MortgageServicing

Fiserv: Borrowers aren’t interested in text notifications

Turns out, customers prefer something else

During a session on borrower expectations at the 2018 MBA Servicing conference in Grapevine, Texas, Joe Dombrowski, director of product management for Fiserv, broke down borrower interaction data from Fiserv’s Expectations and Experiences quarterly report.

Fiserv’s report shows that six in 10 borrowers receive payment confirmation and reminders via email but only three in 10 receive text message reminders.

According to Fiserv’s data, few borrowers currently receive any texts related to their loans. Only 29% receive text payment confirmations, 27% receive payment reminders and 22% receive past due notifications and notifications related to problems processing payment. Half or more of borrowers surveyed are not interested in receiving them at all.

Dombrowski told session attendees there appears to be no overriding preference between receiving electronic versus paper copies of documents from lenders. Mobile apps are used for daily maintenance but regarding anything complex, borrowers prefer talking to a person.

Fiserv’s data also showed that borrowers are split in preference in between receiving electronic documentation versus mailed paper announcements.

But what about upcoming technology, like voice-activated devices such as Amazon’s Alexa? Generationally, 69% of Millennials use voice-activated devices and of those users, 37% voice-activated devices for financial functions.

33% of Millennial consumers are interested in voice-activated technology but the numbers for older generations decrease as the age range increases: 13% of Generation X, 7% of Baby Boomers, 5% of late Baby Boomers and just 4% of seniors are interested in the talking tech.

How do older generations adapt to the idea of personalized interaction? Dombrowski told HousingWire that older generations, such as Baby Boomers, have to be pro-actively introduced to it and that it is most successfully adopted if it is spelled out explicitly.

Dombrowski added that digital education, such as watching explanatory videos on popular platforms like YouTube, has been “very helpful” for customers to gain knowledge about the servicing process.

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