In Partnership with

Transformational tech meets mortgage industry

Mortgage professionals are embracing technology, but not all at the same time. Giving people choice is key, as is meeting partners where they are – and dreaming big

Jason Henneberry

Tango Financial

Industry experts

Grant Armstrong

Community Trust

As an eight-time National Mortgage Award winner, Jason Henneberry has been acknowledged for marketing, digital innovation, top industry service, and product of the year achievements. Jason serves as the co-founder and chief operating officer with Tango Financial, a full-service national mortgage brokerage, providing comprehensive operational support to over 40 mortgage brands, and more than $4.7 billion in mortgage origination each year.

Tango Financial

Jason Henneberry

Grant Armstrong has been working in the mortgage industry for over 20 years, driven by a passion for delivering excellence to both clients and partners. While at RBC, he specialized in finding solutions for non-traditional lending clients, partnering with some of Canada’s top alternative lenders. Grant then moved to CIBC and led the mortgage options group to record-setting sales results by focusing on training and development. In 2020, Grant joined Community Trust to lead the national sales and lending team and its expansion across Canada, supporting brokers in the alternative lending space with a focus on technology, innovation, and organizational development.

Community Trust

Grant Armstrong

“We live in a mobile, on-the-go, point-and-click, I-want-it-now world”

Jason Henneberry Tango Financial

TECHNOLOGY is the talk of the town. And for Jason Henneberry, co-founder and COO, Tango Financial, and Grant Armstrong, director of originations, Community Trust, there was plenty to talk about during a recent recording of a CMPTV Power Panel, digging in on the extent to which technology is changing how their work gets done and how they remain flexible when it comes to which tech clients and collaborators want to use. “Agents and the teams that we support, they’re increasingly comfortable with technology. They’re incorporating new technologies into their business and processes,” said Henneberry. But that’s not to say that choice isn’t an important part of the conversation. Agents, brokers, and teams “don’t want to be forced to use any specific piece of technology,” he added. “They really want to be able to have freedom and flexibility when it comes to choosing the technology that’s going to suit them best and help them achieve their overall business objectives.” Tango has more than 400 agents working on 40 teams, and it is important to Henneberry that they support agents’ choice of technology, “making sure that they have that choice,” so they can build their business the way they want to.

“Take your time. Find the tech that works for you. Go out and shop. Test drive them if you can. Challenge them. Question them”

Grant Armstrong Community Trust

“We’re particularly interested in technologies that are going to move the needle in areas that our agents have expressed are important to them,” said Henneberry. “Things like generating more business, engaging existing clients, staying top of mind with partners, referral sources – these are all priorities.” Tango partners with third-party providers to work on its technology while they stick to their core competencies. “We don’t pretend to be all things to all people,” said Henneberry. Other ways Armstrong has seen his company harness technology are through data collected on their app, conversations with their mortgage advisory team, and via Community Trust Café. They use this technology “to understand our borrowers, the demographics, where are we succeeding, where are we having some opportunities,” said Armstrong. More specifically, technology can be used to “really get to know our book,” by looking for credit risks and by creating efficiencies where a deal can be worked through a lot faster, more simply, and with less paperwork.

For Henneberry, there are multilayered ways in which technology is helping in the industry, from broker-to-broker, broker-to-client, company-to-company, and so on. It’s a complex web.

Having one central point of contact, where all of the information found there could be trusted, “might reduce a lot of friction,” said Henneberry.

For Armstrong, it is also a matter of finding out what his partners want. “Technology is very fluid. It’s also got to be accessible and usable,” Armstrong said. “Coming out with this great new technology solution that nobody wants to use is kind of pointless.” Just as a movie will have an advance screening for a test audience to see what plays well and what should be cut, Community Trust has quarterly meetings with a broker advisory council. “We’ve been talking to a lot of our partners. What do they need? What do they want? We’ve been floating some of our ideas to them,” Armstrong said. “We say, ‘This is what we are thinking of. Will you use it? Will it help you? Will it make the relationship better?’” But the deep dive for collaborative information gathering does not end there.

“A $99 online course might open up your ability to save hours and days in your workload,” said Armstrong. “Invest the time in learning it.” Henneberry has seen people bite off more than they can chew with new technology. He recommended that mortgage professionals “start small – make incremental changes,” and then stack them from there. “Just do one thing at a time.” He has a simple test to see whether you are getting the most out of your program or it’s time for a change. “Technology should be used to augment your business and make life easier. If it’s not doing that for you, you probably don’t need it.”

“We are constantly out asking our technology, industry, and business partners what they are seeing, what’s new,” Armstrong said. “What’s on their horizon? What are they trying to come up with so that we can be one of the first available to step into that marketplace?”

So how are brokers, agents, and everyone else harnessing technology – what are they using it for?

Read on

Armstrong already has a wish list for what he hopes will be the next technological innovations. “I’m hoping for more adoption as well as more ability to get direct-to-source verifications,” he said. “A lot of the underwriting processes are verifying paperwork that has been given. I want us to be able to move to more advice and solutions and less verification and admin.” Direct bank statements, automated assessments on properties, tax information, etc., are the concrete information that’s needed to make a deal, Armstrong said. Streamlining that process really would “allow the brokers to be what they really are, which is trusted advisors. I’m hoping it’s easy technology.” “Ease of information, we’d love to see it on the broker side, too,” said Henneberry, who agreed that the “heaviest part of the job is working through documentation.”

Tango is one of the largest and fastest-growing full-service brokerages in Canada, and an industry leader in technology and innovation. With over 400 agents and counting, we work hard every day to equip our team with cutting-edge technology and services to streamline the mortgage process and save our agents valuable time and hard-earned money. With ongoing education and collaboration opportunities, our ever-growing Tango community is very much like family. We believe that the best growth is the kind we do together, and with funded volumes surpassing $4.7 billion annually, we’re proud of the thriving and supportive environment we’re creating at Tango.

Find out more

Community Trust is a flexible alternative to larger, more traditional financial institutions. We have been working with our valued partners as a leader in the alternative lending space for many years. We are also leaders when it comes to service and technology, with a firm commitment to providing brokers with innovative solutions that make working with us even easier and faster, giving them all the support they need to succeed with their clients. Above all, we genuinely care about the partners we work with, about their clients, and about helping Canadians become more financially successful and secure. This underlying motivation is what drives everything we do.

Find out more

In Partnership with

Transformational tech meets mortgage industry

Mortgage professionals are embracing technology, but not all at the same time. Giving people choice is key, as is meeting partners where they are – and dreaming big

Read on

Grant Armstrong

Community Trust

Jason Henneberry

Tango Financial

Industry experts

Tango Financial

Jason Henneberry

Community Trust

Grant Armstrong

In Partnership with

Transformational tech meets mortgage industry

Mortgage professionals are embracing technology, but not all at the same time. Giving people choice is key, as is meeting partners where they are – and dreaming big

Read on

Grant Armstrong

Community Trust

Jason Henneberry

Tango Financial

Industry experts

Community Trust

Grant Armstrong

Tango Financial

Jason Hennebery

Published 26 Jun 2023

Resources

News

Specialty

Best in Mortgage

Mortgage Industry

Companies

People

Newsletter

About us

Authors

Conditions of Use

Terms & Conditions

Sitemap

RSS

News

MORTGAGE INDUSTRY

BEST IN MORTGAGE

SPECIALTY

Resources

Companies

People

Newsletter

About us

Authors

Conditions of Use

Terms & Conditions

Sitemap

RSS

News

MORTGAGE INDUSTRY

BEST IN MORTGAGE

SPECIALTY

Resources

Companies

People

Newsletter

About us

Authors

Conditions of Use

Terms & Conditions

Sitemap

RSS

Identifying partner needs

How are companies harnessing technology?

There are many options available now, but Armstrong advises taking the time to research which product works best for you, your firm, and your business atmosphere and realities. He noted that most people use about 30 percent of any available features on any given technology platform, so finding out all that your programs have to offer can really pay off.

A helping hand for partners

Trends on the horizon?

Armstrong’s parting advice to fellow industry members is to find the technology that works for them and use it, as there’s “nothing worse than investing in technology, building it out, and then just not using it.” Henneberry pointed out that “we live in a mobile, on-the-go, point-and-click, I-want-it-now world,” and the mortgage world is no different. One emerging technology that has already changed the conversation in just the last year is AI. There are fears that “AI is somehow going to replace the mortgage broker role or make our industry obsolete,” Henneberry said. “I don’t personally believe that we are at risk in any material way,” since “a mortgage is a complicated thing … Homeowners want good-quality advice, and they want to know the people behind them are helping them make the right decisions. As long as that remains true, there’s going to be a place for mortgage brokers who can rise to the occasion.”

Final advice

90% stated that digital mortgage technology is a must for a positive customer experience

70% claimed that using mortgage-lending technologies helps drastically reduce the time needed to close a loan

58% said that the availability of an online application would likely affect their lender decision – up from 50% in 2018

47% said that offering a mobile app would be a factor in borrowers’ lender selection (up from 40% in 2018.)

74% believe that technology can simplify the entire mortgage process

67% believe technology will minimize the need for data entry

According to a 2021 ICE Mortgage Technology Borrower and Lender Insights survey:

Source: ICE Mortgage Technology

Increasing dependence on mortgage technology

Artificial intelligence: 1.4% Machine learning: 0.4% Automation of certain tasks: 3.2% Cloud solutions: 27.1% Collaboration tools: 32.2% Security software tools: 28.7% Software or databases for purposes other than telework and online sales: 7.8% Digital technology to move business operations or sales online (for purposes other than teleworking or remote working): 6.0% No technology adopted or incorporated: 54.2%

According to Statistics Canada as reported in the 2021 survey, here is how the real estate and rental and leasing sector is adopting or incorporating technology:

Mortgage tech growth in Canada

Source: Statistics Canada