SouthState Bank embraces eClose innovation with Blend

Customer experience, security, sustainability - these are just three of the pillars that have formed SouthState Bank's digital banking strategy. Even as recently as a few years ago, financial services industry experts spoke of the looming digital transformation that would eventually shake up the world of finance. But that future is now. Which is why everyone at SouthState recognizes the importance of working toward one thing daily: tomorrow.

SouthState is a midsize regional bank in the southeast, serving customers in areas like Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. The secret to their success in a rapidly evolving digital landscape? The ability to offer customers the best of both worlds. SouthState's Director of Mortgage Strategic Initiatives, Shane Horan, and the mortgage technology team quickly realized that success in the digital age would lie in their bank's ability to strike the perfect balance between dedicated, personal service and advanced technology offerings.

"Offering a digital closing experience is essential to our broader business strategy. It's no longer a matter of offering an added benefit to the customer - it's the new standard. And if your bank isn't leveraging advanced technology, you're going to fall behind."

Shane Horan
Director of Mortgage Strategic Initiatives

Striking a balance

Horan's team was bogged down by the operational drag and inefficiencies that come with shuffling stacks of paper back and forth on both sides of the closing desk, and customers were left asking why the closing process was so lengthy and inefficient. The SouthState team knew they needed to adopt a digital-first solution that would allow loan officers to focus on enhancing traditional, customer-first experiences.

Prior to partnering with Blend, SouthState offered a traditional, wet-sign closing process. But a financial institution's ability to offer eClosing is no longer a stand-out feature - it's the standard.

"Before Blend, our pain points were largely operational. Things took longer than they needed to, and there was nothing about the process that would wow a borrower. Especially if they'd spent the entire process in a portal e-signing all their documents, just to have to go back to the old school way of doing things."

Embracing e-close innovation

As SouthState searched for a technology partner, delivering a seamless digital experience was non-negotiable. And, according to Horan, "Blend had a totally comprehensive e-close solution" that enabled SouthState customers to work in a single system that provided the white glove experience that he was eager to offer.

Horan sees the benefit of both hybrid and fully remote online notarization (RON) solutions, with RON closings providing the ultimate convenience, while hybrid closings can give borrowers more time to review documents before wet-signing them in person. But at the end of the day it's all about meeting customers where they want to be met.

"The number one thing for us was how robust the Blend Close solution is. It offers all the various types of eClose scenarios, from a hybrid without an e-note, a hybrid with an e-note, and all the way up to a full RON closing with a Blend notary. That was truly the clear benefit for us."

Closing the door on inefficiency and opening up new time and money-saving opportunities

Since implementing Blend Close, the biggest benefit the SouthState mortgage team has seen is across operational efficiency, which ultimately leads to cost reduction across the board. With Blend's eClose solutions, both SouthState loan officers and borrowers are experiencing faster close times, with some fully virtual closings taking as few as 20 minutes to complete versus over an hour for traditional wet-sign closings. This time savings has meant that loan officers can service more borrowers faster and prioritize customer relationships over administrative transaction tasks.

As a Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seller servicer, the SouthState team has been able to send loans to Fannie and Freddie in just 24 to 48 hours - whereas before adopting an eClose solution, it could take up to five to seven business days. Horan says that being able to drastically cut the loan cycle time has translated to "tremendous pickup" from a financial and operational perspective.

Although RON closings aren't as frequent for SouthState, the ability to offer them has also been a benefit to Horan's team, especially for loans that would have otherwise gone sideways. From military borrowers deployed overseas, to customers with spouses living abroad, and even borrowers who can't physically attend an in-person closing, Horan says that being able to close on loan from anywhere in the world is a huge benefit for both their customers and their team.

"Getting face-to-face time with borrowers is really the main concern for our LOs. They don't wanna miss the closing because they feel like they have that borrower relationship to foster. Now they're able to do that virtually and still get the same benefits in a much shorter period of time."

Embracing the future of digital lending

Horan's team went all-in on adopting an eClose solution, and for them, there's no going back. Horan believes that, despite some lingering doubt from people resistant to change, digital closing will just continue to grow naturally - and that traditional closings will soon be a thing of the past: "It's like when we look back, it's hard to believe that we used to have a binder full of paper files. We don't do that anymore. And looking forward, in the next ten years, digital closings will be the industry standard".

Now that SouthState has embraced digital innovation, they can't wait to see what comes next. Their team is currently in the process of rolling out Blend Conditions Sync, which will enable them to push conditions automatically from their LOS to Blend as follow-ups for the borrower - which, today, is a manual process at SouthState. Horan says that they're always looking to automate as much as they can upfront for their borrowers, and that Blend's technology is on the forefront of the technological innovation that can get them there.

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