Mortgages deserve more scrutiny
The survey showed that increased friction and security is deemed appropriate by consumers when it comes to applying and onboarding for specific high-value financial products.
Despite relatively high levels of ease and confidence in applying for day-to-day online financial products such as current accounts, savings, loans and credit cards, more than half (61%) of customers polled expect greater rigor when it comes to mortgage applications.
Research showed that just 30% of Australians would apply for a mortgage digitally, compared to the survey average of around one in three (34%). In all countries bar the USA and UK, in-branch openings are preferred to online methods. South Africa was a modest outlier with 43% of customers favoring online mortgage applications.
A little over one in two Australians polled (52%) said they were willing to answer 11 to 20 or more questions when it came to applying online for a mortgage.
Don’t change the channel
Australians who open an account digitally prefer to carry out the process entirely in their chosen channel, whether it be smartphone or website. If customers are asked to move out of channel to prove their identities, many of them will abandon the application, either giving up on opening an account completely or by going to a competitor. Of those who don’t immediately abandon, up to an additional 17% will delay the process.
The survey found that any disruption matters. Asking people to scan and email documents or use a separate identity portal causes almost as much application abandonment as asking them to visit branches or mail in documents.
This survey was conducted in January 2021 by an independent research company adhering to research industry standards. 1,000 Australian adults were surveyed, along with 13,000 consumers in the USA, UK, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
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