Customers are growing more comfortable completing (at least parts of) the loan process over online or mobile mediums, a study released today by Fiserv found.
The majority of customers, or 69% of the 3,095 U.S. adults surveyed, reported that they were comfortable researching loan options online, the Fiserv Expectations & Experiences: Borrowing and Wealth Management study found.
Only 27% of participants cited that they were comfortable researching loan options on their smartphone, however, indicating that more complex financial activities may still be left to digital channels rather than mobile.
Millennial customers were the outlier, naturally, with nearly half (49%) of those surveyed indicating that they would be comfortable doing loan research via mobile, compared to their peers.
When it comes to keeping off their smartphones for loans and other financial tasks outside of the purview of personal finance management, customers gave the expected reasons: 47% of those surveyed are still concerned over data privacy, though the top concern (according to 50% of participants) was the screen size of their phones — too small.
Additionally, about a third of survey participants (33%) noted that they preferred the “personal touch for questions,” the survey said, though whether that personal touch needs to come from a human was not stated.
Another 33% of participants also noted concerns that their data would be used without their permission should they look for or augment their loans on their smartphone, according to the survey.
However, mobile usage may expand as banks and financial institutions add new features for customer comfort: the majority of customers would gladly “perform new tasks if it enables them to expediate the loan process,” the survey states.
These tasks include time-saving measures like the e-signing of documents, as well as providing access to financial information by verifying their mobile banking credentials—a feature 42% of participants stated they would be comfortable using.
Take a look at the full survey here.
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