A large, Midwest mortgage wholesaler and lender saved 50 hours per month by automating and operationalizing their data with Experian’s DataArc 360™, powered by Aperture Data Studio. As one of the leading mortgage originators and servicers in the United States, the company was able to discover greater accessibility and efficiency.
The company works with a nationwide network of 8,500+ mortgage brokers and correspondent partners to put consumers front and center of the homebuying and homeownership experience.
Challenge
As a mortgage lender, the company must report accurate customer credit data by adhering to the Metro 2® credit reporting format, as created by the Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA). Metro 2 provides a standardized methodology that data furnishers must adhere to when submitting consumer credit information to the credit bureaus. It is designed to help data contributors provide quality consumer credit data and comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
Despite the lender passing every Credit Bureau Report audit, the process of extracting and checking borrower data before it could be included in the Metro 2 file was a manual task for the team, resulting in more complexity and time consumption. Their process involved spending around 65 hours per month working within spreadsheets to prepare the data for reporting. Highly susceptible to human error, this was a timely task that required specific resourcing.
The team’s goals included automating the data analysis and preparation process to save time and reduce the level of risk associated with managing and extracting data manually. Company leadership wanted to make the data more accessible within the business, not only to save time for management to review but to also ensure they had an appropriate level of visibility. The lender was looking for a solution that would drive confidence in their data processes and allow for visibility into any exceptions so that they could be fixed quickly and easily.
Solution
The company was introduced to DataArc 360™, Experian’s innovative data quality platform that can proactively help organizations adhere to the Metro 2 credit reporting format and credit reporting best practices. DataArc 360 may help to reduce disputes and errors as data files are checked against the Metro 2 rules, and any identified discrepancies are flagged for correction before they are submitted to the bureaus.
Implementing DataArc 360 allowed the lender to operationalize its data by customizing rules to automatically assess, complete, and validate their data before it is submitted. With this tool, it can now proactively identify and correct data errors, minimizing the number of consumer disputes and avoiding fines due to non-compliance. Overall, DataArc 360 enables the company to save time and reduce risk of manually maintaining and managing data throughout their existing intricate process.
Results:
For the lender, implementing DataArc 360 has made an immediate impact on the business. DataArc 360 replaced a labor intensive and manual process with an automated method, saving time, money, and reducing risk to the business.
- Time savings – Before DataArc 360, the company spent 65 hours each month on their manual process, now they spend 15 hours.
- Fraud prevention – Uncovered loans that could have been identified as fraud through a clear view of data corrections and anomalies.
- Data integrity – The lender uncovered data integrity issues linked to the original borrowers’ data input process, as well as the ability to correct and clean information, both retrospectively and proactively.
- Accessibility and visibility – The lender's management obtained immediate access to the tool and comprehensive dashboards, enabling an efficient review and quick fix prioritization by leveraging the data visualization built into the user interface.
What's next?
Now that the logic and processes are automated, the company aims to leverage DataArc 360 weekly for data reporting and analysis, enabling them to correct any identified exceptions quickly and easily. Long term, the mortgage lender plans on integrating this solution into their standard workflow, expand resourcing, and achieving their company goal to reduce credit disputes by 50%.
