Integrating Chatbot into Your Loan Management Systems: A Necessity for Lenders
Date published: 24 Nov 2023The Evolution of Chatbots in the Lending Industry
With consumer expectations increasing, using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and chatbots in Loan Management Systems has become necessary. Lenders are starting to see the need to leverage artificial intelligence to launch chatbot solutions, reducing costs and serving increasingly tech-savvy consumers. Chatbots are frequently designed to enable two-way communication in place of phone, email, or text channels in Loan Software for Lenders. The objective is to provide quick customer service and transactional support in the Lending Software.
Leveraging AI and Machine Learning for Enhanced Customer Service
Most basic tasks, such as outstanding balance inquiries, next due date, and loan queries, can be handled by a bot efficiently, allowing agents time for complex issues and leading to a more positive borrower experience. The lending sector will eventually have access to more types of engagement, from artificial intelligence to emerging digital technologies, perhaps even bots to have digital voice engagements.
The channels the borrowers use and the path they take to manage their loan accounts is more complex than ever. It is no longer possible to predict a single path of customer journey. Borrowers use online and offline channels and expect a personalized and effortless experience from their lenders at all steps of their journey.
The Role of Chatbots in Loan Management Systems
Lenders must engage with their customers and members correctly, in place, and on time. A good integration of chatbots in the engagement process can provide consumers personalized interactions. Although only a few consumers currently use chatbots, most think they will use them more in the coming years.
Chatbot Integration for Seamless Customer Onboarding
There are reasons to use a chatbot for consumer engagement in Loan Management Systems:
- Cost savings Chatbots are relatively less expensive compared to the human equivalent. Chatbots can be integrated into your LMS, thereby using the same infrastructure and resources allocated for the LMS.
- Usability Compared to conventional customer support methods, chatbots are more user-friendly and intuitive. Customer experience can be personalized over time through machine learning.
- Conversational interface Most people perceive phone calls as slow and tiresome compared to instant chat. When working with lenders, customers want quickness and customization. They also would not like the impersonal experience of using online forms or email. Chatbots offer a mix of live conversation and speed.
- Lead Capture Long loan application forms, incomplete information, and lack of an immediate touchpoint are vital reasons prospective borrowers drop off. Lenders can use a Chatbot to meet the needs of tech-savvy, information-hungry, and ever-demanding customers.
Enhancing Loan Application Processes through Chatbot Integration
Chatbots can engage prospective borrowers through notifications, prompts, and triggers to attract customers to the website/app and prevent drop-offs. When closely integrated with the Loan Origination Software, Chatbot can underwrite and score loan applications instantly should the customer opt to apply through the Chatbot. Chatbots can also trigger the e-sign workflow once the leads are qualified. Chatbots could be an alternative to taking leads without much hassle and delay.
24/7 online assistance
The increasingly digital 'always-on' customer expects an instant chat option available around the clock. Moreover, Chatbots can handle customer queries across all digital channels, e.g., websites, mobile apps, and messaging platforms like Slack and Facebook. It implies that lenders who have integrated chatbots into their websites will have an advantage over their competitors and be more likely to draw in and keep clients.
The chatbots can instantly address superficial, repetitive Level 2 queries and FAQs while Intelligent auto-routing complicated queries to live agents for more detailed attention.
Collections
A successful collection process and strategy are paramount for any lender to run a profitable portfolio. The agents handle an influx of inbound calls ranging from borrowers wanting to make a payment, updating account information, deferring payments, and more. Using Chatbots for certain parts of the collections process and Live Agents for others would drive revenue without adding staff, decrease agent handle time, cut overhead, reduce operational risk, and impact several other vital areas that can be directly tied to the bottom line. Furthermore, Chatbots will be available around the clock, so borrowers can make payments and complete transactions at a time that is convenient for them.
Meeting Consumer Expectations: The Role of Chatbots in Today's Lending Landscape
Currently, chatbots used in Loan Management Systems have limited functionality compared to advanced chatbots used in other financial sectors like the banking industry.
The limitations of Chatbot in Loan Software for Lenders:
- The dialogue capability can be limited to a particular set or format of questions based on the use cases defined.
- Chatbots cannot hold the conversation, meaning they cannot answer multiple questions simultaneously.
- None of the consumers are familiar with chatbots because of their limited understanding.
- Many lenders still use legacy LMS Platforms that don't offer an easy way to automate and integrate features like a Chatbot.
Despite these limitations, there has been a growing consumer acceptance of automated solutions for Loan Management Systems recently. Consumers are increasingly willing to interact with computerized solutions to complete transactions that previously required live agents.
SparkLMS is a fully automated lending software that includes a chatbot. The Chatbot's function can begin once the borrower clicks on the website and continues through loan disbursement and repayment. Every stage involves gathering data for analytics and pattern recognition, which gives lenders a competitive advantage in client management and loan product definition. Even the Brick and Mortar Lenders need to co-opt these technologies and use SparkLMS for more robust profitability, rollout of online-only products, and reduce operational costs related to managing their physical stores. Contact us today if you want to engage with us for your Lending Portfolio.