Efficiency in a mortgage bank financial team’s daily operations is a cornerstone to success for the organization. Not only in the collection and uploading of data, but also in its ability to analyze the data. For one company, efficiency is a piece of the puzzle to make mortgages better and through their resolve they have increased their finance departments ability to support the company into the future.
As a leading full-service residential lender out of Norwell, MA, radius financial group inc., constantly strives to make home mortgages better. This pertains to all aspects of the company and when the finance department in 2015 was evaluating its non-industry specific financial toolset radius identified areas of inefficiency, as well as its lack of reporting functionality.
The inefficiencies stemmed from manual data entry and the absence of loan level accounting. These areas of frustration were slowing down daily operations and not supporting management’s ability to make decisions for the future.
Jim Harnett, Controller at radius explained, “Data entry took up most of the day. We had a full time accounting clerk just to do the actual loan accounting. It took quite a lot of time on a given day, depending on volumes. It was extremely time consuming and mistake prone. We would have to go into Excel and download documents from our LOS and then manually enter the data into QuickBooks.”
A new accounting solution was needed and would have to provide automation for uploading the data from the LOS into the general ledger, as well as system controls, and a robust reporting tool. To aid in their search, the team sat in on software demos to compare solutions.
It was during the demo process that radius saw what functionality an industry-specific solution would bring to the finance team.
Harnett shared, “We had a demonstration of Loan Vision and in comparison, to QuickBooks, we realized we probably maximized everything we can get out of it and as we grow we would have the most success with an industry specific accounting solution with automatic importing.”
Talking with peers was also part of radius’ decision-making process and it helped them to identify what solution was right for them.
“We spoke with others using Loan Vision and after further conversations we were sold on the solution,” expressed Harnett.
As the Loan Vision and radius teams entered into the implementation process, a number of regulation changes including TRID caused some delays to the process and pushed out the go-live date of the project. That being said, radius felt they never lost the attention of the Loan Vision team.
Harnett expressed just how the support never dwindled. “I couldn’t say that I didn’t get all the support I needed, because I definitely did. I was confident in that I was able to lean on the Loan Vision team and lean on I did. I was able to lean on them as a solid resource during that time and continue to have the support today.”
After radius’ go-live in 2016, the positive impact Loan Vision had on their daily operations was experienced immediately. A few minutes is all it took to import the data into the Loan Vision solution and having that data faster has enabled the team to manage accounts receivable more efficiently on a daily basis.
As Harnett explained, “With Loan Vision’s automatic importing, it takes me a few minutes a day to do and managing accounts receivable is a huge part of our business for cash flow. To have that data available as quickly as we do has been great.”
radius’ ability to gather loan level data for analysis is shaping the business as they nurture its growth. When Mr. Harnett walks through the data with management the analysis is completed with ease, even when variances are found.
“We sit, and we’ll go over the company totals for balance sheet and a profit and loss. We review the lines, if we see anything out of sorts, I can look for a variance or find an explanation for it. It’s really a pretty, and for the most part, quick conversation.”
Another aspect of daily operations at radius that has been significantly enhanced is their close process. Even with a double-digit increase in loan volume, the financial team at radius is managing the increased loan volume efficiently.
“I’ve been able to streamline our close to probably six business days, if not less, and it’s mainly us just waiting on our vendors to get us invoices,” expressed Hartnett.
The team has even been able to reach such efficiency with one less person on the team. The original team at go-live of three personnel is now down to two.
“We’ve been able to cut down our personnel,” shared Harnett. “As a member of the team left, in the interim, I became more hands on with that person’s process. With doing our accounting in Loan Vision, through this change, I didn’t miss close that month and since then we decided we don’t have the bandwidth for another person.”
As the team is becoming more efficient, Mr. Harnett shared how his own skills have been enhanced since implementing Loan Vision.
“I’ve been doing accounting for 30 years and I have used multiple systems. I’ll say I’ve inherited a ton of really good accounting skills over the years. I believe Loan Vision helps me maximize those skills for timing and accuracy. All of those things make me a better accountant.”
“Better” is at the heart of radius and it’s something they strive for every day. Dustin Demeritt, Marketing Director at radius explains how Loan Vision is supporting their mission.
“We talk a lot about being a scalable, sustainable organization internally and externally, and how we can deliver on our mission each and every day, to make mortgages better,” said Demeritt. “Loan Vision has helped Jim’s team maximize efficiency today but also scale and sustain for tomorrow.”
“I would say, Loan Vision has made radius, which prided itself on its efficiencies beforehand, an even more efficient organization,” expressed Harnett. “And as we grow, we’re going to lean more on Loan Vision to help us manage our growth decisions.”
