Fintech Hunting with Dan Catinella

Total Expert’s new Chief Lending Officer Dan Catinella was recently featured on the Fintech Hunting podcast with host Michael Hammond. In this episode of the podcast, Dan shares how important the intersection of technology and lending is for loan officers, as well as what he sees as the best strategies for optimizing opportunities, especially in a tough market.  

The Intersection of Technology and Lending  

Dan’s career has always been at the intersection of technology and lending. He shared that he “started out as a technology purist but had a lot of great mentors and coaches early on in my career to help me understand, ‘Hey Dan, you have to understand who your customer is.’” 

Knowing how loan officers think and what their business problems are is the best way to create innovative technology solutions that add value to their work. Solutions like Total Expert’s Customer Intelligence enables lenders to compile a 360-degree view of each customer and deploy personalized content based on where consumers are in their financial journey. Leveraging the right technology to build relationships through hyper-personalization has the power to help lenders establish and expand on customer journeys. 

For Catinella, Total Expert is all about “Injecting human element at the right time and giving sales staff the intelligence through data and insights to have those meaningful conversations.” Technology and lending go hand in hand, and he is confident that having the human element in that mix is here to stay.  

How to Optimize Opportunities in a Difficult Market 

Markets and the real estate industry are in a tricky place right now. The industry recently came off a major refinancing boom but is now facing historic high interest rates. According to a recent Fannie Mae report, only 19% of consumers indicated that it’s a good time to buy a home, a significant drop from months prior. Connecting with customers, even when they may not be looking to buy, is important for keeping the pipeline full once market conditions look up.  

Catinella’s number one tip for not letting customers slip through the cracks in a challenging market? Education and advice.  

“Lenders that are winning in this market are the ones that can advise and educate,” he shares. Laying out strategies that look beyond the current market conditions will make sure customers know they have someone they can trust when they decide it’s time to buy. Strategies including the cost of waiting, rent vs buy, and other loan opportunities for first-time homebuyers will help optimize the top of your funnel. When loan officers have access to the right data to inform and advise on these strategies, customers will feel empowered to decide when the time is right.  

For more of Catinella’s conversation with Michael Hammond, listen to the full Fintech Hunting episode