Our life is changing; almost everything is online - entertainment, services, jobs. Even traditional financial services and governments are catching up with the digital revolution. It seems as if only mortgages are stuck in the past. If we want to buy a house, we still have to drag the stacks of paper between bank branches and brokers, waiting weeks and weeks for multiple evaluations and approvals, spending quite significant amounts of money.
But now one extraordinary woman did the bold move.
The web-based application that brought mortgages to the future.
It's fast, simple, with low fees and no hidden charges. Clients can complete the online application in minutes whenever and wherever they want. The app verifies clients' ID, performs a first credit check, and lets them know whether they get a mortgage and how much they can borrow. In the second step, it performs final checks of clients' records as well as digital property evaluation. Processes that used to last weeks have now been reduced to a few clicks of a button.
For now, the service is available for buy-to-let mortgages only. But wait for the blast as Molo will take over the rest of the market.
1. Building and connecting a strong team
Startups are fun. We needed to adopt the right mindset. Set up, and start using agile methods, define priorities, MVP, etc.
But first of all, we had to learn to understand each other – not only interdisciplinarily but also culturally. Connect people with profound business knowledge and experience from corporate finance in London, star developers in Kyiv, and the Czech delivery team.
2. Identifying needs and pain points of clients
We already knew that there was (and still is) a hunger on the market for simpler, faster, and ideally digital mortgages. But what parts of the process were the most difficult for clients? Jargon, duration, incomprehensibility, and paperwork. Elementary.
We talked to the brokers, lawyers, and vendors of the sub-services to get the whole picture. One of the critical topics in our interviews with professionals was risk management and how to treat it adequately in the digital world. Tricky.
3. Combining UX with technological feasibility and legal system
Using our expert knowledge of user-centric design, product management, and agile development, we created an E2E digital mortgage from scratch, in no time. We negotiated suppliers of additional services and integrated all the necessary technologies. We did everything to meet the needs of one of the most demanding markets. It paid off. Since its launch, the service received a significant number of nominations and awards.
Molo is London based FinTech, focused solely on reimagining mortgages. They started in the non-professional buy-to-let market and created a platform that allows customers to obtain instant mortgage loan approvals via an on-line 100% compliant process.
In the company’s first-half alone Molo surpassed more than £250 million in applications. and received Credit Strategy Lending awards after only one year of trading. They also received well-deserved media attention such as Forbes, TechCunch or UKTN.
