Mortgage CRM integration for compliance checks: how it works

On first calls with mortgage networks and lenders, this question arrives early. A distribution director at a UK mortgage network put it this way: "If you didn't have an API enabled solution that was directly linked to a CRM system, how would it work in terms of completing a file check?"

It is a fair test. A check that needs someone to export and upload each case gets used on a sample. A check that starts when the case is submitted can run on every case.

The FCA's Consumer Duty guidance says "a key part of the Duty is that firms assess, test, understand and are able to evidence the outcomes their customers are receiving". The same guidance accepts that some monitoring, "such as distributional analysis or file reviews will be based on a risk-based sample". How large that sample can be depends partly on how much effort it takes to get each file into the check.

A case file can reach an automated compliance check by more than one route. The routes differ in who does the work and when the check runs.

• CRM adapter. The case goes to the check when it is submitted, with nobody pressing anything. Only the failures need a person. Compliance overrides and finalises, and the report goes back into the CRM against the case. Brokers can also run a pre-check from the CRM before submission and read the result there.
• Connector for your own case system. Where there is no ready-made adapter, your system sends one trigger with links to the case documents. The auditable result goes back to an endpoint you choose. The integration work sits with the vendor, not your IT team.
• REST API. A public, documented API lets your developers send cases and receive results in the response or by webhook.
• Export and drop in. With no integration at all, someone exports the case and drops it into the tool. The same check runs. It costs a person's time per case, so it suits lower volumes.

Integration moves cases into the check and results back out. It does not replace your CRM, and the checking tool is not a system of record. If advisers key the same data into two systems today, connecting a compliance check will not remove that double keying.

The check also works only on what the case holds. A document that was never uploaded to the case record cannot be checked.

1. What starts the check: a person, a status change in the CRM or submission itself?
2. Where does the result land, and can your compliance team see it against the case?
3. Who overrides a failed check, and is the override recorded with a reason?
4. Can brokers run a check before submission and see the result in the CRM?
5. If your case system has no ready-made adapter, who builds the connection?
6. What happens on the day the integration is down? Can you still export a case and check it?

The FCA's guidance says firms "will need to identify relevant sources of data" to assess whether customer outcomes meet their obligations under the Duty. When every submitted case goes through the same check, the results become that source: which advisers fail which checks, how often and on what kind of case.

That is the practical difference between a sampled file review and an integrated check. The sample tells you how the files you picked looked. The integrated check tells you how every submitted file looked, with an audit trail for each result.

Curvestone runs each of these routes live today, with CRM adapters for OMS and Finova. To see which route fits your case system, book a call or a demo.