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Bringing Self-Employed Underwriting Into the Digital Era

UnderwritingFreddie Mac announced that its asset and income modeler (AIM) is now available for self-employed borrowers through Loan Product Advisor, the company’s automated underwriting system (AUS). This is the industry’s only AUS-integrated self-employed income assessment solution. With proprietary technology provided by LoanBeam, AIM for self-employed simplifies underwriting of this borrower segment by automating the lenders’ income calculation process and speeding up the mortgage application process while maintaining strong credit underwriting standards.

“There are millions of self-employed workers in the United States and that number is only expected to grow,” said Andy Higginbotham, SVP and COO, Single-Family, Freddie Mac. “Loan Product Advisor’s AIM for self-employed borrowers provides our lenders with a new way to expand their business efficiently. It gives them a competitive edge to help grow their business in a tightening purchase market and gives them confidence they are delivering loans that align with Freddie Mac’s purchase eligibility requirements as captured in Loan Product Advisor.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that self-employment makes up more than 10 percent of total employment in the United States. This demographic continues to be an important source of jobs for some 15 million people and is expected to grow at the same, or faster rate, than the overall workforce.

According to Urban Wire research, in 2007, 80 percent of both salaried and self-employed homebuyers obtained a mortgage loan. As of 2016, 74 percent of salaried homebuyers used a mortgage compared to just 67 percent of self-employed buyers. That’s a 13 percentage point drop for self-employed compared to a 6 percentage point drop for salaried buyers.

“Together with Freddie Mac, AIM for self-employed borrowers helps us deliver cutting-edge technology to provide the very best customer experience,” said Kirk Donaldson, LoanBeam's CEO. “Automating income calculation is a game changer for lenders and their processing staff.”

“At Freddie Mac, we’re continuously innovating to better meet our lenders’ needs to cut costs, drive efficiency and deliver a better borrower experience,” added Higginbotham. “AIM for self-employed borrowers is a win for the industry and we’re excited to make it broadly available.”

About Author: David Wharton

David Wharton, Editor-in-Chief at the Five Star Institute, is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, where he received his B.A. in English and minored in Journalism. Wharton has nearly 20 years' experience in journalism and previously worked at Thomson Reuters, a multinational mass media and information firm, as Associate Content Editor, focusing on producing media content related to tax and accounting principles and government rules and regulations for accounting professionals. Wharton has an extensive and diversified portfolio of freelance material, with published contributions in both online and print media publications. He can be reached at [email protected].
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