Optimize Your Mortgage Pull Through Rate with the Right Mortgage CRM

Your mortgage pull through rate is perhaps the most important key performance indicator (KPI) when it comes to working your mortgage business efficiently. Keep reading to see how marketing automation delivered through the right mortgage CRM can help loan officers improve their pull through rate.

What is a mortgage pull through rate?

A mortgage pull through rate is the total number of funded loans divided by total number of applications multiplied by 100. For example, if 100 potential borrowers complete applications and 70 of those loans fund, the result is a 70% pull through rate. Conversely, this scenario results in a 30% fall out rate.

According to HousingWire, pull through rates for purchases and refinances combined typically hover around the high 60s to low 70s. Purchase applications are less likely to fall out, so their rates are usually higher than refi rates.

How do low mortgage pull through rates affect mortgage companies?

Consider the work (i.e., time and money) that goes into capturing a lead and getting them to apply. In addition to marketing expenditures to capture the prospect’s attention, there may be costs (both time and money) associated with providing a pre-approval.

Once an application is made and TRID kicks in, all hands will be on deck to complete a loan estimate within the requisite three days. Depending on how far in the process the borrower gets before jumping ship, lenders may expend hours of loan officer, processor, and underwriter time as well as costs for title searches, rate locks, and more. If a borrower exits the loan process after application, there’s no way to recover those expenses.

When are borrowers likely to fall out?

Purchase applicants have stronger pull through rates than refinance applicants, who are more likely to be in the market for a loan only to get the best interest rate.  Purchase applicants who were referred by a real estate agent are even more likely to make it to funding.

Perhaps the most important factor, however, is how far along the applicant gets in the loan process. The more time and money they’ve invested, the more likely they are to stick with the original lender. Getting applicants to the stage where they pay the appraisal fee helps prevent fall out.

What are some strategies for improving mortgage pull through rates?

A combination of providing stellar education and creating a personal connection between the loan officer and the applicant will lead to more successfully funded loans. Believe it or not, all of this – even the personal connection – can be achieved through marketing automation.

Pre-application education: An educated borrower is better equipped to make sound decisions that keep their application on track. Applicants who were likely to drop out due to credit score or cash to close troubles, for example, can learn what they need to do before they make application.

A strong mortgage CRM like Surefire will contain mortgage calculators, educational materials and automated prospect workflows to pre-qualify and prepare prospects, from credit-challenged to first-timers to trade-up and refi borrowers.

Pre-application communication is the perfect opportunity to kick off an omnichannel marketing strategy that delivers personalized messages over multiple channels and reaches prospective borrowers where they are.

In-process communication: Borrowers value transparency. If they understand what’s already happened with their loan application and what’s still to come, they will be less likely to jump ship. When a mortgage CRM is integrated with the mortgage bank’s Loan Origination Systems (LOS), milestones checked off in the LOS can trigger in-process messages to borrowers and deal team members, alerting all of the application’s status.

Post-close communication: Post-close communication is sort of an insurance policy against future fall-out. When loan officers employ an automated omnichannel marketing strategy to stay in touch with and further build relationships with their borrowers, those borrowers are more likely to return to them for their next home financing transaction.

They’ll also feel some loyalty to the loan officer and know the level of service to expect, so their applications will be more likely to go to funding. The loan officer can be more confident in the borrower’s ability to meet the application’s requirements, too.

Personal connection: While creating a personal connection through automated marketing seems counterintuitive, it is possible with the right mortgage CRM.  Here are a few examples:

• Videos recorded and distributed within the system help the borrower get to know the loan officer.
• The right communication delivered at just the right time (such as in process communications) shows the borrower the loan officer is tracking their transaction.
• Communications sent at personal milestones, such as birthdays, on the birth or adoption of a child, or at loan anniversaries, demonstrate the loan officer’s interest in the borrower as a person, not just a deal.

If you’d like to learn more about optimizing mortgage pull through rates with the help of Surefire and the industry’s leading library of mortgage marketing content, please schedule a demo today.