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Guaranteed Rate has expanded its Spanish language access program to include loan disclosures that describe loan terms and fees, allowing the company to take borrowers all the way from application through closing entirely in Spanish.
Arlyn Kalinski
Loan disclosures “reveal critical details on loan terms, projected monthly payments, and how much the consumer will pay in fees and other costs to get their mortgage,” said Guaranteed Rate executive Arlyn Kalinski, in a statement. “Guaranteed Rate walks customers through the loan estimates and closing disclosures in Spanish, with a real time digital version the customer can print [or] save as reference.”
Guaranteed Rate recruited Kalinski last year to create a nationwide bilingual processing team in Spanish and over-the-phone interpretation services for customers in more than 170 languages.
Kalinski — whose official title at Guaranteed Rate is vice president of compliance, Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Program — helped Guaranteed Rate launch a Spanish-language version of the company’s website in April, along with digital mortgage applications in Spanish.
Camilo Escalante
Spanish-speaking borrowers often dread the mortgage application process due to the language barrier, and in the past may have had to rely on family members or friends to act as interpreters, said Camilo Escalante, executive director of diverse segments at Guaranteed Rate, at the time.
“Guaranteed Rate is dedicated to building trust with our Hispanic community, and by providing the full mortgage application in Spanish we are giving these hard-working families the same technology and tools available to English-speaking customers,” Escalante said in April.
Guaranteed Rate says its language access programs allows the company’s language certified loan originators to market, advertise, and solicit business in Spanish in all 50 states.
“We are changing how the entire mortgage industry will communicate with the Hispanic community from here forward,” Escalante said, in a statement.
The Urban Institute predicts that Latinos will account for 70 percent of homeownership growth over the next 20 years. But according to CSA Research, 40 percent of consumers say they’ll never buy things from websites in other languages, and 76 percent prefer to buy products with information in their native language.
In July, mortgage technology provider Maxwell announced a Spanish-language point-of-sale platform designed to help small-to-midsize mortgage lenders provide better services to Latino homebuyers with limited English proficiency.
Borrowers using Maxwell’s Español mortgage solution can complete mortgage applications in Spanish or English, switching back and forth between languages at any time.
Loan officers can work in English, and Maxwell’s point-of-sale platform integrates with lenders’ back-end loan loan origination systems to ensure compliance with Uniform Residential Loan Application requirements.
Also this week, Guild Mortgage announced a partnership with the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) that the company said would further its efforts to do more business in diverse communities.
Victoria Garcia DeLuca
The partnership is “vital to growing our impact in the Hispanic community,” Guild executive Victoria Garcia DeLuca said, in a statement. DeLuca, who joined Guild Mortgage in January as vice president of marketplace diversity strategy, is a member of NAHREP’s board of governors.
By joining NAHREP, “Guild can amplify its work to reach and support Hispanic homebuyers with the information, education and loan programs they need to realize their homeownership dreams,” DeLuca said.
Guild Mortgage announced in July that it had partnered with technology provider FormFree to help borrowers without credit scores qualify for better rates on FHA, USDA and VA mortgages based on their rental payment histories, residual incomes and other data points.
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