Solarity Credit Union Provides a One-Stop Shop for Digital Mortgage Closings with DocuSign and Mortgage Cadence

Debbie Ingle, vice president of home lending at Washington-based Solarity Credit Union, has been in the mortgage business for over thirty years. “It’s a business I hold near and dear to my heart,” she said. The seasoned pro has seen the industry through many highs and lows—from the Y2K panic to the 2008 crisis to the recent mortgage refinancing boom. But, throughout it all, one thing has remained the same: The process for closing a mortgage is long, arduous and complex—involving lots of documents, touchpoints and manual prep work.

Solarity has taken some big steps to simplify closings by connecting the entire mortgage process to deliver the fast, seamless experience borrowers want. “We’re a member-obsessed organization,” said Ingle. “DocuSign Rooms for Mortgage has paved the way for us to provide a truly end-to-end digital mortgage experience.”

Closing loans faster by bringing all stakeholders together in a secure, central workspace

Solarity’s forward-thinking CEO, Mina Worthington, steered the credit union’s mortgage transformation efforts, charging Ingle and her team with eliminating process inefficiencies that were driving up costs, slowing time to close and creating gaps in the borrower experience. 

Member satisfaction wasn’t the only thing at stake. Internal teams were spending a lot of time on the manual steps required to collect borrower documents, prep closing packages and keep everyone on task. “We needed to own the full end-to-end process so that at every single opportunity, we could enhance the borrower experience and make things easier for our staff,” said Ingle. 

The integration between DocuSign Rooms for Mortgage and Solarity’s loan origination system, Mortgage Cadence, made that possible by seamlessly connecting the two systems and allowing closing documents to be easily accessed, prepared, sent for signature and automatically stored.

In the digital workspace, the Solarity team can easily transfer files, assign tasks, manage permissions and automate any part of the process to eliminate errors and reduce the need for in-person interactions. 

Once the loan package is complete, a member of the closing team can move the signed package directly back to Mortgage Cadence without ever leaving DocuSign Rooms. The streamlined experience shaved about an hour and a half of prep work (for each closing) while providing a vastly better experience for borrowers and everyone else involved in the closing process. “The feedback we’d gotten early on had been very positive, which reinforced that we were on the right path,” said Ingle.

Enabling fully digital closings

Solarity started out with a hybrid approach to its closing process, incorporating a combination of electronically and physically signed documents. That way, the credit union could realize quick wins while moving toward a fully digital mortgage experience—with electronic promissory notes and digital vaults.

When Washington state authorized remote online notarization, Solarity jumped on the opportunity to help close the digital loop using DocuSign Notary. As the credit union moved to roll out the RON solution, the team strategically picked members to go through the process and share their experience. “The feedback was great,” said Wise. “RON is a perfect fit for members who’d prefer to stay at home to complete their loan—or for spouses who are trying to sign from two different locations.” 

Together, Rooms for Mortgage and DocuSign Notary have helped Solarity fast track loans to funding, which makes borrowers happier. “We’re able to get to a funded status a lot quicker than we could in the past when we were using couriers to move paper documents to and from title companies,” said Wise.

The future of business is digital

Digital technologies like electronic signature, virtual closing rooms and remote online notarization are not just accelerating the entire mortgage process—they’re reshaping the borrower experience while giving Solarity a competitive edge.

“For many of our members, this is the biggest transaction of their lives,” said Wise. “The more options we can provide…the more speed and ease we can bring to the experience, the better.”

In 2022, Solarity is moving toward fully digital closings, tasking its teams to maintain a 60% or higher RON close rate for the year. “Hybrid and traditional face-to-face closings are becoming the exception, not the norm,” said Wise.