Fifth Third Bank has inked a new deal with digital lending platform Blend to streamline the mortgage application process and eliminate paper-based, manual steps that have traditionally bogged down the home financing process.

Prior to the partnership, which was announced last week, all Fifth Third’s mortgage applications were completed manually, with several mortgage loan specialists checking for various documents and verifying information, Chris Shroat, head of mortgage at the $202 billion bank, told Bank Innovation.

Now, much of the formerly manual information gathering and verification is automated. The application can be completed online and customers can pull necessary data directly from verified sources, like bank or payroll information, to complete the application more quickly and reliably. Customers can also track the status of their loan application in an online portal, and upload documents, consent and sign electronically, and receive reminders if additional information is needed.

The average mortgage can require up to 400 pages of paper, according to Blend CEO Nima Ghamsari, adding that the fintech’s banking customers have reduced the amount of paper used by 75% while shaving about nine days off the entire process.

According to Ghamsari, Blend works with more than 250 lenders across the country, including BMO Harris Bank, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, and processes $4 billion in loans daily, for a total of more than $1 trillion in loan volume this year to date. In addition to digitizing the mortgage experience, which launched in February, Blend also provides services across deposit accounts, home equity loans, auto loans, personal loans and credit cards.

The move to digitize the mortgage application experience comes as customers of the Cincinnati-based Fifth Third bank shift to online services, and as the demand for mortgages outpaces last year’s levels.

Almost 75% of Fifth Third transactions are now digital and there has been a 28% jump in mobile logins in the past year, Shroat said. Since launching the digital application a few months ago, more than 75% of Fifth Third’s mortgage and refinance applications were started online, he added.

Meanwhile, Blend saw more than a 300% year-over-year increase in mortgage purchase and refinance applications flowing through its system between March and November, Ghamsari added. Industrywide, demand for mortgage purchase and refinance is up 50% year over year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, and Fannie Mae anticipates mortgage lending to reach an all-time high of $3.9 trillion.

“Applying for a mortgage is often the biggest financial transaction a person will make in their lifetime, but it has traditionally been very paper-heavy, confusing and cumbersome,” Ghamsari said. “There’s a massive opportunity to use automation to improve and further streamline processes throughout consumer banking, and especially in mortgage, with all its manual and repeated tasks.”