Forgetfulness. This is something that plagues everyone at some point (some more often than others). A great example came from one of our own myCUmortgage experts. Here’s the story…
Our expert recently received a voicemail at home from his previous dry cleaner. They said he had a number of items that had been there for several months, and if he didn’t pick them up, they would donate the clothes to charity.
So, he stopped on his way home to pick up the dry cleaning. Sure enough, he had a number of shirts, a suit jacket and a pair of pants. Upon returning home, he looked at the receipt and realized he had dropped these off nearly six months ago.
But what does this have to do with mortgage lending? What could credit union mortgage lenders be forgetting? The first thing that came to mind was, “Are we forgetting to talk to our pre-approvals?”
Many originators and lenders receive a lot of pre-approvals. In some cases, it’s upwards of 50% of their purchase business. Basically, members want to know what they can qualify for and then go house shopping, so they call their credit union and get a pre-approval.
The problem is, if we forget about them, they just might forget about us. They may never buy a home or, perhaps, they are convinced by a friend or family member to go with another lender. Whatever the reason, if we forget about that member and their pre-approval, we’ve wasted our time. The credit union and, most likely, the loan originator, don’t earn any revenue or commission for applications. They get paid when the member actually borrows money. And, we satisfy our mission of helping more members become home owners when they get a mortgage loan through us.
Credit unions and loan originators need to make sure to pay attention to pre-approved members. They need to make sure to reach out occasionally and let them know you want their business and are here to help, making sure not be a pest while doing so.
Do you do this enough?
Some do, but many don’t. We see swelling loan pipelines with pre-approvals and it’s unfortunate. All it might take is just not forgetting about pre-approvals (or dry cleaning). A simple occasional phone call might be all it would take to make you a GREAT mortgage lender. Don’t forget!