customer stories
Mortgage Financial Services cuts loan file time 50% with Ocrolus
Customer Stories
Mortgage Financial Services cuts loan file time 50% with Ocrolus
Mortgage | Classify, Analyze, Inspect and Detect
Mortgage Financial Services is an independent mortgage company licensed in 10 states. The company turned to Ocrolus, a vertical AI workflow and analytics platform for lenders, to classify documents and calculate complex income in its wholesale channel, surface discrepancies and turn them into written conditions, and flag documents that show signs of alteration.
Challenge
As its wholesale channel grew, Mortgage Financial Services needed a faster, more consistent way to sort 100-page broker packages and calculate complex income without adding underwriting headcount.
Solution
Ocrolus was made to be a compulsory part of the workflow that classifies documents, calculates complex income, surfaces discrepancies and conditions, and flags documents that show signs of alteration, all inside the team's Encompass workflow.
Result
• 50% less time per loan file: the largest gains on the most complex income files
• Under 30 minutes: to sort a broker package and complete complex income analysis
• 1 standard company-wide income calculation: in place of multiple spreadsheets
• Required on every loan file: one consistent process
• Scale without hiring: capacity ready for increased volume cycles
Challenge: Wholesale growth called for a faster path through 100-page packages
In wholesale, speed is the product. Brokers send files to the lender that answers fastest, and at Mortgage Financial Services that answer sat behind manual work that grew with every submission.
"Anybody that does wholesale understands it's a very unique business," said Kelly Haney, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Capital Markets and Technology at Mortgage Financial Services. "That market has just blown up the last several years. Brokers typically are uploading 100-page PDFs."
Those packages arrive as a single file. Before anything could reach underwriting, someone had to open it in Adobe, split it apart and organize the documents by hand, one loan at a time.
"From the initial sorting of the package, it took anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the size," Haney said.
Income analysis carried its own weight. Complex borrowers arrive with two and three sets of tax returns, and the method for calculating them varied from desk to desk.
"We had multiple different Excel spreadsheets running around the office," Haney said.
Both problems landed on the most expensive people in the building. The team wanted one answer per file, produced the same way every time, with underwriters reviewing work instead of assembling it.
Solution: One standard, required on all loan files
What put Ocrolus in front of the team, and what kept it there, was the chance to test the platform on the files they actually see.
"Ocrolus allowed us to test real data, not just files that are designed perfectly," Haney said. "I uploaded some of the most complicated files up front."
Implementation moved quickly, and the connection into the team's loan origination system required no workarounds.
"The integration between the LOS, Encompass, was very seamless," Haney said. "It was very smooth, and we're very excited to be on it where we are today."
Then came the decision that shaped adoption. Because the platform had already proven itself on the company's hardest files, leadership made Ocrolus a required step rather than an optional tool.
"We made the decision that Ocrolus was not an optional piece," Haney said. "You have to run through Ocrolus and have one form of an income calculation being used."
The case for requiring it came down to consistency and the cost of a miss. An underwriter is one of the most expensive roles in the shop, and every manual step is a place where something can slip.
"Even your highest FTE cost, like underwriters, can make mistakes," Haney said. "Ocrolus becomes your second set of eyes."
Ocrolus Inspect compares borrower documents against the loan application and credit report data in Encompass, and flags discrepancies before underwriting. Automated conditions then write guideline-cited conditions underwriters review without switching tools.
"Inspect is catching stuff that could get missed by the person," Haney said. "One of the big things that we love is the buy now, pay later loans that Inspect calls out."
Document integrity checks also run in Ocrolus. Ocrolus Detect flags documents that show signs of alteration so the team knows when to validate a file more closely.
"The other piece that is unique that we really like is the fraud-catching tool for when documents have been altered," Haney said.
Result: 50% less time per loan file, and capacity for the next cycle
The change shows up first at the front of the file, where the manual work used to sit.
"We've seen tremendous turn time improvement of the package, sorting it as well as doing the complicated income, being done in less than 30 minutes," Haney said. "We're able to get answers out quickly."
"We spend a good 50% less time per loan file with Ocrolus," he added.
The workflow itself looks different now. Sorting happens automatically, and underwriters step in to verify rather than to build.
"The documents are sorted and then the income is validated in Ocrolus," Haney said. "If there's a discrepancy, having the ability to make that correction is amazing."
Ocrolus generates conditions from borrower documents, AUS findings and Selling Guide requirements, written the way an underwriter would write them.
"It's doing a really good job of capturing data, saying, this deposit for $6,000 exceeds the threshold that AUS requires," Haney said. "My underwriting manager was really excited about it. It was very detailed and to the point."
Moving that work forward changes when problems surface, and it gives the team room to grow into the next cycle.
"Ocrolus moves a lot of your underwriting tasks up front so you don't have as many surprises on day 20 of a 30-day transaction," Haney said. "Many times in our business we get busy and we just hire. Ocrolus helps us scale when business picks up."
Key outcomes:
- 50% less time per loan file, with the biggest gains on the most complex income files
- Less than 30 minutes to sort a broker package and complete complex income analysis
- One company-wide income calculation standard instead of multiple spreadsheets
- Discrepancies, undisclosed obligations and signs of document alteration surfaced before underwriting
- Underwriting work moved to the front of a 30-day transaction rather than day 20
- Capacity to scale with volume without adding headcount
Why Mortgage Financial Services recommends Ocrolus
For Haney, the onboarding experience set the tone for everything that followed. The Ocrolus team started with how Mortgage Financial Services actually works rather than how the platform is usually configured.
"The Ocrolus onboarding team treated us as a partner and asked the right questions," Haney said. "They dove into our workflow. It wasn't a case of use it this way, or it doesn't work. Ocrolus has become an extension of our team."
That relationship is why he is watching what comes next.
"I'm really excited to see where Ocrolus goes down the road," Haney said. "The direction given to us and support from Ocrolus has been amazing."
"We made the decision that Ocrolus was not an optional piece. Even your highest FTE cost, like underwriters, can make mistakes. Ocrolus becomes your second set of eyes."
Kelly Haney, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Capital Markets and Technology at Mortgage Financial Services
