Improving the customer experience, integrating new technologies, evolving the loan manufacturing process to better insulate itself from fluctuations in volume, these are some of the issues that have preoccupied mortgage executives so far in 2021. But the main concern related to the industry would involve the ability of executives and companies to retain their current workforce, according to an annual survey by the independent cooperative network of the mortgage industry, The Mortgage Collaborative. The president of the collaboration says it’s a bit unexpected.

“After a frenzy of hiring lenders to handle the historic volumes of last year, we expected staffing to be one of the top concerns this year, but to rank number one. Lenders’ concerns were really a surprise, ”said Rich Swerbinsky, COO and President of TMC. “As the ‘hire and fire cycle’ has come to define how lenders typically deal with peaks and troughs in origination volume, lenders are genuinely concerned about the human impact of this strategy, as well. only operational impact and financial effects, and lenders seem ready to adopt alternative means to better manage volume fluctuations. This fits perfectly with the general theme we observed in the list of top lender concerns about modernizing the generally inefficient mortgage manufacturing process.

Here is the full list of concerns, as determined by 598 management responses from the co-op’s 234 lending members.

1. Retention of existing staff

2. Improve the customer experience at the point of sale

3. Scaling up and modernizing the loan manufacturing process to better insulate itself from volume fluctuations

4. Measure operations and employee productivity

5. Implementation and integration of new technologies

6. Fair loan compliance

The latter, fair loan compliance, falls outside of this general theme, Swerbinsky says, but it is understandable.

“With the Biden administration and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection telegraphing their collective intention to make housing equity a top regulatory priority, along with restoring the disparate impact standard, our lender members are naturally focus on ensuring that their policies and procedures are up to par. scratch to ensure compliance with existing fair loan laws.

Where do these answers mainly come from? In terms of the range of institutions, 53.7% of survey respondents work for an independent mortgage lender and 46.3% for a custodian lender (i.e. banks and credit unions).

To request the full report, visit The Mortgage Collaborative.com/press.