How SimpleNexus Delivers a Better Mortgage Signing Experience

On the whole, modern consumers expect to have digital interactions with businesses. Borrowers are already using web- and app-based technology to purchase a range of other goods and they expect the mortgage experience to be similar.

Recent Docusign research revealed that borrowers’ attitudes toward eMortgages are overwhelmingly positive and clients are very comfortable engaging digitally. Digitizing the frustratingly thick stack of papers that borrowers have long complained about and replacing loan application forms and manual signing process with a more streamlined, customer-friendly and easy-to-complete digital package will be a significant differentiator for the modern mortgage customer. 100% of survey respondents agreed that the ability to offer borrowers an online closing experience directly impacts overall satisfaction with the mortgage loan experience.

Some lenders are not in a position to offer a 100% digital mortgage experience. That’s OK. While an all-digital experience might be the ideal endpoint, it’s an improvement to break the process down into its components and digitize the mortgage journey one step at a time.

SimpleNexus Founder and CEO Matt Hansen first recognized the opportunity to improve the home buying process when he agreed to help a family member expand his mortgage business. Hansen built a simple app over the weekend for his brother-in-law to run loan calculations and include contact info. Within weeks, other originators saw the product and requested their own version of the app to share with borrowers. It has since grown into a leading digital mortgage platform that offers a better home-buying experience for loan officers, borrowers and real estate agents.

Read on to hear from Hansen on why SimpleNexus decided to partner with Docusign to embed eSignature into their home ownership platform.

What led SimpleNexus to consider adding an e-signature solution into your platform?

We were asked by our customers to create a better electronic disclosures signing experience. We set out to solve this problem for our customers and incorporate that workflow into our home ownership platform.

Why did you choose Docusign eSignature?

We chose Docusign because eSignature is their core competency. Docusign is a trusted brand with consumers and they were willing to partner to create a great, integrated experience for our customers. 

Docusign helps customers sign faster, but it also helps our customers give more time to supporting their clients instead of chasing signatures and statuses. Docusign provides an integrated, seamless eSignature infrastructure to help customers manage their loan pipelines, order credit, run pricing, send pre-approvals, sign disclosures and execute eClosings– all on the go. Together, Docusign and SimpleNexus provide borrowers with a single sign-on experience from home search to the application, document upload, eClose and beyond for a more streamlined homeownership journey.

Describe the process of working with Docusign to build the integration. How long did it take to launch the integration? How was the experience of partnering with Docusign?

Docusign approaches partnership as a two-way street and working with Docusign was pretty pain-free. Docusign offers a robust API that allowed us to easily integrate the eSignature technology and experience into the SimpleNexus platform.

We received access to the API documentation and had technical support all along the way. We were able to complete the integration without a ton of help from Docusign. I believe our version one took about three months to complete. 

The integration makes it possible to have a single login for the borrower so they can go from applying for a loan, to sharing data and documents, right into signing without ever having to leave the technology and experience they are familiar with.

What results have you seen since launching the integration?

We reduced the time it took to execute electronic disclosures from 2.5 days to 2.7 hours on average. Also, since we are leveraging our mobile platform, we enable loan officers to be able to respond to multiple signature requests on the go. This increases their productivity because they don't have to login to their loan origination system (LOS) as they had to before to sign disclosures. Our partnership with Docusign has been a big part of our success and making a difference in the lives of our customers, their customers and our employees.

Docusign helps us separate ourselves from our competition. We’re able to really focus on people and provide the best experiences in business by serving our staff, our clients and their customers wherever they are, and however quickly and confidently they need to close business. This helps us continue to grow and provide the personal transactions and customer experience to our clients with the security they deserve. Docusign has helped our growth, becoming a leader in the industry. Docusign is a game-changer but DS+ SimpleNexus is a gamechanger 10X.

Any best practices or recommendations for other organizations considering embedding e-signature into their platforms?

Go with a proven winner in the industry. Have a clear understanding of how to incorporate the technology into your platform to drive the highest ROI for your customers. Don't be afraid to pay for a premium partner experience.

Learn more about how to become a Docusign partner and how to embed Docusign solutions into your organization’s applications.