Double Your Volume Without Doubling Your Staff | Vince Furey, MeridianLink | Connect Podcast

Lenders are spending more on technology than ever — and getting less return than they expected. Why? Because most of them don't know what they have, what it costs to run it, or whether it's actually delivering.
In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Vince Furey, who leads the mortgage vertical at MeridianLink, for a wide-ranging conversation on technology strategy, borrower experience, data, and what lenders need to focus on right now to be ready for the next cycle.
Vince brings 30+ years of industry experience — from originating loans in 1992 to leading the mortgage platform at OpenClose before its acquisition by MeridianLink — and he doesn't hold back on what lenders are getting wrong or what the best operators are doing differently.
In this episode:
- Why the age of the first-time homebuyer has gone from 30 to 40 in just 10 years — and what that means for lenders
- Why lenders' cost per loan has gone up 3-4X despite all the technology they've added — and what to do about it
- The "purpose built for lender innovation" philosophy: why MeridianLink gives lenders full administrative control over their own workflows
- How one MeridianLink client doubled their volume without doubling their staff
- The Gen Z and late millennial borrower: why they want a fully digital experience that can pivot to human instantly — and what happens when lenders can't deliver that
- Why data aggregation is king right now — and how MeridianLink's Insight BI platform lets lenders benchmark themselves against peers
- How lenders can use their own data to identify and cure potential fair lending issues before regulators surface them with AI
- Why MeridianLink Intelligence is built natively on the data layer — giving it a full 360-degree view of every loan
Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance.
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