Targeted growth in home equity lending for a community lender can be a daunting task. The “big banks” dominate as they control roughly half of that market. If a community lender isn’t actively marketing home equity loans and lines of credit offerings, they are giving up potential market share to a handful of banking giants.
Even in today’s dynamic environment of increased regulations and lending oversight, many community lenders remain committed to some old-school processes within their loan operations. In some cases, inefficiencies and frustrations can be common issues that are connected to these burdensome administrative processes. In a time when many community lenders are adopting a “get lean” approach to their operations, for some reason, these old-school philosophies remain entrenched. The phrase, “but that is how we have always done it” is uttered often. Why is it that simple change can be so difficult to embrace? Why, from the executives to the loan operations staff, is it often difficult for a community lender to let go of these old-school processes?
