Westpac’s Flexi First Option home loan will offer digital mortgages to select customers refinancing this year
Checking account balances at other financial institutions are preparing for tax time by tagging expenses throughout the year are among the enhancements.
A digital mortgage process will be available to home-loan refinance customers in late 2022, before becoming more broadly available in 2023, according to a market update from the bank.
Credit checks, finance verifications, and property valuations can be accomplished using third party data sources and advanced analytics.
During the update, Westpac CEO Peter King said the digital mortgage would offer “unconditional approval in as little as 10 minutes”.
Westpac’s digital mortgage will be restricted to new and existing individual customers refinancing to the firm and will have an LVR of 80 percent at first, says King
This is also one of the largest sources of activity we have today and certainly refinancing will probably pick up in the future” he added
Historically, refinancing has taken weeks and involved multiple manual processes, says Westpac consumer and business banking chief executive Chris de Bruin.
“A digital mortgage makes getting a home loan more simple and rapid for clients.”
Westpac’s mortgage business is reducing a lot of the paperwork in the process by using third-party data sources and analytics, says Richard Burton, managing director of Westpac’s mortgage business
“No more looking for pay slips, bank statements, or credit card statements—just sign up and give us your permission to work with you. That’s how we benefit our customers.”
“Westpac still performs the right checks and balances to ensure that they are lending responsibly, and this is why some customers will require assessment by the lender,” says Burton
A borrower wishing to obtain a “digital loan” must have 20% equity in the property and be on a pay-as-you-go income.
According to RateCity.com.au research director Sally Tindall, CBA and NAB have already introduced a streamlined application process after fintechs such as Tic:Toc, Nano, OneTwo Home Loans, and ubank revolutionised the sector with simple applications and quick approvals.
“For a long time, the huge banks have relied on outdated legacy technology and lengthy application processes,” says Tindall.
“The status quo is being challenged thanks to tech-savvy lenders, which have entered the game,”
“Westpac may have arrived a bit late to the party, but the bank has demonstrated that it intends to be a serious contender in the digital home loan sector.” Tindal added
Westpac said on Wednesday that it would introduce new personal finance tools to its Westpac app next quarter, following its acquisition of MoneyBrilliant last year.
Checking account balances at other banks and tagging expenses throughout the year in preparation for tax time are two of the enhancements.
Banks are offering more paperless home loan programmes, as AMP Bank accelerates the rollout of its Nano platform and CBA launches Unloan.
