Delays in loan approval and delivery can significantly impact a credit union’s auto financing program. Often, dealers will engage with whoever offers the first loan approval, swaying buyers to take the best offer. Therefore, the lender’s success hinges on leveraging technology to deliver rapid, efficient service.
Nearly 63% of lenders and dealers reported that it takes longer than 30 minutes to complete a sale when signing all documents manually, whereas this process takes less than 30 minutes with digital tools, according to a survey by Wolters Kluwer.
Credit unions must embrace digitization and automation to stay competitive, as consumers now expect fast, reliable, and user-friendly experiences. The efficiency of document processing automation (DPA) to enhance the buyer experience cannot be overstated, making it a crucial tool for credit unions to meet their members’ expectations.
Despite technology leaps made in nearly all facets of consumers’ lives, many credit unions are still processing indirect loans manually, leading to delays and potential applicant losses. These processes are prone to inconsistencies and make it hard to detect income inaccuracies, costing dealers and lenders. Implementing DPA can help credit unions save significantly on these costs.
DPA offers a more efficient and standardized approach. DPA speeds up loan origination, improves member and dealer experiences, and helps credit unions stay competitive. It allows staff to focus on valuable tasks, manage high volumes, and ensure smooth operations during busy periods, which enhances overall efficiency and borrower satisfaction.
What is Document Processing Automation?
Document processing automation is the use of technology to automatically handle, analyze, and manage documents within the lending process. It reduces manual tasks by employing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to extract, validate, and organize data. This improves efficiency, accuracy, and speeds up workflows in various business processes.
Key aspects of an effective DPA solution
Data capture: Automated systems with optical character recognition and machine learning algorithms can quickly and accurately extract data from documents like invoices, forms, and contracts. This reduces the need for manual data entry, cuts processing times, and minimizes errors.
Data validation: After capturing data, automated systems validate it using predefined rules or databases. They check for inconsistencies and verify income details with financial databases. This ensures data accuracy and consistency.
Workflow automation: DPA solutions can automate the movement of documents through processing, approval, and storage stages, reducing manual effort. This streamlines the lending process and reduces bottlenecks.
Compliance and security: Automated document processing ensures data follows regulations and policies. DPA solutions use security measures like encryption and access control to protect sensitive information. They also provide detailed records of data handling to support compliance audits and regulations.
Efficiency and accuracy:
DPA automates repetitive tasks, reducing errors and speeding up processing, which improves efficiency and accuracy. For example, automated systems can categorize documents, perform calculations, and generate a validation summary quickly. This frees staff to focus on more valuable tasks like enhancing member experience.Scalability: DPA can manage large volumes of documents, making it suitable for any organization. It can easily scale to meet higher demand without extra resources or costs, ensuring lenders stay efficient and provide quality service as they expand their operations.
Streamlined operations: DPA helps lenders streamline operations by extracting important data, executing funding rules, and creating custom document packages and ordering forms. This reduces the time contracts spend in transit with dealers, speeds up processing, and boosts lending efficiency. DPA enhances operations and dealer relationships, leading to business growth and happier members.
How DPA Improves Lending
By implementing DPA to validate and compare documents, credit unions can reduce time spent on stare-and-compare manual processes, which typically lead to human errors. DPA can enable lenders to catch mistakes and miscalculations on paystub evaluations, saving time and providing confidence that they are being done right.
DPA uses AI algorithms with predefined rules and guidelines to ensure impartial and consistent handling of every loan application. For example, DPA automates income calculations using check stubs and W-2s, comparing the calculated income with the stated income to ensure accuracy. Compared to manual methods, which can vary due to timing and interruptions, DPA is precise and consistent, applying objective criteria and reducing errors.
DPA can also flag a paystub as potentially fraudulent, an important feature as income and employment fraud cost auto lenders nearly $5 billion in 2021 alone. Unlike staff who must carefully check each page for hard-to-find discrepancies, DPA can flag possible fake pay stubs and documents in seconds. DPA detects fake paystubs with 99.8% accuracy, making it crucial for fighting fraud.
DPA speeds up processing and reduces human errors by extracting data from documents, digitizing it, identifying discrepancies, and flagging them for further review. For example, AI can recognize that an applicant named David also goes by Dave and that his paystubs might list a subsidiary’s name differently from his paycheck deposits. While manual methods take longer to resolve such issues, AI tools quickly consolidate and verify information, reducing delays.
DPA allows credit unions to remain competitive in an increasingly digital landscape, driving fast and efficient workflows for stronger dealer relationships and a better member experience. Adopting DPA is not just a technological upgrade but a strategic move to optimize operations and improve your bottom line.
Origence provides the lending technology solutions credit unions need to advance their total origination experience. We were established in 1994 as a credit union service organization (CUSO) and have helped credit unions process more than 88 million applications for $551 billion in funded loans. Our solutions include indirect lending, loan and account origination, auto shopping, marketing automation, lending operations and more. Origence was named the 2023 CUSO of the year by NACUSO. Learn more at www.origence.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.