Document Imaging return on Investment (ROI) for Mortgage Brokers

Why have a Document Imaging System?

Large Corporations have migrated to electronic document imaging systems. Because they understand the need to increase employee efficiency. These corporations have teams of specialists evaluating their current work flow to find ways to increase productivity. The concept is simple, a few minutes per day adds up quickly. In a Mortgage Brokers Office it does not take a team of specialists to find ways to increase efficiency.

What does inefficiency cost your brokerage office?

One way is to calculate how efficient your office is.
Begin by taking your average number of closed loans in a month and multiply it by the average gross profit on a loan.
6 (loans) x $2800.00 (per loan) is = $16,800.00
Divide this by the average weeks in a month 4.16
$16,800.00 / 4.16 = $4032.00 Gross Profit Per Week
Divide by 5 days in a week
$4032.00 / 5 = $806.40 Gross Profit Per Day
Divide by 8 hours in a day
$806.40 / 8 = $100.80 Gross Profit Per Hour
Divide by 60 minutes in an hour
$100.80 / 60 = 1.68 Gross Profit Per Minute
Saving 10 minutes a day generates = $16.80
In a week it generates $84.00
In a month $349.44

In a year $4207.00!

What does not having a Document Imaging System cost?

There is no easy way to calculate what the true cost of not having a document imaging system is. However it is relativity easy to find ways where it will save wasted time.

For instance, if a loan officer files manually it can eliminate trips to the file cabinet or a trip to the processing department to get a file. Unless the loan officer has made a copy of a client's file, when the processing department has it he doesn't. The client calls, what does the loan officer do? Without a copy he has one choice, go to the processing department and get the file. If it is being processed, who has it, are they working on it now, is it in the inbox, this all takes time. If a processor is asked for the file both peoples time are being wasted. Some loan officers make a copy for themselves before they turn it over to processing. If the loan officer has a copy of the file, how much time did they waste making it? It is relatively easy to see, even in a small brokerage office, how always having a copy of a client's file could save a loan officer a few minutes or more each day.

With a document imaging system, the file is available to you, the processor and the manager all without leaving your desk's.

Wasted time can also include trips to the fax machine. Why print it, it comes in electronically, file it electronically. Company's for the most part have three choices when it comes to facsimiles, print them, purchase a service to route them to a Loan Officer's desktop, or receive them electronically and then route them electronically to the loan officer. The first option is the most expensive as someone has to leave their desk to move the printed fax to the loan officer's desk. The second option is better, the loan officer has the file instantly. But what do they do with it then? Two choices, print it or file it electronically. Printing it means waiting for it to print, going to the printer to get it and then filing it. Wasted time! Filing it electronically makes more sense. But without a system in place designed to handle it, again more time wasted. For instance a client faxes back their application, income docs and fee agreement and the loan officer receives the fax as a PDF email attachment. What do they do? Create a file folder for the client, save the PDF in the folder and name it something meaningful to them. Seems like this would work well, but if the processor needs the files, how do they know what is in each file the loan officer saved. If the file is not complete how do they add pages to it? How much time is wasted by the processor flipping through the entire file to find what they are looking for? When the underwriter wants certain items out of the file how do they get them out without printing them? How much time is spent browsing through all the loan officer's file folders to find the correct file? How many loan officers waste at least 10 minutes per day dealing with facsimiles?

A document imaging system eliminates all the wasted time in dealing with facsimiles.

There are numerous other ways in which a document imaging system saves money. For instance it can eliminate the costs associated with offsite storage. It can free up space for more loan officer's as there is no need for as many file cabinets etc.