How can the mortgage industry break free from siloed technology?

“But because we are in an industry where, especially on the servicing side of mortgage technology, you’re talking of a minimum 15-to-30-year transaction here in the US or at least an average loan, even if it’s refinanced. I think the number is about seven years. So, there are always loans in progress and flight, just like many flights out there. And it’s very hard, it’s very hard to change kind of these technologies and the providers of these technologies.”

Another example are mortgage banks that have no incentive to improve their technology to the extent that it meets the current standards, according to Sarkar.

“So, they’re running off these legacy databases and application platforms that sound very ancient to the rest of the world,” Sarkar added. “Now, with, for example, a loan transfer, it’s so much easier to do it within these siloed systems that, in spite of hating it, people still use it. So it is really one of the downsides in the industry, and we need some radical change and some companies that look at this from the ground up to challenge the status quo on these legacy industries.”

You can watch Sarkar talk about how mortgage companies can break free from legacy platforms in the MPA TV episode, “How to overcome the ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ mentality in mortgage.”