FinTech platform CredEvolv is integrating with Freddie Mac HomeCoach, enabling housing counselors to utilize the same automated underwriting tools that lenders use to assess mortgage eligibility.
CredEvolv takes the guesswork out of the credit remediation process by providing a direct connection between lenders and nonprofit credit counselors to get credit-deficient consumers mortgage-ready in an average of five months or less.
The integration of HomeCoach increases efficiencies for both lenders and HUD-certified housing counselors; CredEvolv’s platform creates a streamlined communication process between lenders, counselors, and consumers.
“We are thrilled to provide such a powerful innovation to the credit counseling space,” says Jeff Walker, CredEvolv’s CEO. “By integrating HomeCoach into our platform, our credit coaches can now use the same automated underwriting tools lenders use to assess mortgage readiness. This essentially eliminates any uncertainty that a credit-coached consumer will qualify for a low down payment loan when that consumer reapplies with his lender.”
Often, when a consumer is denied a mortgage due to credit, that consumer is offered no path forward for improving their credit and financial situation to achieve mortgage readiness. They fall out of the loan process entirely and are left to their own devices to figure out how to improve their credit. Based on CredEvolv’s own historical data, few consumers will take this step on their own. Consumers who receive coaching from counselors are far more likely to achieve credit well-being and ultimately qualify for a mortgage.
With CredEvolv’s platform, a lender can digitally introduce a credit-declined consumer directly to a counselor. Upon completion of the process, the counselor can now generate a Freddie Mac HomeCoach Feedback Certificate, which indicates if the consumer is ready to reapply with the lender.
“Freddie Mac and CredEvolv are truly aligned with our goal of helping to connect the dots between lenders and nonprofit credit counselors, so they can help more consumers become homeowners,” states Cindy Waldron, single-family vice president of research and analytics at Freddie Mac.
CredEvolv has also garnered support from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), whose member agencies educate and coach credit-challenged consumers.
“The CredEvolv concept of empowering a counselor to help customers become mortgage ready by integrating tools like HomeCoach, managing client referrals with lenders, and making document management easy, has the potential to be game changing for fee-for-service models,” comments Jenn Pizi, COO for NFCC. “This enhancement will allow counselors to better evaluate different scenarios, position customers to achieve better outcomes, and can serve as the backbone of a scalable, high-trust counseling process.”