The chat bot is built using artificial intelligence (AI) technology and Habito’s algorithm that integrates a customer’s financial life (e.g. employment, salary and personal life plans) with real-time market mortgage rates to calculate an indicative monthly payment. The DMA explains the impact consumers’ decisions will have on each mortgage configuration as a traditional mortgage broker would, but in a in a lesser time (average 10 minutes).
“Finding the right mortgage product in the UK is like finding a needle in a haystack. Britons are crying out for some innovation and clarity in an outdated and overwhelming mortgage market,” said Daniel Hegarty, CEO and Founder, Habito.
“Our digital mortgage adviser is a huge step forward in making mortgage advice accessible for consumers in the way they need it most: unbiased, always available and most importantly free.”
Habito explains that in designing the new system, it analyzed hundreds of advice interviews in order to understand what consumers needed and what formed the basis of informative advice. As a result, the DMA’s chat-like interface provides an unbiased, conversational experience, without the need for lengthy in-person queues, waiting on hold or paying a premium for advice.
Backed by Mosaic Ventures, a venture capital firm based in London, the startup has the ability to search hundreds of products which brings in more number of choices for the customers. So once the advice is complete, consumers can choose the best mortgage for them, while saving a lot of money.
Habito has also plans to roll out additional interactive features later this year, such as remortgage alerts, to further optimize the mortgage application process for consumers across the United Kingdom.
