Chatting with Molo Finance CEO Francesca Carlesi
Why digital mortgages?
First of all, we should clarify what WE mean by digital mortgages.
We envisage a world in the not-so-distant future where people will be able to visit the house of their dreams, and after few minutes just go online, go through an app, and get approved for a mortgage within minutes allowing them to make an offer on the house just half an hour after visiting it.
So here is why we need digital mortgages:
- Better customer outcomes in terms of speed, convenience, costs and accessibility to the mortgage market.
- Enhanced housing affordability for all customers, not just a few lucky ones.
- Lower operational and risk costs for the industry and the system.
It’s quite a big mission considering what’s at stake — but let me explain these in a bit more detail.
It is clear today, that whilst online banking is replacing brick and mortar branches and making managing our daily finances easier, mortgages are still outdated.
Getting a mortgage today takes longer than it did 20 years ago; it requires a lot of paper work, scanning documents, bank appointments, and the whole process dramatically lacks transparency. This means that customer outcomes tend to be quite inconsistent, and with it come hidden costs and loss of valuable time.
Technology coupled with the new frontiers opened by regulation, such as open banking, will pave the way for digital mortgages. This is exactly what a digital platform like Molo can do by bringing together industry leading service providers. The goal is to create an end-to-end mortgage process that is simple yet secure, transparent, and a frictionless experience for the customer whilst helping to eliminate any unnecessary costs related to the current process.
Personalising affordability assessment means alleviating one of the main obstacles to home ownership, particularly for first-time buyers. A digital solution does not carry the operating costs of a large-scale lender and can give more regards to each customer’s individual circumstances.
By digitising the distribution, origination, and assessment of mortgages, we can dramatically reduce the distribution and operational costs for the industry. This reduction in cost to lenders will ultimately benefit customers by promoting competition and mitigating the barriers to entry in the mortgage market for all customers, especially those currently underserved by traditional banks (e.g. self-employed).
Why Molo Finance?
In short: we believe that people deserve a modern mortgage solution, and Molo intends to pioneer this digital transformation to make the industry more customer centric.
Is Molo available to everyone?
Absolutely! Molo has been built with the core value of transforming the current process, and that means making mortgages available to people who are currently underserved. In the short term, Molo will launch with a Buy-to-let product range only, but we will quickly add all other propositions in order to create a comprehensive platform.
How is Molo Finance regulated
Molo is currently not regulated as we are launching with Buy-to-let products only, still we are adhering to the highest regulatory standards. However, we have initiated the regulatory approval process with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to be able to add regulated residential mortgages to our product range in the future.
When will Molo mortgages be available?
Very soon! We’ve been working hard at Molo to initiate the start of the mortgage transformation, and are on schedule to launch in the Summer of 2018. Buy-to-let mortgages will be available right away with more products soon to follow. Welcome to the world of Molo, the first fully digital mortgage provider!
See you soon!
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