The Road to Purchase Market Success Runs Through Borrower Credit Score Potential

A new guide from CreditXpert outlines a new strategy for lenders. 

CreditXpert, the mortgage credit score improvement platform, has released a new guide for mortgage lenders that highlights a new strategy for winning more purchase money mortgage business. With the refinance business expected to account for less than a quarter of all loan originations in 2022, now is the time for lenders to carefully consider their purchase loan origination strategy. 

“Today’s home loan borrower is much more sophisticated than borrowers of the past and they expect to find a lender who leverages technology and works to earn their trust,” said CreditXpert CEO Jim Hemmer. “Borrowers know the strength of their credit score will determine how much they pay for a new home loan.  What borrowers don’t know is how to improve it so they qualify for the best rate and terms. By starting with that conversation, lenders will win their trust and their business.”  

In this new guide, CreditXpert lays out what they call a Credit First strategy.  Lenders that have embraced a Credit First strategy look first at the borrower’s credit score to determine if it can be improved. If it can, the lender works with the borrower to help them qualify for a better offer or meet the requirements for a better loan program. If the borrower doesn’t have improvement potential, the lender still earns the borrower’s trust by bringing more transparency to credit scores. 

This is a shift from our industry’s normal operating procedure. When a borrower comes to a lender for a loan, one of the first questions asked is, “Do they qualify?” With this new strategy, lenders start by asking, “Does this borrower qualify for the best rate and terms?” 

The Credit First guide is grounded in best practices from top lenders, a recent consumer survey and insights from CreditXpert’s analysis of more than 750 million credit inquiries.  The company’s recent consumer survey sought to understand how recent mortgage borrowers viewed the application process.  This survey highlighted the importance of rate in choosing a lender, revealed that borrowers are willing to take steps to improve their credit and strongly believe that credit score improvement potential should be made available to all applications.   

“We analyzed more than 23 million credit inquiries in 2020 alone and found that 67% of applicants could improve their score by at least 20 points, even those with scores in the mid-to-upper 700 range,” Hemmer said. “Our new guide shows lenders how to use this information as part of a strategy that wins borrower trust, resulting in better pull-through, more referral business and even customer loyalty.” 

You can download a copy of the guide starting today at www.creditxpert.com/CreditFirst.