customer stories
Customer Stories
Pinnacle Bank cuts complex self-employed and rental income analysis from hours to 30 minutes with Ocrolus
Mortgage | Classify, Analyze, Inspect
Pinnacle Bank is a family-owned and managed bank, serving customers at 68 locations across Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. Pinnacle Bank turned to Ocrolus, a vertical AI workflow and analytics platform for lenders, to take the manual document and income work out of its mortgage process inside Encompass.
Today, complex self-employed and rental income files that once consumed hours are completed in 30 minutes at most, and every role on the file works from the same income number.
Challenge
Income was calculated three separate times on every file, by the loan officer, the processor and the underwriter, and the three numbers rarely matched.
Solution
Ocrolus sorts and classifies documents into the Encompass eFolder on arrival and calculates income once, so every role downstream works from the same number.
Result
- Hours to 30 minutes: self-employed and rental income files now take 30 minutes at most
- 30 minutes saved per file: less document cleanup for processors and underwriters
- Three income reviews to one number: loan officers, processors and underwriters work from the same calculation
- Smoother pre-approval to closing: loan officers issue pre-approval letters backed by a full income analysis
- Scale without hiring: Pinnacle Bank expects to absorb the next volume spike without adding headcount
Challenge: Three people, three different income qualification results
Before Ocrolus, income on a Pinnacle Bank file was calculated three separate times. The loan officer reviewed the pre-approval file and took a first pass at qualifying income. A processor picked the file up later and tried to make sense of what the loan officer had written in the notes, then analyzed it again. The underwriting team reviewed the income a third time for the final qualifying number.
“Most of the time income numbers differ [between loan officers, processors and underwriters],” said Jesse Ostdiek, Senior Vice President and Secondary Mortgage Market Manager at Pinnacle Bank. “Before Ocrolus, our lenders, processors and underwriters were spending 30 minutes to a couple hours just reviewing documents and trying to extrapolate what the qualifying income was.”
Document organization added its own challenge. Files arrived in the eFolder labeled inconsistently, and the work of finding and fixing them landed on the people least able to absorb it.
“Our processors and underwriters would have to go in and re-clean up what people had classified in wrong areas,” said Lexi McIlnay, Encompass Administrator at Pinnacle Bank.
Solution: Documents sorted at intake, income calculated once
Pinnacle Bank requests documents from borrowers directly out of the Encompass eFolder, linked to an Ocrolus processing folder. When the borrower returns the documents, Ocrolus classifies and labels them automatically, so the file is organized before anyone opens it.
“Ocrolus is listening, organizing, classifying, labeling,” Ostdiek said. “When a lender gets into the file, it’s already sorted, organized and ready for review. That’s been a significant time saver for us.”
The second lift is income. Ocrolus analyzes and calculates qualifying income upfront, showing the source and the math behind every number, and the underwriter makes the final call.
“Ocrolus is a thought partner. It’s a mini underwriter the loan officer has access to,” Ostdiek said. “When they’re doing a pre-approval, it gives them extra confidence to issue the pre-approval letter and know they’re going to be able to move from pre-approval to closing easier.”
Doing that work at pre-approval moves it to the front of the file. The analysis that used to happen three times and land on a different number each time now happens once, and everyone downstream inherits it instead of starting over.
“Once our processors and underwriters get into the file, Ocrolus allows them to speed up their process because those numbers are already calculated and they’re staying consistent through the file,” Ostdiek said.
Pinnacle Bank is in the early stages of rolling out Inspect, which compares borrower documents against the 1003 and flags discrepancies before an underwriter touches the file.
“Now we’re starting to use Inspect to review and align things so it’s cleaner throughout the file,” Ostdiek said. “We’re just getting that up and running.”
Result: One income number, calculated in minutes instead of hours
The files that used to consume the most underwriting time are the ones that changed the most.
“Self-employed borrowers with net cash flow from rentals, those are significant time lifts for us in those files; we’re spending hours and hours to calculate. Now we’re able to cut that down to 30 minutes at the most,” Ostdiek said.
Classification delivered a second, quieter return. McIlnay estimates 30 minutes saved per file on cleanup alone, and the savings compound downstream.
“Not only does Ocrolus save the lender time up front, but it also saves processors and underwriters time in the sense that they’re not having to go find where that lender’s head was at that day,” Ostdiek said. “A lot of time spent organizing, labeling, moving and finding is eliminated now that we have this consistent process.”
With the process rebuilt during a quieter stretch in the market, Pinnacle Bank is positioned for the next volume swing.
“We’re confident Ocrolus is going to help us increase our numbers without adding additional staff members,” Ostdiek said.
Key outcomes:
- Self-employed and rental income files cut from hours to 30 minutes at most
- 30 minutes saved per file on document classification and cleanup
- One qualifying income number carried consistently from pre-approval through closing
- Loan officers issuing pre-approvals with a full income analysis behind them
- Processors and underwriters spending far less time re-sorting and re-labeling in the eFolder
- Process rebuilt end to end, with the team expecting to scale without added headcount
Why Pinnacle Bank recommends Ocrolus
After 23 years in the business, Ostdiek has broken his own rule about keeping a competitive advantage quiet.
“We’re competitive in this business, and don’t like to let secrets get out of the bag. It’s your secret sauce. But Ocrolus is one that I’ve shared with people,” he said. “I’ve been so impressed with Ocrolus that I need to share it industry-wide.”
It wasn’t just the product that sold him. It was the people at Ocrolus who made the real difference.
“At every opportunity that I dealt with somebody from Ocrolus, they’ve exceeded expectations right from the beginning throughout the process. Each person that we’ve come in contact with is an expert in the field and knows what they’re talking about,” he said. “For me, that’s been a breath of fresh air, because with other software and vendors, that’s a rarity.”
McIlnay points to the pace of product updates: “The speed of Ocrolus updates is really impressive. It’s not like six months down the road we’ve made this one change. It’s in two weeks, we’ve made this change and it’s so much better.”
"At every opportunity that I dealt with somebody from Ocrolus, they’ve exceeded expectations right from the beginning throughout the process. Each person that we’ve come in contact with is an expert in the field and knows what they’re talking about."
Jesse Ostdiek, Senior Vice President and Secondary Mortgage Market Manager at Pinnacle Bank
