Written by Nate Christensen
Updated on June 5th, 2023
Table of Contents
Audience: Loan Servicer or Collector, Upper Management, Loan Servicing/Collections Managers, Administrator
If you are new to the concept of Process Wizards and would like to learn the basics, consider reading our Intro to Process Wizards article first.
Introduction
Process Wizards are customizable guides that lead users through a process of actions. These exist entirely in the software, and they serve the functions of helping your users through a process, reducing human error, and improving the security of your loans accounts' accuracy. These guides can be created by those with admin-level access; and if that applies to you, you also get to determine which of your personnel get to use them.
In this article, we'll explain how to create wizards yourself, how to use them, and how to assign them to your personnel. Then, we'll cover some common uses and questions about process wizards.
Revenue Use Case
Use Case: Process Wizards/Revenue
The Problem
A lender decides to implement a new payment program to increase collections from borrowers who are undergoing hardship. In order to implement this plan within the company, they train new employees, make quick reference guides about how a loan or borrower becomes eligible for the program and demonstrate to their people the way to implement the payment program within their lending software. The result is that agents now use the payment program as a way to appease angry customers, not just to help customers who qualify. The program is occasionally improperly implemented due to human error.
LoanPro's Solution
Process Wizards are an excellent way to make sure revenue-driving measures are implemented and adopted well. For something like a payment program, a loan will only qualify, and the Wizard to implement the program will only be made available, based on the lender's business logic. The program enrollment will happen through the wizard, but the changes to the loan will be made behind the scenes by Rules Applied, making the plan effective, and training and adoption easy, speeding implementation.
Efficiency Use Case
Use Cases: Process Wizards/Efficiency
The Problem
During the life of a loan, a borrower may declare bankruptcy. This process includes several steps, and can be quite involved. It also doesn't come up that often, so it probably requires special training and knowledge about all the moving parts. If a bankruptcy isn't handled correctly, it's possible the lender will lose their claim to repayment of the debt. So, it's important to make sure bankruptcy or other less-common lending processes are something that servicing agents and managers are trained on. It's also important not to let untrained personnel make uninformed bankruptcy decisions. Wizards help solve these issues.
LoanPro's Solution
Lenders create Wizards for lending processes, like bankruptcy, so they can give permission only to specific servicing agents to carry out those processes. Lenders can also set rules to check that a loan qualifies for a process before it's carried out. When agents use a Wizard they are guided through a screen-by-screen process within LoanPro that lets them enter only relevant information for each step. Each screen within the Wizard includes customizable, detailed instructions. Any important updates to a loan that should be made as part of the process are done behind the scenes by rules applied, moving decision making to the business level and reducing training time and cost as well as human error.
Compliance Use Case
Use Case: Process Wizards/Compliance
The Problem
A lender who uses LoanPro has a borrower who is called to active-duty military service, qualifying them for an interest rate reduction from 15% to 6%. The borrower calls the lender and the phone is answered by a servicing agent. The borrower asks the agent to please lower their interest rate. Initially the agent refuses, but the borrower explains that the interest rate reduction is required by law. The agent reduces the interest rate to 6%. No documentation on the call to active duty was ever requested. Nothing but the rate change was recorded, so an audit of the loan might prompt the business to raise the rate back to what it was. Correctly carrying out lending processes in a compliant way with sufficient documentation can be a problem for lenders.
LoanPro's Solution
Process Wizards help keep you compliant. A Process Wizard is designed to walk servicing agents, managers, and other personnel through a specific process. As the user moves through each screen, they can enter information relevant to the process, and can be required to enter necessary information. Completing a process using a Process Wizard ensures consistency, trackability, and that the necessary information will be gathered and provided, keeping the lender compliant.
How Process Wizards Work
Process Wizards, like the name implies, guides users through a complex process. They do this by allowing you to create instructions on what a user should do during a specific situation. The Wizard will take the user to the part of the software you determine they need; and if you'd like, you can add text, video, and audio instructions to the page. Let's look into how Process Wizards are created.
Common Uses & Questions
Since Process Wizards are customizable, there is nearly no limit to how you can implement them in your lending operation. However, we often see users implement Process Wizards to ensure processes with multiple steps are followed correctly and accurately. For example, many lenders follow a lengthy process in the instance that a borrower determines a loan was acquired fraudulently. This process may include receiving a fraud notice, determining the loan's fraudulence, and possibly charging-off the loan. Any missteps could pose a risk to the business, so easy-to-follow Wizards prove to be a necessity.
Some users also determine that they'd like to create User Roles that allow access only to Wizards themselves. If this is something that would help you and your team, we recommend reading our Process Wizard Roles article.
Depending on your role, you may be wondering how Process Wizards apply to you. Here's a breakdown:
Loan Servicer or Collector Use
If you're a part of your company's servicing or collections team, Process Wizards have likely been created for you to use. You might be using Process Wizards to log payments, complete a fraud process, and more. You likely won't be creating Wizards for yourself, but your manager or supervisor may be responsible for that.
Upper Management Use
If you're in an Upper Management position, you may be very familiar with the processes your business follows. You will likely be determining the processes themselves, and deciding how your team will follow through with them. Creating Process Wizards could fall under your scope of responsibility, but it's also likely that you'll be delegating the creation process to your team managers.
Loan Servicing/Collections Managers Use
For those in Servicing and Collections Manager roles, Wizards are going to directly involve you and those who you manage. You'll likely be in a position of ensuring servicers and collection personnel are completing Wizards correctly and that the Wizards are built in a way that complements your company's processes.
Administrator Use
When it comes to those in Admin positions, your knowledge of your lending operation will likely lead you to describing processes to others or even creating Wizards for those processes yourself. Regardless of whether you are creating Wizards, you'll likely be determining if your processes are accurate and effective and if Wizards are a good solution for your team.
Can I rely fully on Process Wizards to ensure my personnel are doing things correctly? As much as Process Wizards will help your team, there will need to be a bit of involvement from you. The combination of good training and robust Process Wizards can nearly eliminate errors.
I've created Wizards, but I don't see them when I open a loan. Where are they? Your Agent User likely hasn't been assigned a Process Wizards Group that grants you access to those Wizards. If you're an admin, you can check this by navigating to Users > Agent Users > selecting your Agent User profile > Profile and Access.
Can I continue to use Wizards if the loan is fully paid off? Yes. If the account meets the rules and validations for a Wizard, you can still access them when the loan is paid off. If the account is archived, you will not be able to access Wizards or make any changes to the loan.
What’s Next
Now that you've created your Process Wizards, you'll need to assign them to your personnel via Wizard Groups. This is an important step, as it provides your personnel access to the Wizards you create. We suggest heading to the linked article above next to learn more.