When you're a mortgage pro you rarely get to sit back and relax for long. There's always a change coming your way to handle. The upcoming revision of the Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA) is one of them. 

Digital mortgage discussions are everywhere! Blogs, news, and trade shows can't stop talking about them and their impact on the current and future mortgage industry. 

What are consumers saying and feeling about digital mortgages? What are the benefits and the drawbacks? We've compiled a list of the best, most up-to-date statistics available to shed more light on this important mortgage trend. 

STATISTICS TO KNOW

Millennials account for 36% of homebuyers in the market. 

More than 50% of all loan applications in the past two years included some online or mobile component.

67% of those with an existing home loan would feel comfortable completing a home loan application on a laptop or desktop computer, and 29% would be comfortable using a mobile device.

More than 30% of borrowers reported not comparison shopping for their mortgage.

If you're in mortgage lending, you probably already know that undisclosed debt is the number one cause of mortgage fraud. Unfortunately, borrowers often take out new loans or make other significant changes to their debt situation within days of closing and that puts lenders in a precarious situation. Under the terms of the Fannie Mae Loan Quality Initiative, lenders are responsible for disclosing any new debt prior to closing, and to ensure you can meet that stipulation, you need to have a undisclosed debt monitoring process as part of your mortgage lending services solutions in place.

Bankruptcies, Liens, and Judgments Are Important Data!

Lenders have historically put significant weight on the presence of public records on an applicant's credit report. And with good reason. A recent study showed that consumers with liens or judgments as part of their credit history are twice as likely to default on a loan as those with no outstanding liens or judgments. 

In 2016, the bureaus were sued multiple times because of incorrect public record data being included on their credit reports. This happens because there are 10,000-20,000 "jurisdictions" of municipal authorities. Some of these records are sealed and the parties involved are not disclosed until it goes unpaid. The defendant then must file an action in the civil courts. Even in 2018, smaller courts still don't electronically publish information. In addition, public records are frequently logged with only one identifier, so it's not hard to get them "mixed up" with people who have the same name. 

Mortgage triggering is the process that some lenders use to gain customers.

If you are a mortgage lender and haven’t experienced it yet, lucky you.

Basically, lenders purchase these ‘trigger leads’ from the bureaus or other companies.

Here is some important information Fannie Mae shared recently about mortgage fraud. These statistics are based on results of 2016 and 2017 mortgage fraud numbers.

Third Party Vendor Management is a hot topic within the mortgage industry these days. 

One of the first (and most effective) steps you can take to limit potential third-party risk, is to properly vet and reduce the vendors of your mortgage lending services to only the ones that adhere to the most stringent of compliance standards.

Wire transfer fraud is one of the most serious trends in the mortgage industry. Recent Fannie Mae and FBI fraud alerts on wire transfer fraud identify more than 14,000 instances of this fraud scheme over the last year. Under this fraud scheme “hackers” use social engineering or computer intrusion techniques to send out a change of wire transfer instructions with the “new” account information.

Is it what you hope is the last Halloween before you move into a new home? Are you dreaming of passing out candy to hungry zombies and beautiful princesses?