While the loan process went unchanged for many, many years, times are changing and loans need to keep up. These days, people can access almost any service from their phones or computers, and they expect banking and loans to be the same. You need to give borrowers the modern experience and features they’ve become accustomed to or you risk losing them to a competitor who does.

Here are five things borrowers expect from a loan today. How many do you offer?

Online and Mobile Management

It’s no secret that today’s consumers are staring at a screen for a large portion of their day, which is why a way to manage loans online or from their phones is more important than ever. A good digital loan management tool that’s easy to use provides borrowers the transparency to see the impact of payment changes before they make them.

The Ability to Speak to a Real Person

Loans can be confusing, especially for younger people who might be taking out their first one. Potential borrowers want to be able to talk to a real person to resolve any questions or issues regarding their loan, not a robot with automated responses. As a community financial institution, you already have a headstart when it comes to great service. According to the 2015 Consumer Banking Insights Study, 64% of U.S. adults agree community financial institutions offer superior service, so make sure when borrowers have questions about loans, you maintain that great service standard.

A Low Rate

No surprise here, right? While many consumers are starting to shop with an experience-first mentality, there are still groups that shop for a loan just based on a low rate. These consumers tend to be part of older generations, like Boomers. However, be aware that things are changing. According to a recent study by PwC, 53% of consumers said experience is more important than interest rate.

More Control Over Their Loan

Most borrowers know that the fastest route to getting out of debt is paying ahead on their loan, but few do so. This is for a couple of reasons: either they don’t know if they can or don’t understand how paying ahead will impact the loan. They also get worried that if they pay extra, they may need that money back if life happens (Like if their car breaks down or they get a hefty vet bill).

Borrowers want more control over their payments and they want tools that let them easily see what happens if they pay more each month or make one large payment. They want to know how that impacts the loan’s length, term, and future payments.

A Fast Application and Opening Process

In today’s digital age, transactions happen fast. Someone can call a car on a rideshare service and it’s at their door in minutes. And consumers expect this from all industries, including banking. Many FinTech lenders are advertising their loans as fast and convenient; in order to compete, your loan opening and application process needs to be the same.

The Loan that Combines All of the Above

The Kasasa Loan® is the very first loan developed with the consumer in mind. We spent years developing and testing the loan to make sure it gives consumers the experience they want and features that give them more transparency, control, and flexibility over their loan. In fact, 9 out of 10 consumers preferred the Kasasa Loan to similarly priced conventional loans.*

Offering a product whose features check all the boxes of things consumers want in a loan gives you an advantage over competitors.

As the only loan with take-backs, the Kasasa Loan lets consumers pay ahead to reduce debt, and take that extra back if they need it. With its mobile-friendly dashboard, borrowers can manage their debt by tracking the status of their loan in just seconds and clearly see the impact of payment changes before they make them. In fact, 85% of consumers said they would log into their Kasasa Loan dashboard monthly to manage their loan.*

Want to learn more? Request a Kasasa loans demo today.

*Based on 2017 Kasasa Consumer Study