OK boomer! Mortgage by machines

When I was a lad, to get a mortgage was a complex process. You would go to the bank for a meeting with the branch manager. The branch manager would assess you, your job security, work status and salary and, if all boxes were ticked, you could get a mortgage up to four times your annual income. Back then, houses were affordable, and the government encouraged you to buy one, even though the process was a long one. It would involve endless form-filling, further bank approvals with proofs of ID, the last three salary slips and background information on your previous dwellings, and a conveyancer valuing the house and inspecting it. Then, and only then, after around six months, you would get a mortgage and could make an offer on the house you wanted to buy.

So, how come, today, most mortgage processes are still taking months? Well, the answer is that it is nothing to do with the mortgage. It is all to do with buying a house or apartment. The actual mortgage part is fast and, unlike back in the day, does not involve branch visits and assessments by branch managers. It is all automated, using AI and apps. The conveyancing of the house and change of ownership through legal contracts on the land registry is what takes time. Having said that, most of the remaining mortgage process is becoming completely automated through fintech and AI developments. In fact, I’ve seen how firms are helping lenders orchestrate these complex, multi-party workflows – integrating AI, automation, and analytics to create mortgage ecosystems that are faster, smarter, and more resilient. A good example is one I met recently called WNS, who are are reimagining the mortgage lifecycle through AI consulting, intelligent automation, and data-driven platforms. The result is that the financial industry is inching closer to a world where the mortgage experience is intelligent, intuitive, and almost human-free..

What does this mean in reality? Well, imagine you want to buy a house. For the purpose of this example, let’s say it is 35 Acacia Avenue. You’ve seen the house, know its price and arrive home. Thinking about 35 Acacia Avenue, you decide to make an offer and the offer is sent automatically from your estate agent’s app – yes, we still have estate agents but now they show houses increasingly in virtual reality rather than reality, you are the exception boomer – and the answer comes back that the offer is accepted.

Within minutes, my AI bot starts to interact with mortgage brokers, banks, lawyers and government systems to gain authorisation of the sale. Then the broker bots, bank bots, lawyer bots and government bots kick into action. They check the best market rates for a loan, the risk of the loan, the status of the property and begin the process of the sale.

The good news is that the property is registered on the government’s land registry blockchain registry, and so the exchange of funds and completion of contract is given a green light to go.

Then the bank with the best rates on the market is recommended by my broker bot. The bank bot has automated the risk on my account and knows that the property is affordable, but ten percent more than my current credit ceiling. The AI bot alerts me to this and asks if it is ok to remove funds from one of my savings accounts. Well, the choices are limited between the savings pots for travel, education and emergency, but I use my AI glasses to select the emergency pot to top up the funds. It’s all done.

Just the legal process to complete the purchase!

Of course, the lawyer bots work at the slowest pace and yet, even here, the bots manage to agree the re-registration on the government’s blockchain and the exchange of funds between buyer and seller quickly.

The next morning, I wake up and find that I’ve almost bought a new house thanks to the machines. It took less than 24 hours and all I need to do is blink an eye and it’s done! Oh shoot, I forgot to sell my house and book a removal van.

Ah well, there is no harm in pressing pause for a day to see what will happen tomorrow.