AmeriSave is a mortgage lender with more than 24 years in business, serving borrowers in every state and Washington D.C. except New York. Its product lineup spans conforming, FHA, VA and USDA loans, home equity loans and HELOCs, and non-QM options such as DSCR and bank statement loans.

AmeriSave has built its reputation on being one of the most technology-forward lenders in the industry. Long before most of the market, it gave borrowers credentialed, digital connections to their bank accounts and payroll providers, replacing paper-chasing with verified data straight from the source.

“We're focused on making the process as simple and efficient as possible for the consumer, and on providing competitive pricing.”
‍Magesh Sarma, Chief Operating Officer, AmeriSave

Magesh Sarma, AmeriSave’s Chief Operating Officer, has spent more than 16 years at the company, including as Chief Information Officer and Chief Strategy Officer. That path gives him an unusual vantage point: he evaluates technology on how well it performs in day-to-day loan operations.

The Challenge: Insurance Was the Manual Step in a Digital Process

Every mortgage needs evidence of hazard insurance, and at AmeriSave that step still ran on emails, faxes and phone calls. A processor would identify the borrower's insurance agent, track down how to reach them, and send a request form. That often meant multiple calls per loan, followed by a wait for documents to come back.

The alternative was asking borrowers to upload their own policy. Most didn't have it on hand, so they had to log into their carrier's website separately, download the right file, and return to AmeriSave's portal to upload it.

“If we ask for a dec page, they don't know what that is.”
Magesh Sarma, Chief Operating Officer, AmeriSave

Roughly one in seven insurance documents from borrower uploads, agent emails and faxes failed the first review: an auto policy in place of a homeowners policy, two pages photographed side by side, a blurry screenshot. Each failure meant splitting, relabeling and re-requesting files. Some documents also raised authenticity concerns, such as an edited coverage amount or a changed property address.

The result was an insurance condition that stayed open longer than it should, in a loan process AmeriSave had otherwise made digital from end to end.

Why Canopy Connect

AmeriSave's goal is a fully digital borrower experience, where applicants connect their accounts and AmeriSave receives verified data it can underwrite against. Income, employment and assets were already covered by established data connections. Insurance was the remaining gap.

“In our research, Canopy was already working with other lenders offering similar digital experiences. That narrowed the field quickly, so we piloted Canopy to see if it was really effective.”
‍Magesh Sarma, Chief Operating Officer, AmeriSave

Canopy Connect also fit the way AmeriSave wants borrowers to experience its process. 

“We tell them, ‘Just log into your insurance account, and we've got the rest.’ Many customers like that approach.”
‍Magesh Sarma, Chief Operating Officer, AmeriSave

From Contract to Live Loans in One Week

AmeriSave went live with Canopy Connect a week after signing and rolled it out across its existing mortgage pipeline, where every loan requires evidence of hazard insurance, plus flood insurance when the property is in a flood zone.

“Our team is used to getting these things spun up and launched very rapidly. Canopy Connect’s team worked hand in glove with ours, and they were available to answer questions and get the account set up at the pace we were going. It was smooth and fluid.”
Magesh Sarma, Chief Operating Officer, AmeriSave

Once borrowers opened the Canopy Connect flow, nearly two in three finished it, more than double AmeriSave's 30% target

The Impact: Half the Work and Faster Closings

Canopy Connect cut AmeriSave's insurance verification work by more than half and moved loans to clear-to-close faster. AmeriSave measured loans with Canopy documents against loans that went through its manual insurance process. For pull-through, the comparison is borrowers who started a Canopy connection but whose pull didn't deliver documents, so both groups are equally engaged.

“The reason these numbers hold up is that AmeriSave measured the manual process before we started. Ninety days, one baseline, one comparison. Lenders ask me what a pilot should look like, and this is the answer.”
‍Rouaa Abasher, Head of Real Estate and Mortgage, Canopy Connect

Verification work dropped by more than half

Excluding mortgagee-clause updates, insurance verification takes 56% less time on loans with Canopy documents, and processor touchpoints fall by 53%. Requests to insurance agents, once a standard step in the manual process, slowed to a trickle. Nearly half of insurance items on loans with Canopy documents cleared automatically, with no human action, versus roughly 1 in 50 on manual loans.

“That is time we didn't have to spend chasing an insurance document down from a customer or an insurance agent. So what do we do with the remaining time? We close more loans.”
‍Magesh Sarma, Chief Operating Officer, AmeriSave

Documents arrive early and verified

Canopy documents fail transcription 7x less often than insurance documents from borrower uploads, agent emails and faxes. In the 90 day pilot, they triggered zero authenticity or fraud flags and zero manual-review flags across nearly 3,000 documents. They also arrive early, with 82% landing before the loan even enters processing.

“We're getting it from the source of truth. You're downloading the digital document with the data, so the information is not altered in flight. What we get, we can depend on.”
‍Magesh Sarma, Chief Operating Officer, AmeriSave

Faster closings and higher pull-through

Loans with Canopy documents reached clear-to-close 1.2 days sooner than loans on the manual process, and the insurance condition closed 13% faster.

Borrowers also stayed engaged. Loans with Canopy documents saw a 5-point lift in pull-through from sale to underwriter approval, compared with loans where a Canopy pull was attempted but didn't deliver documents.

“Sold-to-approval means the customer stays engaged. Customers abandon less, and what we get is authentic.”
‍Magesh Sarma, Chief Operating Officer, AmeriSave

Looking Ahead

With the pilot complete, AmeriSave has made Canopy Connect a long-term part of its loan process. For Magesh, the deciding factor was a partner whose results matched what was promised from day one.

“Lack of surprises is a good thing. It means expectations are level on both sides. Canopy is upfront about what is proven and what is still being perfected, and the platform works.”
‍Magesh Sarma, Chief Operating Officer, AmeriSave

AmeriSave continues to grow borrower adoption and is exploring where else verified insurance data can speed up its operations.

“Canopy has been a strong partner. They delivered what they said they would. In our experience, if they say they're good at something, they are.”
‍Magesh Sarma, Chief Operating Officer, AmeriSave

AmeriSave has always pushed to make mortgages more digital. With Canopy Connect, insurance verification now works the way the rest of its process does: borrowers connect an account, and verified documents arrive before most loans even reach processing.

Talk to our team about Canopy Connect for Mortgage Lending.