IRESS is currently signing up lenders to Lender Connect, ‘middleware’ which connects a broker’s CRM system to a lender’s portal.
The mortgage journey will be fully connected by the end of the year as technology providers link up broker and lender systems, Andrew Simon(pictured)of software provider IRESS has predicted.
IRESS is currently signing up lenders to Lender Connect, ‘middleware’ which connects a broker’s CRM system to a lender’s portal.
This will allow data to pass from a broker’s system to a lender’s without the need to rekey data; then brokers can submit a case and get a decision in principle on a lender's system.
Users of XPLAN Mortgage, IRESS's CRM software, will benefit from Lender Connect as part of the proposition.The first lender is expected to sign up in the Summer, while multiple lenders should be on board by the year end.
Andrew Simon, IRESS’s executive general manager, product, said: “Twenty7Tec, Mortgage Brain, IRESS have been talking about how tech can deliver a streamlined end-to-end process and connect it up.
“This is the year that that is going to happen; in the latter half of 2019 that two-way connectivity will be in place.”
He said other software houses are also looking to connect the mortgage journey but have a different model, whereby the DIP is completed on an external piece of software rather than on a lender’s system.
Lender Connect is already connected to XPLAN Mortgage and IRESS's lender software MSO, which is currently used by Atom Bank and TSB. However the plan is for it to connect up other broker and lender systems.
Simon has been talking to distributors and lenders about the development since September, while he has been running quarterly lender distribution forums since December.
Client portal
IRESS is also working on a client portal, which will be added to XPLAN Mortgage in the first half of this year.
This will allow customers to upload documents like bank statements, passports and bills, as well as sign documents electronically.
Simon added: “We’re investing in our product suite to make it easier or mortgage advisers to write business.
“One way is with straight through processing with Lender Connect.
“And another is secure, efficient communication between the broker and consumer using the client portal.”
