WR Lending Saves 1.5 Hours Per Loan in its Back-Office Operation With DataTrac
Company
WR Lending, based in Granite Bay, California, is a nationwide mortgage lender with $410 million in annual mortgage originations. As a result of its rapid expansion, the company is currently on track to be named one of the fastest growing companies in Sacramento for 2009 by the Sacramento Business Journal.
Challenge
WR Lending wanted a back-office solution that would keep track of locks, underwriting and accounting on loan files in a centralized location. WR Lending was completely paper-based and wanted to eliminate as much paper as possible from its processes.
Solution
In 2003, WR Lending implemented DataTrac, Del Mar DataTrac’s (DMD’s) mortgage lending workflow automation tool. In 2005, WR implemented DataTrac EDM, DMD’s electronic document management solution and DataTrac Web, DMD’s Web-based interface to DataTrac and DataTrac EDM.
Results
WR Lending originally maintained its own paper loan documents—a tedious process that required WR staff to deal with hundreds of paper loan files every day, with manual tracking systems being used in each department. To take better control of its operations, the company selected DataTrac to centralize its loan status information.
When WR selected DataTrac, it was processing 50 loans a month. Today, because of the efficiencies provided by the system, it now handles more than 130 loans per month. With DataTrac and DataTrac EDM, each staff member has access to all loan files via their desktop. This saves WR more than 1.5 hours per loan in its back-office operation–totaling more than 195 hours per month in savings–greater than the equivalent of a full-time employee. Additionally, DataTrac integrated seamlessly with WR’s preferred front-end point-of-sale application, Calyx.
As loan volume increased following the implementation of DataTrac, WR searched for a solution that would eliminate dependency on physical loan files, making its operation more efficient overall. In 2005, WR implemented DMD’s imaging solution, DataTrac EDM, primarily to automate its shipping functionality as a way to reduce costs associated with overnight shipping of paper files.
Since 2005, DataTrac EDM has cut WR’s shipping preparation time in half and saves WR $20 per loan—a $2,600 per month savings based on its current volume of 130 loans per month. Savings are based on several key factors, including the ability for WR to cut its ship¬ping preparation time in half by eliminating the need to manually search through and stack paper files, resulting in a time savings of 20–30 minutes per loan. And, because 100 percent of investors now accept imaged files, all of WR’s loan volume is sent to investors electronically, yielding a cost-savings of $1300 on overnight shipping fees. Such efficiencies enable the company to save a combined total of more than $3900 each month.
“We attribute our growth and increase in production and profitability to DMD,” said Todd Wilson, founder and president of WR Lending. “DataTrac EDM has enabled us to save time and money by no longer having to manage paper files and deal with overnight shipping. Digital imaging has allowed our company to remain competitive while keeping costs down and saving lots of time on the back-end.”
After implementing DataTrac Web in the same year, WR immediately reduced status calls by 30 percent. The status of a loan file can now be monitored at any time—including outstanding underwriting conditions—and empowers originators to request closing docs and lock in pricing. WR’s staff now has access to loan information online rather than having to work through the investor.
“By choosing to implement DMD when we did, WR Lending put itself ahead of the technology curve,” said Wilson. “As a result, we have become much larger and more competitive while other companies are just now starting to focus on putting the technology in place to improve efficiency in their operations.”
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