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Galilee Solicitors has announced that its technology, developed in an effort to digitise the mortgage application-to-settlement process, is available for use by home buyers in NSW via electronic conveyancing platform PEXA.
“Up until recently, you could have an online loan application at the start and a great digital experience with PEXA at the end, but in between was this horrible paper process,” Cordell Smith, managing partner at Galilee Solicitors, said.
The law firm’s mortgage platform is designed to guide borrowers through the signing and acceptance process – including the upload of documents to satisfy loan conditions – with two-factor authentication for security.
Mr Smith said digitising the mortgage process stands to “significantly reduce human errors, which commonly lead to requisitions, and in some instances, missed or delayed settlements.”
“Anyone who has bought a property knows the sheer volume of paperwork involved,” the managing director noted.
“As many as 50 per cent of documents in loan mortgage packs are returned incomplete. This has serious consequences for buyers who may miss settlement, resulting in penalty interest and costly re-work, on top of an incredible amount of stress.”
Community-owned Gateway Bank announced earlier this year that it had successfully tested Galilee’s mortgage platform with its customers in NSW, South Australia and Victoria, as part of its efforts to transform its back office to deliver better services to customers.
Mr Smith at the time said recent changes to state legislation in NSW that enable electronic witnessing – a capability that is already available in South Australia and Victoria – could mean “a new beginning for the mortgage lending industry”.
Indeed, digital home loans is becoming increasingly prominent, with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank confirming in February the launch of its Bendigo Express “instant” while-label home loan product, facilitated by digital lending platform Tic:Toc, and Athena Home Loans entering the mortgage lending market with an entirely digital offering.
UBank, a subsidiary of National Australia Bank, has been playing in the digital mortgage space for some time, releasing new tools over time to add extra layers of digital capability.
For example, in February, UBank announced the availability of a new AI-powered digital home loan application assistant, called Mia (short for My Interactive Agent), allowing customers to converse in natural language with the AI assistant via their desktop or mobile devices at any time about their mortgage applications.
Neo-lender 86 400, which is awaiting its full banking licence from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, also promises a digitised mortgage process for borrowers and brokers when it launches in the coming months.
[Related: Impending PEXA acquisition valued at $1.6bn]
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