Equitable Bank Improves Reverse Mortgage Process

Reverse mortgage clients of Equitable Bank can expect a quicker and less expensive closing process, according the the bank.

Equitable, one of just two reverse mortgage providers in Canada, announced the launch of its new closing process this week. The change will mean, for example, that borrowers in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario will no longer be required to retain two lawyers to close their deal. Instead, Equitable Bank can work directly with their own lawyer to verify identification, register and fund the mortgage.

“At Equitable we continually challenge ourselves to find better ways to bring more value to our customers by removing complex and unnecessary traditional banking practices,” Paul von Martels, VP of Prime and Reverse Mortgage Lending, Equitable Bank, said in a release. “It’s our ambition to bring the reverse mortgage solution into the retirement financing mainstream. Innovating the customer’s experience and reducing the costs to originate are important steps in that journey.”

The change comes as reverse mortgage demand continues to grow, and competition heats up between Equitable and HomeEquity Bank, the other reverse mortgage provider.

Last month, Equitable announced new “Lump-Sum Reverse Mortgage” Rates that are as low as 4.59%–60 bps lower than its standard reverse mortgage rates. The difference, as the name implies, is that borrowers must withdraw the full amount that they’re approved for at once.

Meanwhile, HomeEquity Bank announced it sold $75 million of its reverse mortgages to another Schedule 1 Canadian bank, marking the first-ever sale of reverse mortgages in Canada. With talk of additional sales in the future, this new source of funding would be used to support the bank’s future growth and originations.

Lendesk Launches New Mobile App

Vancouver-based Lendesk Technologies has announced the launch of its new Lendesk Spotlight mobile application, which it says is the “first of its kind, purpose-built tool for Canada’s mortgage industry professionals.”

The app will provide brokers with “on-the-go” access to over 3,500 lender policies and qualifying guidelines by leveraging its existing Spotlight Search tool and Spotlight Submit (point of sale) features.

“Mortgage brokers today are an incredibly mobile force, and yet, continue to need to be within arm’s reach of a computer to do their jobs,” Alex Conconi, Founder and CEO of Lendesk, said in a release. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring the Lendesk Spotlight mobile app to market for the country’s brokers, empowering them with the information they need to not only answer questions about rates and the type of mortgage their clients can qualify for, anytime, anywhere but deliver a better, more efficient service to homebuyers.”

This launch comes less than five months after the company’s acquisition of LenderSpotlight, which at the time boasted more than 7,000 users and 55+ mortgage lenders.