From fragmented to full-service: How servicers can retain more customers with a unified home equity lending experience

As we explored in our previous installment, today’s low-volume origination market is a prime opportunity for servicers to recapture business through home equity lending. In fact, the June 2025 ICE Mortgage Monitor report found homeowners are sitting on a record $11.5 trillion in tappable equity (the amount available for borrowing while still maintaining at least a 20% equity cushion), and are withdrawing HELOCs at volumes not seen since 2008.

Plus, ICE’s 2025 Borrower Insights Survey found that younger homeowners are more likely to consider their home equity options, making it more important than ever that servicers place an increased focus on mobile applications and borrower-facing platforms.

If you are not offering home equity products to your mortgage borrowers, another lender will. And it is critically important that your technology is able to efficiently support rising volumes in equity lending and proactively help customers take advantage of this growing opportunity. Because while home equity loans (HELs) and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) might sound appealing to a customer on paper, the customer journey from application to approval can be far from easy.

The winding road to obtaining a HEL or HELOC

The equity lending process begins with customers researching lenders or making sure their credit score is in good shape. Once they are aware that equity is an option for them, then it’s on to figuring out how big a loan or line of credit they qualify for, comparing rates, terms, and fees—all which can be overwhelming, especially for less experienced homeowners. Once they submit their application, they must wait for the lender to review their credit report, order a property appraisal (often in person, requiring they block off a morning or afternoon and wait for an appraiser to come through their home), and then complete the underwriting process, which can take several weeks or even months. It’s a daunting process that can stop borrowers from applying before they even start.

Beyond these challenges, many customers simply might not know how much tappable equity they have in their homes and might never pursue a loan or a line of credit. Servicers can implement technology that helps them proactively offer equity products to qualified customers—making it likelier the customers they reach take advantage of the equity opportunities available to them.

Streamlining the process for customers and servicers

When it comes to the home equity lending process, the most common challenge is time. Time customers spend navigating the disjointed application process, and time servicers spend identifying and nurturing qualified customers in their portfolios. And with roughly a quarter of borrowers saying they were considering a home equity loan or HELOC in the next year, according to the 2025 ICE Borrower Insights Survey, lenders need to be ready.

ICE is reducing this friction by integrating its front-end borrower solutions with back-end operational efficiencies, so consumers experience one unified application process. By providing a single, cohesive platform for customers to apply for home equity loans and lines of credit, these integrations can help customers understand their home’s equity and guide them through the process to obtain an equity loan or line of credit.

Simplicity as a guiding principle

As part of its mission to unify these disparate workflows, ICE has centralized the home equity lending process and made it accessible directly within the Servicing Digital solution. Servicers can configure the Servicing Digital app to alert qualified customers if they have useable equity in their home, at which point they can click on the alert to begin the self-guided valuation process.

Powered by Validate, ICE’s property valuation tool, the process allows customers to snap and upload photos of the interior and exterior of their home. The app then uses computer-vision technology along with a condition-adjusted AVM to automatically determine the property’s estimated value and available equity.

When homeowners are ready to take advantage of their equity, they can easily start a loan application that has been prefilled with borrower data from ICE’s servicing system, MSP®. Once submitted, loan applications are processed by the Encompass® loan origination system, and borrowers receive status updates via Servicing Digital.

Conclusion

ICE is continually investing in its technology to help servicers solve the problems customers face during the home equity loan process and help them engage effectively with borrowers from newly emerging demographics. As demand for home equity lending increases—both as a function of changing market conditions and new generations aging into homeownership—advanced integrations from a neutral, trusted provider will help mortgage professionals deliver loan products efficiently while creating an exceptional customer experience.