Borrowers overwhelmingly stated they would like to close in-person, despite most borrowers wanting digital enhancements to the process.
According to a national survey commissioned by Solidifi U.S. Inc., 60 percent of borrowers want a more digital experience. Over 50 percent of borrowers preferred to review documents digitally at the beginning of the process and use eSignatures somewhere in the process.
Yet, 87 percent of those surveyed said they want to close in-person.
“Twenty-twenty has been an unprecedented year. Facing record-low interest rates, historic mortgage volumes and a global pandemic, our industry continued to serve its customers in a safe and meaningful way,” Solidifi President Loren Cooke said in a release.
“This year’s survey confirmed that COVID-19 did not significantly change the borrower’s desire for human interaction and did not substantially change a borrower’s desire to close online,” Cooke said.
The Solidifi 2020 Consumer Mortgage Experience Survey surveyed over 1,000 borrowers who refinanced or purchased a home in 2019 or 2020.
“This year we expanded upon our 2019 Title Consumer Survey to include the borrowers’ experience with the two most critical consumer-facing touchpoints in their mortgage transaction, namely the appraisal and the closing,” Cooke said.
“It was important for us to explore the entire consumer experience both pre and during COVID-19 to assess the process, technology and experiential factors that ultimately drove borrower satisfaction,” Cooke said.
In 2020, 78 percent of borrowers surveyed experienced issues or delays in the closing process. That is up from 48 percent in 2019.
“Our survey highlighted personal interaction, quality and professionalism as the key drivers of borrower satisfaction. This comes as no surprise as we have continued to see that our network management platform and model for lenders accesses the right appraiser and closing agent for every transaction – regardless of whether the transaction was closed traditionally, through hybrid eClose or remote online notarization – and consistently delivers a better experience for the borrower,” Cooke said.