Executive Summary
Increasingly, presence of a mortgage is a key indicator of primary financial institution (PFI) status for credit unions. However, Net Promoter Score (NPS)–a key measurement of member loyalty and likelihood to refer–when measured across a wide variety of credit unions is lowest for members who have just completed a mortgage. A lengthy process full of unknowns may lead to a less-than-stellar experience.
Project History and Market Trends
- Filene i3 innovators developed a unique solution to address gaps in mortgage loan satisfaction inspired by a famous online pizza tracker
- A rapid prototype was developed at Air Academy FCU to proactively give members mortgage underwriting updates at key milestones
- Initial testing took place over six weeks
- Average number of inbound mortgage-related calls per member declined 28% (from 6.1 to 4.4 calls)
- 48% of mortgage applicants used HomEase during initial testing
- Intrigued, Filene selected HomEase for further testing in our Prototype Lab
What are the credit union implications?
- Member satisfaction was lower for members who used HomEase compared to those who did not use the system. Satisfaction should improve with more variety in the types and ordering of milestone alerts to better reflect individual credit union mortgage operations
- Allow credit unions to incorporate their individual brand to better connect HomEase with their identity
- Offer additional information with relevant updates, such as the name and phone number of the appraiser that will visit
- Integrate updates with the loan origination system to eliminate manual work and the risk of errors or omissions by credit union employees