Beating the Fintech Mortgage Influencers: How FIs Can Prevail

For most consumers, buying a home is a complex process that leads to the biggest financial commitment they will make in their lives. To navigate the journey, shoppers commonly seek guidance from non-bank influencers such as real estate agents, home search engines, lending marketplaces, and digital lenders. These non-banks have the potential to disintermediate banks and credit unions because they influence not only the homebuying journey but also where consumers shop and apply for mortgages. 

Javelin Strategy & Research’s analysis of eight mortgage fintechs—such as Beeline, Loan Depot, Nerd Wallet, Rocket Mortgage, and Zillow—underscores a crucial lesson for digital banking strategists: Fintechs recognize that consumers are shopping for homes, not just mortgages. Throughout the six-stage homebuying process, they deftly engage with homebuyers during a process that can take months or even years before it culminates in applying for a mortgage. 

Nonetheless, banks and credit unions can win by capitalizing on four defensible strengths that can serve as the foundation for highly engaging help-me-do-it and do-it-for-me homebuying experiences in authenticated digital banking.

Key questions discussed in this report: 

• What are the key stages of the home shopping process at which fintechs and FIs can engage before homebuyers seek a mortgage? 
• Which fintech influencers stand out in the homebuying process? 
• What can banks and credit unions learn from leading mortgage fintechs? 
• What are examples of advanced do-it-for-me digital experiences from mortgage fintechs?

Companies Mentioned: 

Alkami, Ally Bank, Beeline, Better, Chase, Chimney, ComeHome/HouseCanary, Credit Karma, Direct FCU, Fourth Capital Bank, Lending Tree, LoanDepot, NerdWallet, Q2, Rocket Mortgage, Wells Fargo, Zillow