The first quarter of 2018 was tumultuous for mortgage lenders struggling to turn a profit, resulting in many pulling back in the second quarter of the year.

As lenders navigate the worst quarter for profitability in years, many are looking for ways to enhance their efficiency.

PromonTech, a 2018 HousingWire Tech100 winner, recently announced its plan to debut an engine that could possibly do just that.

The engine, Income AI, is set to be released next week and aims to leverage augmented intelligence to learn from underwriters.

Income AI utilizes intelligent data captured through Borrower Wallet, a platform designed to provide customers the same digital mortgage solutions being offered by mega lenders, to automatically calculate qualified income using industry-standard formulas.

The company claims this will save lenders up to 20% of time and cost savings on complex credit decisions.

PromonTech Head of Sales Tony Pietrocola said the lending industry needs new solutions to navigate a costly market.

“The cost to originate a loan has doubled over the last 10 years, and mortgage lenders need truly innovative solutions to realize meaningful costs savings and productivity improvements,” Pietrocola said. “Our Income AI technology will produce accurate, reproducible, documented results and is the gateway to significantly reducing costs in the lending process.”

PromonTech’s Chief Technology Officer Michael Kolbrener said the engine will help lenders progress in a tough market.

“Income AI is the next step toward realizing the near-term opportunities for augmented intelligence,” Kolbrener stated. “PromonTech has created a platform that enriches data to be leveraged by AI and machine learning to help lenders continue to evolve to compete in the challenging market ahead.”