RealKey Named a Finalist in the MassChallenge FinTech and IBM AI Mentorship Program

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As a MassChallenge returnee and 2020 Diamond Award Winner, RealKey is honored to announce that we have been accepted as a participant and named a finalist in this year’s MassChallenge FinTech and IBM AI Mentorship Program. This year’s three-month virtual program kicked off on November 10. MassChallenge, a global network for innovators, and IBM partnered to support and advance startups solving real world problems with AI. They are working with startups where at least one founder comes from historically underrepresented identities including black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), and/or female.

RealKey is one of 51 startups selected from a talented and highly competitive applicant pool given our potential to drive impact and create meaningful change through the power of AI. 

One of the greatest challenges that lenders experience is the receipt of unsupported and incomplete applications through Points of Sale or by phone from borrowers. The mortgage loan originator runs that data through Automated Underwriting Systems and requests basic documentation (often the same documents twice), resulting in repeated back and forth with underwriting. Their internal systems provide no facilitation on what to gather and when. These gaps lead to drastic reductions in the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which measures customer loyalty and the likelihood of repeat or referral business, and substantial costs incurred. The RealKey platform addresses these challenges by centralizing and simplifying documentation collection and review. Our platform reduces touches with underwriting by getting documents and data collected directly from the source. We do this through APIs to identify a more complete list of initial needs, invite the expected uploaders, and provide clear instructions. RealKey then uses OCR and APIs to review the documents and data provided, and finally, AI again to determine if more action is required.

RealKey is taking a documents-first approach to automate processing and underwriting to get all the right documents upfront through integrations, OCR, and automated rules/algorithms to facilitate documentation collection and review. We are filling the gaps of current industry systems: LOS (Ellie Mae, Calyx), POS (Blend, Roostify, Rocket Mortgage) and replacing current manual processes affecting mortgage loan originators. RealKey’s innovative product and features also help insurance, title/escrow, and other mortgage ecosystem participants through:

  • Smart Conditioning – Get the right conditions the first time
  • One Portal for All Parties – Securely upload and download all documents relevant to a transaction at anytime to streamline processing, updates, and communication
  • Chat Group – Keep all communication in one place and improve response times
  • Automated Updates – Keep all parties up-to-date as the transaction progresses
  • Reduced Fraud – Get data directly from borrowers and third parties
  • Smart Stacking – Submit cleaner packages to help you get preferred pricing and quicker underwriting turn times

Want to know more about RealKey? Contact us today for a demo.

 

About MassChallenge

MassChallenge is the global network for innovators. Headquartered in the United States with seven locations worldwide, MassChallenge equips bold entrepreneurs to disrupt the status quo and to create meaningful change. Since launching in 2009, more than 2,900 MassChallenge alumni have raised $8.6B in funding, generated $3.6B in revenue, and created more than 186,000 total jobs. Learn more about MassChallenge. 

About IBM

IBM’s support of MassChallenge is part of Reigniting Small Business from IBM, a program that provides no-cost education and coaching designed to help small businesses run their companies more effectively as the COVID-19 pandemic eases. As part of the program, IBM volunteers and other industry professionals are available to coach individual entrepreneurs at no cost. Reigniting Small Business from IBM also offers live and on-demand tutorial sessions from program partners and IBM that include primers on topics such as human resources; accounting; funding; legal; and digital branding, marketing and customer relationship strategy.

 

RealKey Secures Impressive $3.4 Million Seed Funding Round to Make Mortgage Processing More Efficient

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Zulu Assets Leads Investment in Next-Generation Digital Mortgage Technologies

RealKey, an innovator in digital mortgage technologies that enable bank and non-bank mortgage lenders and brokers to streamline the mortgage loan processing experience, today announced that it closed $3.4 million in seed funding, led by Zulu Assets. Additional investors included 2Enable Partners, Second Century Ventures (NAR-National Association of Realtors investment arm), Sandalphon Capital, Little Green Bamboo Capital, and numerous notable angel groups.

The seed funding was oversubscribed by $400K, further solidifying RealKey’s position in the digital mortgage space. The infusion of capital will enable RealKey to accelerate the launch of new products, broaden its services, and aggressively pursue new market opportunities.

“We are excited to support RealKey’s transformation of loan processing,” said Blake Picquet of Zulu Assets. “Who hasn’t had a bad experience in the lending process? RealKey is poised to dominate this space once people realize the time savings and efficiencies that can be gained by all parties.”

Over the past year, RealKey has experienced rapid growth, solidifying partnerships with Flagstar Bank, one of the largest residential mortgage servicers and banks in the United States. In addition, the company now has nearly 100 lenders and 3,500 loan programs built into its AI, as well as hundreds of brokerages utilizing RealKey’s digital mortgage platform.

“We are excited to partner with our investors, whose investment in our company further validates RealKey’s positive momentum in the mortgage space,” said Christopher Hussain, CEO, RealKey. “We are growing rapidly as we move closer to our vision of a document-centric and unified approach to finance and fintech. We look forward to progressing to the next phase of AI to automate processing and underwriting further, improving communications, implementing our own OCR, and integrating with more lenders’ LOSs, POSs, and other ecosystem partners. We could not have accomplished what we have without a great team and the support of our investors.”

RealKey Founders Club: Get Exclusive Access to RealKey’s CEO and Leadership Team

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Christopher Hussain, CEO and Founder

Home sales are at record highs across the country, and that means for those in the mortgage industry, having the right technology is more important than ever. By being an early adopter to cutting-edge solutions, you can gain an upper hand by closing faster, providing a better experience for your customers, and increasing client acquisitions so that you can grow your business. RealKey is helping mortgage loan originators (MLOs) do just that with the Founders Club, an exclusive group of users who learned about and joined RealKey before all others.

We know that understanding and addressing what our customers want, need, and expect is the core to success for you and for us. As a Founders Club member, we’ll give you extra time and attention to help maximize your productivity by minimizing wasted time and expense beyond the RealKey platform. That means you will have exclusive access to me, Christopher Hussain, and RealKey’s leadership team. I will share with you my insights, and tips and tricks so that you can do more with less effort. I will help you nurture your business growth, and show you how to seamlessly interact with everyone involved in the mortgage process so that it’s an enjoyable experience for you and your customers.

Founders Club exclusive access includes:

  • Christopher, CEO and Founder of RealKey, will make himself available for one-on-one discussions with branch offices. Based upon availability, Christopher will also provide single MLOs with extra time and support to help them improve performance and productivity. 
  • RealKey’s leadership team will host bi-weekly user group meetings to share ideas and learn what features are most important to their business.

Offices and MLOs who would like to participate must sign up for RealKey by May 12th.

When signing up, there is no cost or obligation required of you. You will have early access for users of your choice, plus 14 full days beyond May 12th to continue trialing the product before any charges are made.

With the Founders Club, we are rewarding our most loyal users by providing increased access to the leadership team, because your success is our success. As time progresses, additional exclusive perks will be provided to our most loyal users, including designation of your status on our platform.

With the RealKey Digital Mortgage Platform, we are changing how the mortgage industry operates, shortening the loan processing cycle by up to 50%. We are setting a new standard for more efficient mortgage processing by automating documentation collection and review by underwriters and processors, and streamlining communications through a centralized chat for all collaborators in the mortgage process.

Want to learn more about the Founders Club, and how you can join now to gain exclusive and early access?  Visit here.

RealKey Adds Industry Thought Leader Rob Reid to Executive Team

RealKey, an innovative provider of digital mortgage technology, today announced the strategic appointment of Rob Reid, who joins the company as Head of Sales Operations and Strategic Partnerships. In this role, Reid will lead the company’s sales and business development efforts, helping build the RealKey brand within the mortgage industry and beyond. 

“I am thrilled to have Rob join RealKey’s leadership team. He has a proven track record of implementing forward-thinking strategies and successfully building brand awareness that results in significant growth,” said Christopher Hussain, Founder and CEO of RealKey. “Choosing to be part of our transformational efforts is validation of the market need for the digital platform we are delivering and the potential for RealKey to shake up the status quo. He joins a team of leaders from many industries who are helping us make our mark in the industry.”

Before joining RealKey, Reid held leadership positions that span a number of notable organizations, including zipLogix, Equifax and Threewide/ListHub. He brings over three decades of business development experience in the software industry, and as RealKey’s Head of Sales Operations and Strategic Partnerships, he oversees the strategic growth and expansion of RealKey.

Reid joins an elite group of leaders on the RealKey executive team, who bring mortgages and lending, real estate sales, software design and development, and brand marketing experience from companies like TurboTax, Intuit, Oracle, ZipLogix, and Esurance/AllState. Founder and CEO Hussain was also the top mortgage originator in the U.S. for two consecutive years prior to starting RealKey.

“Joining RealKey is an opportunity to get in on the ground-floor of a company that will bring much-needed change to the mortgage industry,” said Reid. “We are digitally transforming the mortgage industry with an innovative platform that enables intelligent document collection and centralized communications for all parties involved, bringing significant improvements to how mortgages are processed and underwritten. I’m excited to be building this company and contributing to our future success.”

“Having Rob on-board will be key to our efforts to transform the lending process and deliver cutting-edge technology solutions that improve the experience for everyone involved,” said Alan Tifford, Head of Experience Design Strategy for RealKey. “We are on the threshold of huge growth as we build the RealKey brand and deliver best-in-class products and experiences to our customers, and Rob’s contributions to our efforts will be invaluable.”

Introducing the RealKey Referral Program

Get Paid for Referring Your Colleagues and Other Mortgage Broker/Lender Offices to RealKey

Christopher Hussain, CEO and Founder

RealKey is excited to announce the launch of the RealKey Referral Program. We want to improve the industry, quickly. So, we made this simple referral program to help get the word out, and give everyone involved a little incentive. Your broker/lender friends get the benefit of adding RealKey as their favorite new secret weapon. Not to mention, the more people who are on RealKey, the easier your future transactions will be for you and the rest of the industry.

The RealKey Referral Program is simple. You get paid based on how many new users you refer to us to sign-up for an account (MLOs, Processors, Internal Underwriters, and Managers of Brokers and Lenders). The more lenders and brokers lives you improve by introducing to RealKey, the better this industry will be. Here’s a bit more detail:

  • Classic: $40 for a new monthly subscription referral or $200 for a new annual subscription referral
  • Guilded Referrer (10 referrals or more for 3 consecutive months): $50 for a new monthly subscription referral or $250 for a new annual subscription referral

Referral Process:

  • Refer colleagues to the RealKey website to create their new account
  • Have your referral enter your email address in the referral code section of the credit card screen (note: new accounts get a no-obligation 7-day trial, meaning they have nothing to lose)
  • RealKey will send you an email after the new user’s 1st month to obtain your PayPal or Zelle info to get you paid

It’s time to introduce your colleagues to a better, more efficient way of working by streamlining loan processing and underwriting using RealKey’s digital mortgage platform.

Have any questions? Contact us today.

Top MLOs Use RealKey to Reduce Wasted Time and Gain the Upperhand on the Lending Industry

Christopher Hussain, CEO and Founder

The top originators in the industry are a different breed. It’s not only the way they sell or the countless hours they spend in the office that makes them the best. What sets them apart is the efficiency at which they originate and process their transactions, so that they have the extra time to do more and be more. The tools they use give them an upper hand over those who are late to adopt. And RealKey is the latest tool these top producers are swearing by, signing up themselves and their teams as early adopters to further their advantage over those who are not in the know.

It’s time to rise above the average, and level the playing field. To get there, you need to do what the top originators do, and adapt quickly to changes in the industry — adopting the latest tools early so that you can wield them expertly ahead of the competition, gaining the upper hand. Leveraging RealKey makes processing, underwriting, and closing an effortless process. Learn from the top originators — there is a better, more productive way to operate your business, so stop losing deals to other lenders because of too many conditions and not enough time! In a nutshell, RealKey gives back to you the hours to days spent emailing and calling everyone involved in the process, dealing with an endless list of needed documentation to clear your files to close.

As we all know, missing conditions add even more time to an already broken process, because it takes just one oversight to put an immediate halt to your transactions. With the RealKey Digital Mortgage Platform, you can cut your mortgage processing time by up to 50%, creating the time you need to focus on doing more with less effort and resources. RealKey is a tool that differentiates you and your company from the endless list of competitors, drastically improving the likelihood of repeat and referral business, and increasing your efficiency by making transactions more effortless for you and everyone involved.

How RealKey Can Help You

  • Intelligent document collection and review, so that conditions are met the first time with less back-and-forth with underwriting
  • Automated updates sent to all parties involved, so everyone knows how a transaction is progressing
  • Comprehensive repository, where all relevant documents are securely stored in the cloud, and can be uploaded and downloaded 24/7 by all parties involved based on user roles, not just the borrower
  • Centralized communication through chat, where all parties can chat as a group within document requirement rooms, as well as individually, greatly improving response times for busy people who do not have the time or privacy for phone calls and multiple emails

Are you ready to operate like the top originators by adopting the latest tools to increase your efficiency and grow your business? Get started today and stop losing deals to your competitors. Sign-up here for a seven-day free trial.

RealKey Receives Honorable Mention in MReport’s Top 30 Companies in Mortgage & Servicing

Christopher Hussain, CEO and Founder

RealKey is pleased to announce that we received an honorable mention in MReport’s Top 30 Companies in Mortgage & Servicing. Companies recognized in this year’s edition were selected because of their blend of benefits, perks, culture, and atmosphere, providing their employees with a great place to work. MReport recognized those companies specializing in the following six categories: Lenders and Servicers, Government, Legal Providers, Minority or Women-Owned Companies, Service Providers, and Tech Providers.

With the soon-to-be launched RealKey Digital Mortgage Platform, we are shortening the loan processing cycle by up to 50% and setting a new standard for more efficient mortgage processing. RealKey provides automated and intelligent collection of documents, review of data, and secure communications among all collaborators in the mortgage process.

Want to learn more about RealKey? Click here to schedule a demo.

RealKey Accepted Into the Flagstar Bank MortgageTech Accelerator Program, the First and Only U.S. Accelerator in the Mortgage Industry

Christopher Hussain, CEO and Founder

RealKey is honored to announce that we were accepted into the Flagstar Bank MortgageTech Accelerator Program, the first and only U.S. accelerator of its kind in the mortgage industry. The Flagstar MortgageTech Accelerator focuses on startups active in developing innovative technology solutions for the mortgage industry. The three-month online program was designed by Flagstar Bank, the sixth largest mortgage originator in the country. This is the second round of startups to participate in Flagstar’s Mortgage Accelerator since its launch in 2019.

Benefits provided to program participants include:

  • Access to experienced Flagstar mentors, members of the C-Suite, and other top executives
  • Bespoke roadmap design for product acceleration, development, and real product-testing opportunities
  • Network of potential customers and access to backend systems exclusive to Flagstar Bank

RealKey was selected to participate because of our robust business plan, experienced leadership team, and our innovative technology that demonstrates a clear product development and execution roadmap.

With the soon-to-be launched RealKey Digital Mortgage Platform, we are shortening the loan processing cycle by up to 50% and setting a new standard for more efficient mortgage processing. RealKey provides automated and intelligent collection of documents, review of data, and secure communications among all collaborators in the mortgage process.

Want to learn more about RealKey? Click here to schedule a demo.

About Flagstar
Flagstar Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: FBC) is a $29.5 billion savings and loan holding company headquartered in Troy, Mich. Flagstar Bank, FSB, provides commercial, small business, and consumer banking services through 160 branches in Michigan, Indiana, California, Wisconsin and Ohio. It also provides home loans through a wholesale network of brokers and correspondents in all 50 states, as well as 87 retail locations in 29 states, representing the combined retail branches of Flagstar and its Opes Advisors mortgage division. Flagstar is a leading national originator and servicer of mortgage and other consumer loans, handling payments and record keeping for $227.4 billion of loans representing slightly over 1.1 million borrowers. For more information, please visit flagstar.com.

Get to Funding Faster with Facilitated, Intelligent Documentation Gathering

Christopher Hussain, CEO and Founder

With the RealKey Digital Mortgage Platform, you can maximize your productivity and scale your business by drastically reducing wasted time and expense. How? By getting to funding faster with our facilitated and intelligent documentation gathering, which ensures that underwriters get everything they need to facilitate a cleaner, quicker approval.

What RealKey can do for you:

  • Ensure the Right Documents are Collected: RealKey walks your customers and third parties through the documentation process step-by-step, explaining to them what is needed and why. Is there information missing? Do you need a signature? RealKey provides real-time feedback so that everything is done right the first time.
  • Provide a Seamless User-Experience: RealKey is user-friendly and seamlessly works with your everyday workflows. We work with what you, your clients, and vendors already use, doing what they don’t.
  • Automate Documentation Collection: RealKey knows what each party in the mortgage process needs, and shares that documentation accordingly, while also streamlining and automating documentation collection and review.

Are you ready to cut your loan processing time in half? Visit here to sign-up for a seven-day free trial.

Bah Humbug – How Mortgage Loan Originators can Survive the Holiday Crunch

By Christopher Hussain, CEO and Founder

Whether you’re the homeowner, real estate agent, or Mortgage Loan Originator (MLO), getting a mortgage approved is a time consuming and painful process. With so much information and documentation needed by numerous parties, with varying deadlines, the endless loop of processing paperwork can be trauma inducing, and it only gets worse during the holiday season. Like your local retailers on Black Friday, the holidays tend to be the source of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for most lenders and brokers.

The typical MLO’s day is long, with a continuous pipeline of transactions requiring numerous manual processes. Each transaction requires many hours, even days of effort, spent just on calling and emailing all of the parties involved in the mortgage process to gather requirements and keep everyone updated on the progress of each loan. Once November and December arrive, the number of transactions escalate, as individuals try to complete financing before the year’s end. So, while most people spend this time celebrating with family and friends, for MLOs, the holidays not only mean more work, but also, longer turnaround times. Why? Because no one is around!!!

Phone calls and emails go unanswered, as the typical MLO is completely alone while everyone else takes a vacation to enjoy the holiday season. Unlike the rest of the world, MLOs do not have the luxury of simply “disappearing.” Bottom line, if they want to do a good job, they do not get to take a vacation.

I know this firsthand. For two years, I was the country’s top MLO, and to get there, I had to make a lot of personal sacrifices. I had clients and agents counting on me to make their holidays by closing their transactions. So, the months of November and December were always the busiest time of the year. And every year it was the same – a chaotic mess of paperwork that needed to close by year’s end. As a result, I could not afford to take time off to go on a holiday getaway with my family because I was too busy working in an industry with broken processes. Thanksgiving and Christmas blew, and were undoubtedly the worst times of my life. In fact, there were many occasions when I broke down and was brought to tears — I wanted to do a good job and make my clients happy, so that meant while others enjoyed their holidays, I worked non-stop and did not spend time with my family. There were no ski vacations, evenings gathered by the fire, or leisurely afternoons with family and friends. For me, holidays were not a time of joy, but rather, one of pure misery. BAAAAAAHHHHH HUMBUG!!!

Further exacerbating the situation is COVID-19. The pandemic has led to a crushing demand of new borrowers and those in search of refinancing as a result of today’s unprecedented economic pressures. Add to that, turn around times are now even longer, and lenders are adding overlays and requirements that did not previously exist — — SERIOUSLY?! As if MLOs don’t have enough roadblocks and broken processes to go through, when all we want to do is help our clients!

After one holiday too many spent chasing down conditions to fund these loans, I had enough. MLOs, processors, underwriters, title and escrow agents, and all the other parties involved in the mortgage process deserve a more cost efficient, less time consuming business that provides accurate, fast service, resulting in happier customers.

With the RealKey Digital Mortgage Platform, we are doing just that by not only shortening the loan processing cycle by roughly 50%, but also, by providing a much-needed solution through our automated conditioning system that provides processing and underwriting feedback when no one is around. With RealKey, everyone involved in the mortgage loan process can see what is or is not done on the transaction, saving countless hours – even days – that were once spent calling and emailing all relevant parties. We are setting a new standard for more efficient mortgage processing through automated and intelligent collection of documents, review of data, and secure communications among all collaborators in the mortgage process.

Want to reclaim your holidays while still providing a world-class experience? With RealKey, never say “Bah Humbug!” again, thanks to our platform’s automated collection and review of documents, and streamlined communication for everyone involved in your transactions. Visit here to sign-up for a seven-day free trial.