get the deals closed. Also, given the digital transformation taking place across the world, a client portal that is always accessible by your borrowers is essential. The borrower can always choose to work face-to-face but having a digital means of communication and document retrieval is essential for closing deals more efficiently.

Creating more efficiencies for both lender and borrower.

Having the right lending software is a means to service your borrowers more effectively. It helps your lenders be more available to serve the needs of prospects and customers as well as capture all the data required to a complete application the first time. Lending software that is available to borrowers all the time, especially when they need to complete a task or communicate to the financial institution, makes it easier to do business with your bank or credit union, ultimately building trust and deepening relationships with your customers. The right lending software enables each financial institution to deliver a fantastic, personal experience to their borrowers while at the same time building “doing more with the same people.”

At Baker Hill, we’ve built our award-winning lending software to meet the evolving needs of banks and credit unions. Baker Hill NextGen® will not only help you address the challenges of today, like those we’ve outlined above, but will be with you for years to come as the banking industry continues to advance. Schedule your consultation today to learn more.

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Resource Guide: Digital Lending Resources and Strategy

Whitepaper: Are Banks and Credit Unions Really Making the Most of Technology?

Author Bio

As the Director of Solutions Consultants at Baker Hill, Adam Taylor partners with financial institutions and the Baker Hill sales team to understand client objectives and present products and services that align with their needs.