Bank of America Transforms Homebuying With New Digital Mortgage Experience

Report Finds Homebuyers Ready and Waiting for “NextGen” Tools; More Comfortable With a Digital Mortgage Than Online Dating

Bank of America’s Digital Mortgage Experience™, launched this week, seamlessly guides clients through the mortgage process via the bank’s award-winning mobile banking and online platforms. With advanced application prefill capabilities, clients can apply for a mortgage through the mobile banking app or online at bankofamerica.com and immediately have many aspects of their mortgage application auto-populated, significantly reducing time and effort (see how it works here). In many cases, clients will receive a conditional approval that very same day.

“Everything we do starts and ends with clients, and the Digital Mortgage Experience is designed to make their lives simpler,” said D. Steve Boland, head of consumer lending at Bank of America. “Our new end-to-end experience empowers clients with complete convenience and control, while also offering unique access to lending experts every step of the way.”

The new experience responds to the growing demand and increasing comfort consumers have with using digital tools in every aspect of their lives – from managing finances to dating. In fact, a recent survey by Bank of America shows that consumers are actually more comfortable applying for a mortgage digitally than dating online.

The introduction of the Digital Mortgage Experience is the latest of the bank’s digital lending offerings, which include the recent broad availability of its mobile car shopping tool that enables clients to search 1 million cars in inventory from more than 2,400 auto dealers nationwide. In addition, Bank of America small business clients can apply for a Business Advantage Term Loan or Business Advantage Credit Line from the Bank of America mobile banking app and bankofamerica.com, which offer a loan product tool that helps small business clients find the right loan for their needs, and a monthly loan payment calculator. To complement these high-tech capabilities, clients can receive guidance and advice about their lending needs from the bank’s approximately 5,200 home, auto, personal and business loan officers.

“The new Digital Mortgage Experience is about making things easy, intuitive, simple and fast,” said Michelle Moore, head of digital banking at Bank of America. “It’s the latest example of our high-tech, high-touch approach to serving clients – we designed the Digital Mortgage Experience by listening to our customers, understanding their needs, and delivering the full experience to them right in our award-winning mobile app.”

Inside the experience
Beyond the flexibility to apply for a mortgage whenever, wherever and however consumers want, the Digital Mortgage Experience provides full customization throughout the process to best fit users’ unique needs, including:

• Access to lending specialists– With just one click or a phone call, clients can consult a professional lending specialist every step of the way. Lending specialists can even pick up an in-progress application and assist the client in completing it.
• Personalized loan terms– Users can consider a variety of loan options and combinations and select the features that matter most to them, including flexible monthly payments, closing costs and loan terms.
• Ability to lock interest rates – Users can lock their rate or leave it open to lock later.
• Flexible application process– Clients have the ability to save an in-progress application and return to it at a later time.
• Seamless integration with Home Loan Navigator®– Once submitted, users integrate with Home Loan Navigator to track their loan, view action items, upload documents, and review and acknowledge disclosures, all from their mobile device.

NextGen homebuying
The new Bank of America Homebuyer Insights Report shows consumers have been longing for more digital solutions in the mortgage space, as more Americans would be comfortable applying for a mortgage digitally (32 percent) than dating online (20 percent). Furthermore, 52 percent of respondents would apply or have already applied for a mortgage via mobile or online.

In its third year, the report finds technology and homebuying are becoming inseparable. Nearly all first-time buyers feel technology will play a role during every stage of homebuying, including researching (98 percent), getting a mortgage (94 percent), and negotiating and buying (92 percent). Perhaps this is because Americans are most likely to seek a homebuying experience that is efficient (64 percent), simple (59 percent) and personalized (51 percent).

The adoption of these technologies appears to be a thing of today, not tomorrow. Many consumers report they are already comfortable using emerging technologies throughout the homebuying process, specifically using a real estate app (78 percent), taking a video tour of a home (48 percent) and attending an open house using virtual reality (36 percent). Looking ahead to the next 10 years, Americans believe:

• Smart home and energy-efficient features will be standard in new construction (67 percent).
• Mortgage applications will be entirely paperless (55 percent).
• Open houses will only be through virtual reality (24 percent).
• All appraisals will be done via drones (6 percent).

To learn more about the Digital Mortgage Experience and download multimedia, visit bankofamerica.com. For additional information about the Bank of America Homebuyer Insights Report, click here.