Streamlining fee configuration for America's leading mortgage lender during loan origination
introduction
During my internship at Rocket Mortgage, I worked on Rocket Pro TPO.
It's a B2B division of Rocket Mortgage that assists mortgage brokers, local banks, and credit unions by offering a platform to simplify loan origination.
This project started as an idea in a company Hack-Week and quickly grew popular with our lending partners, which led to it being officially launched.
I was the sole designer leading this project, ensuring its prompt delivery.
duration:
2 months (June 2023 - August 2023)
team:
12 (1 Experience Designer, 1 Product Manager, 8 Engineers, 2 Lending Associates)
role:
UX Designer
focus area:
Interaction Design and User Research
Imagine you're a Regional Manager at a large bank with over 100 branches, responsible for mortgage sales across the US.
Managing this can be challenging, as it's difficult to track title fees (costs associated with closing a mortgage) across all your branches, especially since they can vary according to the market conditions of each area.
Inconsistencies and errors in title fees could harm your bank's reputation.
the problem
Talking to Lending Partners
Co-Design Workshop
1 Week
Talking to Stakeholders
2 Weeks
Creating Flows
1 Week
Design Exploration
2 Weeks
Final Design
1 Week
the timeline
A title fee setup form in the Profile Section of the Regional Manager's TPO portal account that allows for the specification of customized title fees for each branch. This form automatically populates the specific title fee on the SANL form when a loan is originated from that specific branch.
the solution
the impact
12+
mid-size banks with 50+ branches have been onboarded since October 2023, starting from zero.
$100,000+
add-on revenue generated per branch activation opening a new source of revenue.
3,000+
lending partners onboarded to set up custom title fees for their respective branches.
*these metrics were last updated in January 2024, subject to change.
what does setting up title fees on SANL mean?
SANL stands for Starting a New Loan. It is the process through which partner banks originate loans using the Rocket Mortgage platform.
Title fees, as mentioned, are fees associated with the closing costs of a mortgage.
Some examples of title fees include escrow fees, attorney fees, recording fees, etc.
Title fees can vary based on a range of factors, such as the date the loan was originated, the location of the property, and, most importantly, the value of the property.
how setting up custom title fees looked like before the redesign
12 Steps
how setting up custom title fees looks like after the redesign
2 Steps
talking to our mortgage partners
Before designing the feature, I had to understand the existing challenges faced by our partner banks, therefore we decided to conduct a Co-Design Workshop with our partners.
Conducting a Co-Design Workshop
At the beginning of this project, I participated in the Rocket All Access Conference in Detroit, an annual event hosted by Rocket Mortgage for its lending partners.
During the conference, alongside the product design team, I facilitated a co-design workshop. In this workshop, our partners utilized paper cut-outs of UI elements to construct their ideal title fee setup page.
This activity granted me direct insights from our partners, enabling me to tailor the design according to their feedback.
what was the key finding from the workshop?
Lending partners expressed a strong desire to have visibility into the date of their last title fee update.
This feature is essential as they frequently adjust their title fees in response to market changes.
talking to internal stakeholders
Before delving further into my design explorations, I initiated conversations with diverse stakeholders to gather valuable insights into their approaches to implementing a title fee setup.
what did the stakeholders say?
Talking to the Product Managers it became evident that as branch details are primarily edited on the My Brokerage page of RocketPro TPO, therefore it would be most logical to incorporate the Title Fee Setup feature within the My Brokerage section of the product.
simplifying the flow to remove redundancy
To simplify the process of adding custom title fees in SANL, I had to deconstruct the existing processes to identify areas for improvement and integrate them more effectively into the 'My Brokerage' section.
creating multiple iterations for design exploration
The design exploration process enabled me to refine multiple concepts and enhance feature usability, ultimately making it easier for lending partners to navigate the title fee setup.
the final design
Utilizing the research and after stakeholder approval, the final design was created using components from the Rocket Design System (RDS).
This final design went into production and was subsequently rolled out to the partners.
how regional managers select the branch
Regional managers can customize fees individually for each branch within the Branch Selection page.
This section also includes a search feature for rapid identification and modification of the fees for each branch.
Branches without default title fees are clearly marked with a 'Pending Setup' tag to help identify them and ensure uniformity.
The Fee Setup feature was added to the 'My Brokerage' section, leveraging the manager's existing familiarity with branch updates in this area for easier adoption of the new feature.
The Fee Setup page allows managers to view and update title fees for their branches in response to market changes, by displaying a list organized by location and the date of the last update.
how regional managers setup custom title fees for each branch
Regional managers can add all the types of title fees that their mortgage agents might add within the fee setup page which will be auto-populated when they are filling up a loan application for their clients.
Managers begin by selecting the loan type, since various loans have distinct associated title fees.
Common title fees for the selected loan type are auto-populated, offering managers options to adjust fee prices and change fee types as needed.
Managers can add additional fees to reflect new benefits offered to clients at their branch.
After saving the fees, managers receive a notification through a color-coded dialog box indicating the status.
This saved fee is then automatically populated on SANL and remains unchanged until the manager updates that particular branch's information.
my takeaways
1
Securing approval from Rocket Companies' stakeholders was crucial.
I improved my strategic communication and negotiation skills, learning how to manage complex decisions during product launches and demonstrate the value of features to unite differing opinions.
2
Design thrives on constant improvement through iteration and feedback, which are essential for a designer's growth.
Constantly iterating after receiving critiques from my mentor and engineers really helped me better understand product cycles.
3
Launching the feature proved its value to our partners, streamlining the process and affirming my design's impact. Embracing rapid feedback led to quick improvements, underscoring the importance of user-centered design in my work.
End-of-internship video highlighting my learnings which I presented to the entire design team of Rocket Mortgage.
Tools Used:
