Credit union launches home loan chatbot

Currently in its initial phase, the chatbot can respond to general queries related to home loans, personal loans, credit cards and insurance products. The chatbot acts as a fact find, lead generator, with the information gathered sent on to the credit union representatives for follow up.

There is also an option for users to contact a customer service representative should they so wish. 

Similar to the bot used by UBank, the software asks users a range of questions, such as what type of loan they are looking for, what kind of property they are looking to buy and its value, and when the loan is needed.

Interestingly, however, the full implementation of the technology could reportedly allow SCU to “process an entire home loan application within the platform, taking the customer through a friction-free journey from enquiry through to the submission of a home loan application”.

Epictenet CEO Ritesh Srivastava suggested that the technology has the capability to handle more complex scenarios, including home loan applications from freelancers. 

“We can handle all those scenarios,” Mr Srivastava said, “but at the moment, the Let’s Chat service is more of a fact find.”

SCU commented: “The launch of Let’s Chat is an innovation that came naturally as part of a continuous improvement for customer experience at SCU, taking self-service in the financial services industry to the very next level after the success of phone banking, internet banking, mobile banking and online application forms.” 

Ashley Jennings, SCU's CEO, added: “Epictenet [has] developed a very unique solution for SCU that allows SCU to serve an infinite number of customers at the same time, allowing us to leapfrog in our innovation journey.”

[Related: 85% of broker workload ‘immune’ to automation]