From Home Equity Speed Matters: Turning Time Into Opportunity!, a Curinos webinar presented on March 26, 2026, featuring Curinos’ Ken Flaherty, Senior Manager, Retail Lending, and ServiceLink’s Jim Gladden, SVP, Origination Strategy, and Barry Coffin, Managing Director, Home Equity Title & Close.
In home equity lending, cycle time has become a critical driver of growth, competitiveness and profitability. While demand remains healthy, traditional banks are losing ground to fintechs that deliver significantly faster, simpler borrowing experiences and thereby reshaping customer expectations and capturing market share. Speed is not just an operational metric—it directly impacts outcomes: faster closings lead to higher pull-through, greater initial draw rates and stronger balance growth, while slower processes result in attrition and underutilization. The simple fact is that borrowers who need money now are the ones who close, draw and maintain higher balances. The opportunity for banks to reclaim share from fintechs lies in reengineering workflows—especially by moving data collection and decisioning earlier in the process, leveraging automation and reducing bottlenecks across fulfillment. Incremental improvements, even measured in days, can compound into meaningful cycle-time reductions, improved customer experience and greater close rates. Here are some of the key takeaways from the webinar.
1. Speed has become a primary competitive differentiator.
Cycle time has become a core driver of competitive advantage. Fintechs are completing the majority of home equity transactions in under 30 days, many in less than two weeks, while traditional banks and credit unions average 30–40+ days. That gap isn’t just a performance issue, it’s directly reshaping market share. Non-bank lenders are now capturing over 20% of the home equity market, from virtually zero market share just a few years ago. For an increasing number of borrowers, speed is the expectation, not a nice-to-have, and institutions that don’t pick up the pace risk losing relevance. For depositories, the implication is clear: speed is now a strategic priority, not just an initiative to improve operational performance.
Application-to-Booking Cycle Time by Institution Type
Source: Curinos Home Equity LendersBenchmark Originations
2. Faster cycle times drive higher funding and utilization.
Speed is tightly correlated with both conversion and balance outcomes. Borrowers who close loans in 1–15 days are almost two-and-a-half times more likely to draw on their line (42% vs. 18%) compared to those who have to wait over 30 days. This highlights a critical insight: customers who need funds now behave very differently from those willing to wait. Faster fulfillment captures these “need-it-now” borrowers who generate immediate balance and revenue. Slower processes, by contrast, disproportionately attract customers with lower urgency and lower utilization. Over time, this leads to portfolios with weaker balance growth and reduced profitability.
Characteristics of HELOC Applicants Who Get (not need) Funded Fast
(Depository Lenders)
Source: Curinos Home Equity LendersBenchmark Originations & Portfolio
3. Slow processes are creating significant attrition and lost opportunity.
Long cycle times are actively driving customer fall-off and lost revenue. Data show that states and institutions with longer cycle times consistently exhibit lower pull-through rates. Customers facing delays often turn to faster options such as credit cards, unsecured loans or fintech lenders. In addition, loans that do close but close slowly are more likely to result in low or zero utilization. In fact, about 40% of borrowers who don’t take an initial draw on their HELOCs will likely never take a draw. Over time, the effects compound: lower conversion, weaker balances and reduced lifetime value. Reducing cycle time is one of the most immediate ways to reclaim missed opportunity.
2nd Lien HELOCs – Utilization Range Distribution
(Cohort of No-Draw Accounts at MOB0)
Source: Curinos Home Equity LendersBenchmark Portfolio
4. Customer expectations are shifting toward speed, simplicity and digital.
Consumer preferences—especially among younger segments—are rapidly evolving toward digital-first, frictionless experiences. Millennials and Gen Z customers increasingly prefer to open complex financial products through digital channels and expect fast, streamlined processes. At the same time, these segments carry a significant portion of overall consumer debt, making them attractive growth targets. But traditional bank processes—often requiring branch visits and lengthy timelines—are misaligned with these expectations. Fintechs, on the other hand, are capitalizing on this gap by delivering fast, simple fully digital experiences. In this respect, speed isn’t just about efficiency, it’s about meeting customers where they are. Banks that fail to do so risk losing relevance with the next generation of borrowers.
Open a New Complex Product (Mortgage or Loan) by Generation
Source(s): Curinos 2025 US Multi-Channel Survey | 2025 (n=4652) | Q25: How do you typically complete each of the following banking activities?
5. Process improvements that are incremental can unlock meaningful gains.
Closing the speed gap doesn’t require a complete transformation overnight—it requires targeted, incremental improvements across the workflow. Key opportunities include moving data collection earlier in the process, automating property and title checks and adopting digital closing solutions. Even small improvements—such as saving one to three days through better scheduling or automation—compound across the lifecycle to significantly reduce total cycle time. Leading lenders are increasingly focusing on identifying bottlenecks, streamlining workflows and leveraging technology at the point of sale. Adoption remains uneven, however, with many institutions underutilizing tools like e-closing despite proven efficiency gains. The path forward is pragmatic: continuous, incremental optimization that builds toward step-change improvement. For lending executives, this means choosing execution discipline rather than waiting for large-scale transformation.
Instant Property Information: A Gateway to Accelerated HE Workflow
