- theMReport.com - https://themreport.com -

Building Better FinTech Platforms

Earlier this year, Flagstar Bank [1] and Detroit FinTech Bay [2] announced the first startups to participate in the Flagstar Mortgage Tech Accelerator Program. DS News spoke to FinTech professionals including Flagstar Head of Digital Lending Rocky Stubbs about how the program is impacting the shape of FinTechs in the mortgage and real estate industry, and where technology needs to grow and adapt.

According to Stubbs, the response to the program from the industry has been positive.

“We have other competitors in this space who are very excited to see that we are taking some leadership here,” Stubbs said. “Once these companies deliver their technology into the marketplace of available solutions, we all benefit.”

“Once we’re successful with the program, we will all be successful,” he added.

“The launch of the program for the first cohort of the Flagstar Mortgage Tech Accelerator is an indication of its effectiveness in sourcing interesting and high quality startups from a uniquely defined vertical of FinTech,” said Maissan Almaskati, FinTech Consortium CEO “This milestone, which coincides with the opening of Detroit FinTech Bay, signifies the potential of the collaboration between Flagstar Bank and the FinTech Consortium to deliver innovation and enhancement across both the mortgage customer experience as well as lender efficiencies.”

Stubbs discussed the importance of innovation in FinTech, noting that there are plenty of new tools out there that are making the customer service experience easier and more cost efficient.

“There are technologies that are delivering value to the client, within the context of the servicing relationship,” said Stubbs. “We’re able to start thinking about how to push this through to the benefit of the customer.”

Another important topic is the legacy systems in place in the servicing industry, and the challenges with integrating new systems with the old.

“It is incumbent upon the FinTechs themselves who are developing the technologies to consider their customer base and understand that this is a near-universal problem,” Stubbs told DS News. Fortunately, he notes, technology is starting to catch up, becoming less of an issue in recent years.

"Mortgage servicing technology is largely outdated and has been overlooked in this recent wave of FinTech innovation,” said Eric Rachmel, Founder and CEO of Brace. “Partnering with Flagstar and the FinTech Consortium to rethink one of the hardest elements of servicing, default servicing, demonstrates the forward-thinking nature of their leadership teams and will drive value for the broader ecosystem for years to come."

Learn more about the Flagstar Mortgage Tech Accelerator Program here. [3]