Notarize Blog

Ellie Mae's Experience conference is just over a month away, and Notarize is a proud Preferred Sponsor of the event. With thousands of the nation's top lenders leveraging Ellie Mae's platform to deliver a unified borrower experience to home buyers across the country, we couldn't be more excited to be part of Experience.

Even though it's our first time at the conference, we're bringing the heat. Here are the top three reasons you should visit our booth (#1113) next month, and take our new Encompass integration for a test drive. 

Credit Unions are under an unprecedented amount of pressure. The average age of a credit union member is 47, and according to a 2016 study, people 50 and older hold 83% of the wealth in America. At the same time, Nearly 31.5 million Gen Z consumers are now credit-eligible, 50% of those who are credit-eligible already have credit cards, and roughly 33% of them are already working full-time, part-time, or as freelancers.

That’s why we're excited to share our newest eBook: 3 Technology Improvements Credit Unions Will Make in 2020.

We've reached an inflection point. Credit unions are investing less in technology than mega and regional banks while membership continues to grow 20 percent year over year. 98 percent of companies report revenue loss due to poor transaction management. And, consumer expectations continue to rise thanks to the convenience and efficiencies we all experience in every other aspect of our lives. 

Technology, however, can provide the silver lining opportunity for your business this year.

• Baby Boomers are now far more likely to own a smartphone than they were a decade ago (68% now vs. 25% in 2011)
• Only 13% of Gen Z cares about convenient branch locations, while a quarter of them will avoid or stop using a service due to poor mobile design.
• Getting documents notarized is person is still one of the top complaints from members.

As 2020 kicks off, we put together a list of the top technology investments credit unions are making to enhance security, elevate customer experience, reduce environmental impact, and automate key business workflows to improve the bottom line.

Over the last decade, millions of Americans have refinanced their homes, encouraged by more attractive interest rates and often supported by the ability of technology to make the process more accessible. To apply for and actually refinance a property in an entirely digital way has long been the industry's Sorcerer’s Stone. But Notarize and States Title are part of a growing movement to make it a reality.

Today, Notarize and States Title are pleased to announce a new partnership that allows our mutual customers to close on their home entirely online. Borrowers can sign and notarize key documents that help them realize a vision for the home of their dreams or refinance their current home on better terms.

For almost nine years, remote online notarization (RON) has been legal. RON gives anyone the ability to sign and notarize documents 100% online, connecting via a FaceTime-like experience with a commissioned notary 24x7. It really is a better, safer way of taking care of life's most important documents. Because consumers love it, we've seen the nation's top credit unions, such as BCU, roll out a digital notarization service to its members to close loans faster, and improve its operations.

The entire real estate industry has seen a massive shift in excitement as it moves towards a world of remote online notarizations and fully online real estate closings. Thousands of homes have already been bought and sold online with the help of progressive underwriters and counties that are accepting electronic-recording, or eRecordings.

Until recently, you could only complete an end-to-end digital closing if your property was in an eRecording county. But as of January 1, 2020, a total of 10 states now have laws that allow recording entities, at their option, to record a true and complete paper printout of an electronic document.

In 2019, more than 127,000 eNotes were generated with MERS. That's an 8x increase from 2018. And with top lenders like Guaranteed Rate completing tens of thousands of online closings to put the borrower experience, and their business efficiencies first, now is the time for you to double down on your digital mortgage strategy.

We completed the first online closing in the country with Stewart back in 2017, and since then, have completed thousands of closings – both fully online and hybrid – for buyers and sellers from across the country and while traveling abroad. Scott Gillen and the team have been incredible partners along the way, tirelessly working to make the consumer experience in home buying best-in-class with industry-leading technology.

Today, we're excited to share our next chapter together. Today we're announcing a partnership with Stewart Title that will give its direct offices and independent agents the ability to offer fully online and hybrid closings powered by Notarize. Together, the experience and expertise Stewart and Notarize have will bring rapid deployment and adoption across the country.

We’ve spent the last year working with banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions on what a world-class experience looks like for their customers. Since then, we’ve won the nation’s largest credit unions, retirement services companies, and small business lenders to offer a service that delivers on that promise.

Today, we're excited to share that evolution, and announce our newest solution: Notarize for Credit Unions.

More than five million Americans joined a credit union in 2018 alone, and more than 100 million members nationwide take advantage of services from auto loans to home refinancing. Credit the surge in growth to lower interest rate loans and high-interest savings.