Lima One exec is bringing all the tech pieces together

“It’s the ability to scale and originate loans and service loans as efficiently as possible,” Whaley said.

That focus comes with a doubling down on customer experience.

“Our main point of competition is the customer experience. We’re not a bricks and mortar shop. We don’t have branches everywhere like you may find with some conventional lenders,” Whaley said. “The experience is really all through digital channels and so the digital experience with our whole lending platform is a key point of competition. It’s inseparable from customer experience, which is inseparable from our loan products.”

Weaving things together

Looking at the broader industry, Whaley sees mortgage as having succeeded over the last few years bringing in new technologies that address specific tasks such as verification of assets. Companies are spending more money on these individual tech tools and platforms, but there isn’t yet a clear way to integrate them all together for a seamless experience from start to finish, he said, citing data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

He said that Lima One, which is more specialized, has done well establishing process and integration competencies, but the broader industry must find ways to link all the tech improvements together.