LOS ANGELES _ LoanDepot, a Southern California mortgage lender, plans this week to unveil a host of new tech tools that will allow customers to apply for home loans online or from a smartphone.
The new service would bring LoanDepot in line with one of its chief competitors, QuickenLoans, the nation's largest mortgage originator that is not a bank. The Detroit company announced its fully online offering Rocket Mortgage in late 2015 and has heavily promoted it, including buying advertising during the 2016 Super Bowl.
LoanDepot customers will be able to fill out a mortgage application online, submit documents using a smartphone camera, allow LoanDepot to pull credit and income information from outside data providers and get near-instant approval.
The company's founder and chief executive, Anthony Hsieh, said rapid mortgage approvals are only the first step for the platform.
The technology is designed to continuously track the creditworthiness and financial activity of the company's customers, similar to how Amazon uses a customer's browsing and buying history to recommend products.
"I'm going to know everything. And that's a little scary. But if I understand your credit report, bank account, employment, job stability, debt-to-income ratio, I can do a lot of things that will allow you more access to other financial services," said Hsieh.
"We see you just picked up $9,000 in additional debt and it looks like you're doing some home improvements. Can we suggest a home equity loan?" he offered as an example.
LoanDepot spent $80 million over the last 18 months to develop the platform, he said. Later this year, the company will open a 65,000-square-foot office dedicated to its tech operations, which employ more than 400.
