Top Originator: Thuan Nguyen gives brokers what they need

Thuan Nguyen's Moso software is built by a broker, for brokers

Top Originator: Thuan Nguyen gives brokers what they need

Thuan Nguyen is one of the top originators in California, closing more than 1,400 loans and $489,803,000 in volume over the past two years. Five years ago, as his volume was steadily growing and he was looking for a way to help manage the load, there were no suitable solutions. Nguyen has a background in programming, so when he realized that the existing tools didn’t meet his needs, he made his own.

"If you look at all the solutions out there, most, if not all, of them cover one little piece . . . there was no one platform that would do everything," Nguyen said. "Different software, no matter how good you integrate them, they’re [only] going to talk to each other so well. That’s why I built Moso, software that can do everything the broker needs."

Nguyen founded his own brokerage, Loan Factory, in 2006, and initially intended his Moso software to be used solely at Loan Factory. Soon, however, he realized that it was a waste of money and resources to build software that only one company could use, and then he opened it up to all brokers and their clients.

"Our platform is built to allow every single player to plug in and play and benefit. So the broker doesn’t have to do all the work."

With Moso, the borrower can check rates and ask the broker to act on them, fill out an online application, and upload documents themselves, so much of the work — and the responsibility — is shifted to the borrower, so that the borrower will do everything.

"When they do that, they enjoy it more, they’re involved, they see what’s going on, and they enjoy it. And if they make a mistake, it’s their mistake, not our mistake, not the broker’s mistake. And then the processor and the broker do less work now because we don’t have to do all the input into the LOS," he said. "We save time, we save headache, the whole process would be digitalized and move really fast. We can close loans really fast with minimal work."

No longer is the broker the document gatherer; that task is left to the borrower, leaving the broker free to review the application and documents, using their expertise to know what's required by the lenders. This way, Nguyen said, the loan can flow through the process very smoothly and be approved quickly.

Nguyen says that about 120 brokers have signed up since the software launched in October 2017, and they've gotten a lot of good feedback, which they take on board and look to improve right away. Needs — and therefore, software — are constantly evolving and changing, so there are always additions to be made. Nguyen's team is now working to integrate with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as developing a feature that will allow brokers to generate disclosures and send to the borrower for e-signatures. Next on the list is to integrate with title companies, all in order to save time and speed up the process.

We're in a different world now, Nguyen says, a world where technology is a critical tool to doing business, one that everyone must use. It may require time and money to implement and learn technology, but it will cost you more in the long run if you're left behind because you can't adapt.

"Nowadays, the consumer, the lenders, the vendors, everyone is using technology to improve their bottom line, to do things better, faster, and cheaper. If you don’t embrace it now, you’ll have to embrace later, and the sooner the better for your business," Nguyen said.

 

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