Pressure to comply with industry regulations and standards is the greatest factor impacting eMortgage and paperless initiatives, according to 88 percent of respondents in Xerox's (NYSE: XRX) ninth annual "Path to Paperless" mortgage survey.
Survey participants represented mortgage professionals involved with loan origination, underwriting, closing, archiving, investing/funding and servicing.
With compliance demands front and center, 63 percent of respondents noted having electronic document solutions in place, compared with 55 percent in 2012, which underscores the commitment to adopting paperless technologies in the near term.
Down from 79 percent in 2012, 68 percent of respondents believe that the mortgage industry will close more than half of all loans as an eMortgage within the next seven years.
"While industry enthusiasm for eMortgages has wavered slightly, interest remains," said Ken Marlin, vice president, general manager, Xerox Mortgage Services. "In fact, 82 percent of respondents experienced an increase in eDisclosures and 32 percent noted an increase in eClosings."
Other challenges facing mortgage professionals and their eMortgage initiatives include:
Seventy-eight percent indicate that their eMortgage plans remain unaffected despite perceptions that government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) will eventually be eliminated
Seventy-four percent admit that the lack of eSignatures acceptance on Housing and Urban Development (HUD) origination has hindered their paperless plans
Seventy-four percent said their eMortgage plans have been affected due to the limited acceptance of eNotes from the secondary market
Almost all respondents – 97 percent – said that online collaboration among internal and external participants in the mortgage loan process is a key component of making an office paperless. This includes cooperation among lenders, borrowers, closing agents, investors and servicers working together through an electronic loan folder.
Xerox's BlitzDocs® intelligent cloud-based collaborative network helps simplify the mortgage process by integrating all of the providers in the loan process -- from origination to closing to servicing; supporting the 78 percent of respondents who said that a very important attribute of technology is that it works during the entire loan processing lifecycle.
