Success Story: Anthony Bird, Riverbank Finance

Anthony Bird is the co-founder and Senior Loan Officer at Riverbank Finance, a locally owned independent mortgage broker in Grand Rapids, MI. Bird and his business partner Joshua Woodwyk, founded Riverbank Finance in 2011 with the purpose of providing a combination of low rates and fees with a wide range of produces as a true independent mortgage broker. Both owners are active in the operations of the company on a day to day basis and are producing loan officers who use Floify to streamline their origination processes.

Our interview with Bird provides helpful insight for any mortgage professional seeking to find value from an automated mortgage operation.

How long have you been a mortgage broker and when did you become the co-founder of Riverbank Finance?

I've been originating loans for about 14 years. I initially started as a mortgage broker back in the day and worked at a call center, which gave me great experience. But after a few years, the economy hit 2008/2009, which made things a little more difficult. At that point, my employer’s business model caused leads to dry up. So my current business partner and I decided we could do better on our own, create more efficient systems and processes, and develop more effective marketing to attract new business.

At the the end of 2010, we started Riverbank Finance. We were a DBA under another company for a year, then in 2011, we got our brokerage license once the FHA opened up a sponsorship from lenders, rather than having to be your own FHA approved lender. It made things a lot easier for licensing, so we were like, "Well, yeah, let's do it." We got our own licensing set up and we've been an independent mortgage broker ever since.

When I look back, we didn't have much to lose at the time, so I guess that was part of the factor, but at the same time, jumping in, it was a good time to start our own thing. We figured out a lot over the last 10 years in business and how to create systems and how to hire right and get good people on our team to be able to grow our business. We obviously don't have all the answers, but we know a lot more than we did 10 years ago, that's for sure.

Yesterday was the first time in three years I did a physical application and it was painful. I can't believe we used to do business that way – not fully digital. This borrower was a 80+ year old man and needed help. I was like, "All right, he has no email, no camera phone, doesn't know how to send a picture,” so I said, “I’ll meet you to sign an application." Then I had to figure out how to get my printer to work. It was definitely not something I want to do every day.

How did you first hear about Floify?

It was a while ago. I was searching for different point-of-sale alternatives when I first heard about Floify. I demoed quite a few of them. My goal was to optimize our front-end process and staff to collect documents to have more complete files for underwriting. So Floify was one of the solutions I demoed. The thing that sold me on Floify was the fact the system had an API interface. That's huge for me for future growth because I can connect all of my automating systems.

I started seeing what other lenders were using and began to see Floify catching on. So I was excited about the growth potential Floify and its ability to create better systems for lenders. Change is hard, so we didn't jump in right away. We were like, "All right, Floify seems like a great option," but we continued to do things the way we were.

What got us to make the decision to fully adopt Floify was we had a processor whose full-time job was to follow up with documents, track down pay stubs, and locate other items that were missing so we could get files to underwriting. When she left our company, it forced us to say, "All right, well, should we replace her with another person, or should we create a better system?" So at that point it was kind of a no-brainer to jump into Floify and go all in on it.

For us, using Floify was a better an option because when you have a person collect documents there are organizational issues, communication issues where clients aren't really sure who this third-party person is, and then they get passed onto the next person. Borrowers might not get instant feedback if they send a bank statement and it’s missing a page. Our staff might not get to it for a few days and then realize, "Oh, we need a complete bank statement," but don’t really give a reason why we didn't accept it sometimes. There's more frustration for clients with our old system, too, so using Floify helped with communication and organization. With Floify, we just had everything in one place, a loan officer sets up a loan in the system and it does the work from there.

How would you describe the change Floify has made to your business?

Floify has allowed us to have 100% digital e-sign disclosures and enabled our loan officers to stay organized and complete loan submissions to underwriting. Floify has also helped remove bottlenecks in our process and significantly speed up our loan closings.

Before transitioning to Floify, what was the most frustrating or challenging aspect of the process?

Loan officers have a lot of distractions and they might be eager to get a loan to underwriting, even before it’s ready. So we were finding a lot of times where processors were getting files, and they'd be like, "Well, we only have pay stubs." Then there would be a lot of going back and forth where everyone is saying, "All right, whose responsibility is it? Is the processor going to take over now because it's in their pipeline or is it the responsibility of the loan officer?" Eventually the files would sit there and kind of linger, rather than have a complete package and move forward to underwriting. So that was a big struggle for us. We had huge bottlenecks in our loan flow because we'd have a lot of loans that weren't quite ready to get to underwriting, and by the time it came to collecting documents, it was a frustration for everyone.

What about Floify makes you and your team more productive?

Speed is a huge priority for Riverbank so we know that if we can close loans faster, then we're going to impress more clients and realtors and earn more referral business. By using Floify to collect loan documents, it helps us to stay organized and communicate with clients what is needed from the start of the loan to the close.

We are also able to integrate our CRM with Floify. So when someone applies for a loan online, we say, "All right, the next step is to review your documentation for pre-approval," so we can essentially click a button and it passes from our CRM and starts out a needs-list in Floify, so we can avoid manual entry as well. The productivity level with that feature alone is huge. I'd say as a mortgage broker one of our biggest struggles is having 50 different systems that all do one slice of the pie. Trying to connect them to make the process flow from start to finish without having to manually enter information, that's a huge thing for us.

How much time would you say you save each week by not asking your borrowers for documentation and being able to implement an all digital solution?

The time savings with using Floify is unbelievable. Knowing that once we send a request for a document, Floify’s automations will continue to follow up. Floify allows our team to focus on other activities and be more productive. I don't know whether there's a specific number or a value to place on that, but just knowing that once we start a loan, the system will help us follow up. This  takes another thing off our plate that we can use to grow our business and be more productive.

Also with that, our company is a mortgage broker that’s based on lending to our clients. We have to help our clients navigate the loan process through underwriting with an end lender and that means we need to be able to communicate what's required from the client to satisfy the underwriter's conditions. Floify saves us time, but more importantly, it removes that unneeded frustration for our clients because they know exactly what is needed to close their loan. They just have to log into the portal to know exactly what they need to get their loan done.

What kinds of staffing changes have you experienced since using Floify to help run your mortgage processes?

As our company has grown, we've been able to exponentially close more loans for the amount of team members that we have. So with the communication organization in automation Floify offers, I like to say it's the equivalent of having an assistant for each one of our employees. We're able to definitely do a lot more business because the system... The loan officer or the processor will set it in motion. The system will help follow up, kind of like an assistant would do.

Has your business seen an increase in profitability since transitioning to Floify? If so, can you share how much of an increase (approximate, in percentage terms)?

I can confidently say that we have been more profitable due to earning more referrals. So with our systems, I think we have a lot better user experience by having Floify as part of our process. We're able to close loans in half the time as the industry average, and that allows us to build relationships and impress people to earn more referrals. So even just one loan gets us more profit because we get more deals from it.

Since transitioning to Floify and reducing direct contact with borrowers via phone and email, has their level of satisfaction with your services changed? If so, in what way?

Definitely. I'm a big fan of using technology as a tool to make things easier. Floify does exactly that for communication during the process. With outstanding document requests and loan milestones in automations, we are able to provide updates to clients and realtors before they even ask. It kind of keeps us a step ahead, rather than them having to come to us and say, "Hey, what's going on with my loan?” Or, “Where are we in the process?"

Floify is a huge tool for communication, too, as much as it is for gathering the documents. We use Floify from start to finish, so once the loan is approved in underwriting or conditionally approved, our processors log in to request documents and it leads them through the process. We use the milestones once a file is submitted to underwriting, approved, appraisal requested, clear to close – kind of the whole start to finish on the process. So Floify definitely helps with communication and overall user experience.

From a lender’s perspective, what do you think is the most valuable feature of Floify?

In general the most valuable feature is going will be the API interface and automations that come with it. I'm super excited that we're able to connect Floify to our systems and take advantage of integrations that help us grow and become more efficient at closing loans faster. There's endless possibilities with what you can do if you connect to an API like that. There are a lot more things I have in mind that I want to do that I just haven't had time to, but I know growth potential is there

What are some tips you would recommend for fellow lenders who are using these features?

My advice to other lenders who are using Floify is to take a bit of extra time upfront to customize and personalize your automations. When configuring milestones and automations, you can be confident knowing the system will send a message for you just as you would have sent it manually. But just take a little bit of time up front, set up Floify, and then it's your assistant. It'll do everything for you.

What advice would you give loan officers who are on the fence about using a point-of-sale solution like Floify?

There's no shortage of systems and software being marketed to loan officers and mortgage brokers, and it's definitely difficult to compare and make decisions on what solutions are actually beneficial. If you look, there's probably cheaper options available to lenders, but it's our primary job as loan officers to take applications and collect documents, which is exactly what Floify does. So you should invest in the best solution that can help you with your job.

In my opinion, Floify's the best loan officer assistant you can hire to enhance the communication, productivity, and organization.