Powered by MOMENTUM MEDIA
Mortgage business logo

Better Choice initiates digital verification, mortgage signing enterprise

The non-bank has said the endeavour will combine two tech offerings in a bid to provide a more streamlined borrowing experience.

Better Choice Home Loans (Better Choice) has become the latest lender to steer itself towards the digital lodgement space, announcing an overhaul of its identity confirmation requirements for its Gold Suite products. 

As per the lender, the non-bank has partnered with two digital solutions to create a combined real-time mortgage signature and verification of identity (VOI) offering, one of which being the recently launched, and “first of its kind”, digital VOI and e-signing platform Livesign.

In addition, Better Choice will also be incorporating the digital mortgage signing tech KWIL into this initiative. 

According to the lender, this reconfiguration, which launched on 11 April, is focused on creating a more streamlined experience for both customers and brokers.

Better Choice director Allan Savins commented that this approach also reflects a commitment to enhancing the customer experience without introducing unnecessary risk.

“While the signing of documents electronically and conducting a digital verification of identity are not new practices in their own right, they are usually done at separate points in time, which presents significant opportunity for mortgage fraud,” Mr Savins said.  

md discover

“We were waiting for the right solution before we made the move online.”

Mr Savins later added that, due to “high value risks”, it was critical that the lender knows with “clarity and certainty that the person behind the keyboard signing the mortgage documents is who they say they are”.

The managing partner of Better Choice’s legal firm, Galilee Solicitors, Simon Duke commented that the COVID-19 pandemic had expedited a need for digitalisation in the financial services sector, but that the VOI and signing processes had previously been separate concepts. 

KWIL is powered by Galilee Solicitors.

“Better Choice Home Loans are leading the way in bringing these two processes together digitally,” Mr Duke said.  

Mr Duke added that if you asked customers if they would prefer to be involved in closing out their mortgage settlement once or twice, “they will choose once every time”, and that this solution will lead clients to “rate their lender higher on customer service as a result”.

“In fact, the entire process is done by the customer in their own time, and brokers don’t even have to worry about the VOI process at all at the closing stage,” Mr Duke said.  

“Making the whole VOI process cheaper, faster and safer has been the Holy Grail for digital mortgages – which we think we have now achieved.”

[Related: New VOI and signing tech launches]

You need to be a member to post comments. Become a member for free today!
Share this article
brokerpulse

Join Australia's most informed brokers

Do you know which lenders are providing brokers and their customers with the best service?

Use this monthly data to make informed decisions about which lenders to use. Simply contribute to the survey and we'll send you the results directly to your inbox - completely free!

brokerpulse graph

What are the main barriers to securing a mortgage at the moment?