We don’t like computers here…
That is an exact quote from the office manager and the owner of the first mortgage company I ever worked for in 1993. The context is that I had just been hired to help them with their processing team. Again, this is 1993 when we were all still using thermal fax machines, which by the way, was not acceptable to put in your closed credit loan because the toner degrades pretty rapidly, and you will end up with a blank sheet of paper in the not-too-distant future. Now back to the story.
In 1993 most companies completed their applications by handwriting on a set of disclosures with a top white copy with a carbon imprint bottom yellow copy. Then, after the loan officer interviewed the borrower in person, the loan officer would remove all the white documents, take them back to the office, and leave the yellow documents for the borrower to retain. It was the epitome of efficiency for the time. The whole process included driving to the person's home, spending an hour interviewing the borrower, helping them find all of their paper copies somewhere in their house, and then drive back to the office to turn in the application and papers. And by the way, you still needed to make copies of the borrower documents and then either drive them back or mail them via USPS or UPS/FedEx/DHL.
The "Icing on the cake" for this workflow is that when the loan processor submitted the application to the underwriter, it needed to be typed YES on a typewriter, the 1003, which was double-sided. So you would also need to remember that you were never allowed to use white-out on any mortgage paperwork, which is still the case today. I'm sure you can imagine the profanity-laced sentences exhibited by the processing team when they realized they needed to correct the page after they removed it from the typewriter. I know companies who hired staff simply because of their skillful abilities to reposition the application into the typewriter to use the corrective tape to alter the application because that was considered "Efficient. "So here I am, a brand new processor in a company using typewriters, listening to a processor curse because they were on the backside of an application page and realize there is a mistake on the front side. So again, for context, that resulted in a lost 30 minutes minimum for any application they were working on completing.
On my very first day, I had the opportunity to witness this kind of event firsthand. The processor was visibly upset because, for her, unfortunately, this was her third attempt at getting page 2 of the 1003 to be as she needed it. At that exact moment, I turned to the office manager and owner and asked where are your computers, to which they replied, "we don't like computers. " As a reminder, it was my very first day, and although I was still in my young 20s and full of piss and vinegar, I knew a little bit of sense not to go against the grain on my first day. I spent the previous 2 1/2 years at Drexel University, which had its entire campus use Macintosh computers. I'm sure they got paid some benefit from Apple, but those rumors were never confirmed. However, the result was me sitting in a mortgage company, wondering how I would move the company forward even though it was my first day.
To the company's credit, they trusted me when I did the research (pre-Internet, mind you) on how to purchase, implement, and use a Novell peer-to-peer network along with a basic loan operating system to be able to produce a printed 1003. Everyone in the company's mind was blown by what they witnessed. They now had processors who could quadruple their output with higher quality and better morale. Investors also learned that was the path travel versus the types versions. That company set me up for my career. Helping with workflow and technology reviews for every company is my mission. We question why something is you do what you do and why you do it. It's the core of who we are.
I tend to laugh when working at my desk these days, thinking about that story from 1993. It reminds me that there will always be some technology that someone somewhere doesn't like or trust, regardless of what year it is. That's not necessarily bad, but it can sometimes hold you back. So it is always a good idea to have someone within your reach who can give you an objective perspective which is just one of the things that we can do to help you. So reach out and let us know how we can help, even if it's just a conversation to help you understand that we know what you're going through, and we can probably help.
All the Best ~ Larry Bailey
