Velocity: The System of The Future with Heather Cermak VP DLCG

In this insightful episode, Len Lane, founder and president of Brokers for Life Inc., dives into the world of mortgage technology with Heather Cermak, Regional Vice President of Prairies at DLCG. They discuss the drastic changes in mortgage submission processes over the past 17 years, highlighting the shift from manual, paper-based systems to sophisticated digital platforms like Velocity.

Heather shares her journey in the mortgage industry and her experiences with various technology platforms. She emphasizes the importance of secure document handling and the role of Velocity in enhancing client and broker experiences. Len and Heather also explore the benefits of an integrated CRM, the significance of client engagement, and the positive feedback from both brokers and lenders regarding Velocity’s capabilities.

About Heather Cermak

Heather Cermak is the Regional Vice President of Prairies at Dominion Lending Centres Group (DLCG). With extensive experience in the mortgage industry, Heather has a deep understanding of the technological advancements that have shaped the sector. Her passion for improving client and broker experiences through innovative solutions makes her a valuable voice in the conversation about mortgage technology.

Resources discussed in this episode:

Velocity: https://newton.ca/velocity/

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Contact Len Lane | Brokers for Life:

Contact Heather Cermak:

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Transcript:

Len 00:02

Welcome. My name is Len Lane, and I am the founder and president of Brokers for Life Inc, and we are Dominion Lending Centres in Western Canada. The topic of our podcast will be about what we consider to be Real Life Mortgage Solutions.

Len 00:19

Welcome back. Today we’re going to talk about technology in the mortgage industry. 17 years ago, when I started in this business, there was one platform to submit to the lenders through my entire tracking system was a system of coloured folders, that I would move the file from started, already submitted, complete, waiting to get paid. So, I had four different folders lined up across my desk. And that was how the system was pretty much set up. We faxed everything to the lenders. And you didn’t even really knew if the other end received it because it could have jammed and at lot of long stories about some of those not happening over the years. But fast forward 17 years and there’s a bunch of different platforms out there to work with for different organizations. But in our case, I think we lucked out. And we have the best one I think in the industry. My guest today is Heather Cermak Regional Vice President of Prairies and we’re going to talk about Velocity. Welcome.

Heather 01:21

Thank you so much Len, I’m so excited to be here. And that story that you just told, brought back some PTSD memories from when I started out in the business and I was in my dad’s office and the fax feeder sometimes wouldn’t work. So, I had to stand there and then feed the pages in manually, like we have really come a long way, haven’t we?

Len 01:46

Uh, yeah. There was many late nights, trying to make sure we got everything through to the lenders. So. So, the DLCG is fortunate enough to have Velocity, probably the best platform, we’ve seen a variety of other ones over the years. And but this one seems to have all the bells and whistles and all the bells and whistles work. So, it’s quite impressive. So, what other platforms have you seen in the past? I know you’re with other groups.

Heather 02:13

For sure. And of course, I’m not going to mention any names. But you know, we’ve both been in the industry a long time. So, I have had the pleasure of working with a lot of the platforms out there. I’ll tell you just a quick little story. It was interesting because I was working with a company quite intimately with their technology platform. And then when I decided to make the move over to DLCG, as an employee, you know, that’s part of our mandate, we need to promote and sell the company’s platform and technologies. So, and I’m not a super techy wizard person. So, it was a little bit daunting to come over to a new group organization. And know, I had to learn a whole new tech platform. But what I found, to my surprise was the majority, and I mean, the large majority of brokers and owners, were already using velocity. So, I didn’t come into a situation where I felt like I had to force people to use something or put on a real sales pitch, everybody was already using it. And then to my even further delight, I was able to learn the system quite easily. I found it extremely intuitive. So, it was just so wonderful.

Len 03:36

Yeah, I think, you know, we back and forth about deciding to go on, we get on a full year now of fully integrated, we don’t use any other platform. And to have one of my biggest producers say to me that everything’s in one place, I’m going like, yeah, that’s what I’ve been telling you for the year before we got her to move. So, the entire team is on Velocity and there’s so many other facets to it as well, right where that tracking system I have is built into Velocity only, it’s now digital as opposed to a yellow, blue and black or whatever folder. So, it’s made quite a difference. Right? So, let’s talk about you spent a lot of time training of course as well part of your your overall scope of work, but it’s what do you think is the hardest thing for agents to grasp when they start to work with this system?

Heather 04:34

You know, it’s interesting because I’ll just put it out there. Like if I can learn this system, anybody can learn this system like it really is foolproof. It’s very intuitive, it’s easy to learn. So, I wouldn’t say that there’s any particular feature that’s hard to learn or any aspect. Where I find the difficulty for agents or owners to wrap their head around is it’s really more of a mindset. I think it comes down to brokers and owners feeling like change is hard. And it’s scary. And it’s difficult, right? I know, I can see you, I can see you being exasperated right now.

Len 05:19

I’ve been living with change all my life, right? And actually, one of the phrases that one of my past employers always said is things stop changing, start worrying.

Heather 05:33

Exactly, it’s really just a mindset and a philosophy. But the other big factor I feel is involved when agents just have a really difficult time wrapping their head around Velocity is that they underestimate the client’s ability. So, the broker or the owner has already made that decision that my client won’t be able to do this, or…