Innovation in the mortgage market | Interhyp: tech is at the heart of our business

At the start in 2000 Interhyp was a first mover in digital mortgages. This German mortgage broker has a multichannel approach where tech plays a central role. How does tech help them to be in the forefront of the German mortgage market? We asked Florian Neumeier – Head of Product Development – 5 questions.

1. Interhyp is a full service digital mortgage provider. Which tech / tooling are at the heart of your online business?

The core of our business is the proprietary mortgage platform called eHyp. This system enables our mortgage advisors in the B2C business as well as B2B partners to compare lending criteria and rates of more than 400 mortgage lenders and thus benefit from fast handling times. Next to this back bone, it is our claim to provide the leading mortgage website as well as digital applications and tools for the German market.

2. Which elements in the online process have been the most difficult to develop? How did you overcome the obstacles encountered?

Until today, a full digital mortgage process does not exist in Germany. This reflects legal limitations as well as very different demands and processes by the more than 400 banks on our platform. To overcome this is one of our key goals. One of our major challenges was to build the engine to calculate the offers for our customers. More than 500 lending criteria and complex calculation patterns have to be handled with high performance. Our way was to build a generic and flexible scoring engine on the one hand and to reach a certain level of standardization of lending criteria which required intensive and long negotiations with our bank partners.

3. Looking at the online reviews on your site, your customers are very satisfied. Which elements are key in this high customer satisfaction?

First, we probably offer the most comprehensive information and tools around real estate financing in the German speaking internet. Second, we do not force our customers to opt for one channel OR the other. They can easily switch between face to face advice, telephone and all kinds of digital interaction. Since buying or building a home for most consumers is the by far biggest financial decision in life, even digital natives do not only expect convenient digital processes but also individual personal support.

4. In what manner does your business/concept differ from the other German mortgage banks? 

Most important: We are not a mortgage bank but a mortgage broker. This means that we can choose from the offerings of more than 400 mortgage lenders to find the best solution for our customers. Also, our multichannel approach differs from most banks that still force customers into their branches when it comes to mortgages.

5. Which other Fitech companies are or have been inspiring examples for Interhyp?

When going live in January 2000, Interhyp clearly was a first mover in digital mortgages and thus we hardly had any role models. But a few years before, the idea of open architecture and transparency for the customer has been successfully been introduced to the investment arena [fund and stock trading] by a number of online brokerage firms. And, of course, we saw this trend towards transparency in other industries such as travel.

Geplaatst op: 26 juni 2018