Blend continues its push to automate aspects of mortgage loans, today releasing a lend officer tool that automates parts of the lending process.

The San Francisco, Calif.-based company will white label the loan officer (LO) toolkit as part of its mortgage point-of-sale platform, said John Whipple, a product manager at Blend and product lead for the new product.

Blend already offers a portal for loan officers to automate portions of the mortgage application intake process; it is one used by banks such as Fifth Third, BMO Harris Bank, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank. The new toolkit builds on that solution, Whipple told Bank Automation News.

“What we’ve done to automate a lot of the qualification steps we’ve traditionally seen LOs doing manually, after a borrower goes through our out-of-the box application process,” Whipple said. “The LO toolkit itself is expanding beyond just that basic application and going more into the space of being able to fully qualify loans, as well as support loan officers, even beyond that initial loan qualification into being able to lock rates and issue disclosures.”

Once a borrower submits their application online, the toolkit automatically pulls the credit and underwriting reports for the loan officer, while also showing the details of the loan application and allowing the loan officer to drill down into the details, such as the credit report. Loan officers can then run different loan-structure scenarios, such as an adjustable rate versus a fixed rate, or the pricing with an FHA loan.

See also: Blend’s recent acquisition of Title365 automates escrow

The loan officer toolkit can connect to existing bank systems via API and is available as a web portal or a mobile app for both iOS and Android, Whipple said. There are also workflows that support home equity loans and lines of credit. The fintech plans to expand into other types of loans, as well, including credit card applications and automobile financing, he added.

Leslie Parrish, a senior analyst with Aite Group’s retail banking practice, told BAN that Blend gives banks an alternative to move away from those traditional legacy systems.

“This is a good representation of how Blend helps its clients automate their loan-origination processes,” Parrish said. “Often, these financial institutions are dealing with legacy LOs and other solutions that can be difficult to manage. Blend provides an updated user interface that is growing in its capabilities to better automate this otherwise cumbersome process.”

Bank Automation Ignite, on April 13-14, is the event for inspiring automation initiatives and investment in financial services. At the virtual event, financial services professionals can discover new use cases and technologies that are accelerating automation in banking. Learn more and register at www.BankAutomationIgnite.com.