Home Owners Loan Prolongation

Designing a Digital Mortgage Renewal Experience

Executive Summary

This case study covers the end-to-end discovery phase for redesigning the mortgage renewal experience at DKB. A mortgage renewal—internally referred to as a prolongation—takes place when the fixed-interest period of an existing mortgage ends and customers must decide how to continue financing their property.

The existing experience relied heavily on manual steps, including receiving PDF documents, printing and signing them, and uploading them again. Customers who needed assistance often had to move into a separate advisory process, while employees in the back office worked across several systems. At the same time, mortgage customers were highly price-sensitive and willing to switch providers for a more attractive interest rate.

Our discovery combined nine in-depth customer interviews, the creation of an end-to-end Customer Journey Map, a cross-functional Design Sprint with more than ten participants, and five moderated concept tests. The research explored how customers experience the current journey, how they compare offers, what creates trust, and under which conditions they would complete a mortgage renewal digitally.

The research challenged the assumption that digitizing the existing paper process would be enough. Customers were not only struggling with manual steps. They were navigating an opaque market, trying to understand how interest rates were determined, and questioning whether a standardized digital product could accommodate their individual financial situation.

The resulting product direction combined digital self-service with greater transparency, configurable financing options, clear process guidance, and access to human support when customers felt uncertain. Research and Design used the findings to define an optimal MVP from the user perspective, which then became the basis for feasibility discussions with Business and Technology.

Project Overview & Context

A mortgage is one of the largest and longest financial commitments most people make. When the fixed-interest period ends, customers generally need to choose between renewing with their current bank, refinancing with another provider, or repaying part of the remaining debt.

For DKB, this moment created both a customer-experience and a business challenge.

The existing process was largely manual and offered limited digital self-service. More importantly, customers often perceived banks primarily as interchangeable providers of capital. Once a mortgage was running, there was little active interaction between the customer and the bank. When renewal approached, many customers immediately entered the wider market to compare interest rates.

The project initially focused strongly on customer retention and conversion. During the Design Sprint, the strategic emphasis was sharpened toward creating a more efficient and automated process that customers could complete independently. Directional project targets included retaining 80–85% of renewing customers, enabling 80% of cases to be completed without human support, and delivering an MVP by 2027.

Timeline

Discovery phase: December 2025–March 2026
Current status: Ongoing product development and continuous validation

The Challenge

How might we create a mortgage renewal experience that:

• Customers can understand and complete independently

• Makes the composition of an offer more transparent

• Accommodates individual financial circumstances

• Builds enough trust to reduce unnecessary adviser contact

• Gives customers a compelling reason to remain with DKB

• Can operate within the constraints of existing German banking infrastructure and legacy financial systems

Research Scope

The discovery phase investigated:

• The current mortgage-renewal journey

• Customer needs, pain points, and information behavior

• How customers compare offers and make renewal decisions

• The role of interest rates, flexibility, trust, and advice

• Expectations toward a digital self-service experience

• Situations in which human support remains necessary

• Opportunities for automation and process simplification

• The usability and acceptance of proposed MVP concepts

Full repayment and investor-focused scenarios were outside the scope of this research.

The broader initiative included both the customer-facing experience and the internal processing systems. This case study focuses primarily on the customer journey and the customer-facing MVP.

To maintain confidentiality, internal systems, external service providers, and partner organizations are not named. Selected screens and artifacts are anonymized and blurred.

My Role

As a UX Researcher, I contributed alongside a Senior throughout the discovery phase and led the later MVP testing.

I had recently joined DKB when the project began. This gave me a valuable outsider perspective: I was not yet anchored in existing processes or internal assumptions. I frequently questioned why things were done in a particular way and encouraged the team to think beyond simply transferring the current paper process into a digital interface.

My responsibilities included:

• Contributing to the preparation of the exploratory customer research

• Supporting the development of research questions and interview materials

• Participating in the analysis and synthesis of customer interviews

• Helping translate customer evidence into the end-to-end Customer Journey Map

• Bringing research insights into the cross-functional Design Sprint

• Challenging established assumptions and encouraging alternative ways of framing the problem

• Supporting the development of hypotheses and concept directions

• Leading five moderated concept and MVP test sessions

• Synthesizing the test findings with Research and Design

• Leading the documentation of the complete discovery phase

• Preparing findings and recommendations for wider product, business, and technology stakeholders

• Continuing to validate product decisions through a Continuous User Interviews process

The project involved a wide cross-functional group, including banking and mortgage experts, sales representatives, technology specialists, designers, researchers, product teams, and external delivery partners. At least ten people participated directly in the Design Sprint, while the wider initiative included a substantially larger stakeholder network.

Methodology

The discovery followed a multi-stage qualitative approach. Each phase reduced a different type of uncertainty: first understanding the customer journey, then aligning the organization around the problem, and finally evaluating potential product directions.

Foundational Customer Interviews

We planned ten semi-structured interviews and completed nine.

Participants were mortgage customers at different stages of the renewal journey, including customers approaching the end of their fixed-interest period, customers currently making a decision, and customers who had recently completed or considered a renewal.

Each interview was designed to last approximately 75 minutes. The discussion covered the full journey rather than focusing only on the final transaction. We explored:

• The original mortgage decision

• Experiences during the fixed-interest period

• The point at which customers began thinking about renewal

• Information and comparison behavior

• Interactions with banks and advisers

• Decision criteria and perceived risks

• Expectations after completion

• Attitudes toward digital self-service

• Situations requiring human assistance

The original interview guide explicitly focused on understanding the Customer Journey, customer needs, pain points, and opportunities for improvement. It also examined which parts of the experience customers would complete digitally and which parts still required human support.
Recruiting this specialized target group was difficult. Some criteria had to be relaxed to complete the fieldwork, and several recruited profiles provided information that did not fully match the screener. These limitations were considered during synthesis rather than treating all observations as equally representative.

Customer Journey Synthesis

The interview findings were consolidated into an end-to-end Customer Journey Map.

Rather than documenting only the renewal transaction, the map followed customers from their original mortgage decision through the fixed-interest period, the first renewal, and the beginning of a later renewal cycle.

The large Journey Map on page one of the research artifact visualized:

• Customer goals and activities

• Emotional highs and lows

• Information sources

• DKB and external touchpoints

• Pain points and moments of uncertainty

• Behavioral patterns

• Opportunities for future services

This broader perspective helped the team understand that the renewal experience begins long before an offer is sent. It is affected by the relationship—or lack of relationship—that customers have with the bank throughout the entire mortgage term.

Cross-Functional Design Sprint

The Customer Journey and research insights were used as the foundation for a three-day Design Sprint.

Day 1: Aligning on the Problem

The first day created a shared understanding of the challenge across Research, Design, Business, Sales, Product, and Technology.

Research findings and expert knowledge were used to define:

• Long-term and short-term goals

• Directional success metrics

• User and business risks

• Technical and organizational constraints

• The target customer experience

• Prioritized How-Might-We questions

The team focused on five central questions:

• How might we create a feeling of individualization?

• How might we make the factors influencing interest rates transparent?

• How might we demonstrate the value of renewing with DKB?

• How might we enable a fully digital process?

• How might we reduce customers’ fear of completing the renewal independently?

These questions became the guiding framework for ideation and concept development.

Day 2: Opening the Solution Space

The second day focused on inspiration and ideation.

The team analyzed interaction patterns from banking and other industries, including:

• Configurators with immediate feedback

• Progress indicators

• Visual comparisons

• Personalized content

• Price and discount communication

• Contextual explanations

• Live calculations

• Trust-building mechanisms

Participants then developed ideas through individual ideation, Crazy 8s, and anonymous solution sketches. This allowed concepts to be evaluated based on their content rather than the seniority or department of the person presenting them.

Day 3: Creating Testable Directions

On the third day, the team translated the strongest ideas into hypotheses and two broad concept directions:

Offer-First

Customers would immediately see a proposed offer and use it as an orientation point before adjusting details.

Configurator-First

Customers would begin by exploring their current mortgage and adjusting variables before receiving a personalized offer.

Both directions explored how transparency, personalization, guidance, and support could create enough confidence for customers to proceed without mandatory adviser contact.

Concept and MVP Testing

Following the Design Sprint, prototype concepts were prepared for customer evaluation.

I led five moderated concept-test sessions. The tests explored whether customers could:

• Understand why they were being asked to act

• Recognize their current mortgage situation

• Understand the available renewal options

• Interpret a proposed offer

• Adjust relevant financing parameters

• Understand how their choices affected the outcome

• Trust the information being presented

• Progress without mandatory adviser support

• Identify where to get help when questions remained

The sessions also examined the role of supporting elements such as process indicators, calculators, contextual explanations, property information, deadlines, and different support options.

Research and Design used the results to agree on an “optimal MVP from the user perspective.” This recommendation became the reference point for subsequent feasibility discussions with Business and Technology.

Because the product is still in development, the detailed test results and later product decisions remain internal.

Key Findings & Insights

Interest Rate Is the Entry Criterion

Customers usually began the renewal journey by looking at interest rates.

A competitive rate determined which providers entered the consideration set. Only after an offer appeared financially attractive did customers evaluate additional factors such as flexibility, trust, convenience, and the quality of the interaction.

This created low loyalty. Customers did not necessarily view their current bank as the natural first choice. They compared multiple providers and were willing to move when another offer appeared more attractive.

The Customer Journey showed that customers often used search engines, comparison platforms, bank websites, and advisers in parallel. Market opacity encouraged customers to gather as many written offers as possible rather than trusting a single provider.

The Market Feels Transparent at First—but Is Not

Comparison platforms gave customers an initial impression of transparency. On closer inspection, however, attractive headline offers often included limitations or conditions that did not fit the customer’s situation.

Customers found it difficult to compare offers because each one could include different:

• Fixed-interest periods

• Monthly repayment amounts

• Special repayment conditions

• Flexibility options

• Fees

• Property assumptions

• Eligibility requirements

As a result, customers compared headline interest rates even when the underlying products were not directly comparable.

The opportunity was therefore not simply to show more information. The experience needed to help customers understand which information mattered and how the parts of an offer related to one another.

Interest-Rate Formation Is a Black Box

Customers had a general understanding that market conditions, income, property value, and the duration of the fixed-interest period could influence their rate.

However, they did not understand how the final rate was calculated or how their own actions might improve it.

For example, customers were often unaware that an updated property value or changes to the remaining loan amount could potentially affect their conditions. This lack of understanding created a sense that banks generated rates through an invisible internal process.

Because customers did not know how to influence the offer, they defaulted to external comparison and negotiation.

The Design Sprint therefore treated transparent and understandable interest-rate logic as a central product requirement.

Customers Do Not Perceive Their Mortgage as a Standard Product

Customers described their mortgages as highly individual.

Their decisions depended on personal circumstances such as:

• Remaining debt

• Household income

• Future financial plans

• Desired monthly payment

• Need for flexibility

• Special repayment options

• Property condition

• Planned modernization

• Other existing loans

Even when banks offered standardized products, customers expected the final solution to account for their individual situation.

This created a central tension for digital self-service. Customers wanted the convenience and control of a digital tool, but they doubted whether a standard online form could understand their specific case.

A promising direction was therefore to let customers experiment with the structure of their mortgage and receive immediate feedback, rather than asking them to select a fixed package without understanding its consequences.

Human Support Creates Confidence—not Only Information

Customers did not rely on advisers solely because they lacked factual information.

Human support also provided:

• Reassurance that nothing important had been overlooked

• Confirmation that the offer suited their situation

• A place to discuss exceptions

• The feeling that negotiation was still possible

• Emotional confidence when making a high-value decision

A fully digital process was more acceptable when the case appeared straightforward, the offer was attractive, and no unresolved questions remained.

This meant that the product should not simply remove human support. It should reduce unnecessary dependency on it while keeping it available as a meaningful fallback.

The desired experience was a hybrid model: digital by default, but with access to a person at moments of uncertainty or complexity.

The Paper Process Was Not the Entire Problem

One of the most important findings was that customers did not universally reject the existing analog process.

Several participants were familiar with paper-based mortgage processes and described their previous experience with DKB positively. Digital signatures were also broadly acceptable.

The deeper problems were:

• Uncertainty before the decision

• Limited transparency

• Difficulty comparing offers

• Lack of control over the configuration

• Dependence on an adviser for reassurance

• Weak differentiation between providers

This prevented the team from treating digitization as the goal in itself.

The experience needed to improve the quality of the decision, not only replace paper with screens.

The Bank Becomes Invisible During the Mortgage Term

After the original mortgage was completed, customers had little reason to interact with the bank.

Payments continued automatically, and many customers rarely used online banking in connection with their mortgage. This was often convenient, but it also meant that no meaningful relationship was built during the fixed-interest period.

When renewal approached, the bank was seen as a provider of money rather than a long-term financing partner. There was therefore little emotional or practical loyalty preventing customers from switching.

This finding expanded the opportunity beyond the renewal flow itself. Long-term retention may also depend on creating useful touchpoints before the renewal period begins.

Actionable Recommendations

Create a Clear Starting Point

The experience should immediately explain:

• Why the customer needs to act

• When the fixed-interest period ends

• How much debt remains

• Which options are available

• What happens if no action is taken

• How long the process is expected to take

Customers should not need external research simply to understand their current situation.

Let Customers Configure Rather Than Only Select

Customers should be able to explore how variables such as duration, monthly payment, repayment rate, and special repayments affect the offer.

A live configuration experience can support two needs simultaneously:

• Giving experienced customers greater control

• Helping less experienced customers learn through interaction

The system should still provide sensible defaults and recommendations to avoid overwhelming customers.

Explain How the Offer Is Created

Interest-rate and offer logic should be explained contextually rather than hidden in long articles or legal text.

When a customer changes an input, the interface should clarify:

• What changed

• Why the result changed

• Which information affects the rate

• Which options improve flexibility

• Which decisions increase or reduce long-term cost

The goal is not to expose every internal calculation. It is to make the result feel fair, understandable, and predictable.

Build Confidence Into the Process

Confidence should be created through the interface rather than delegated entirely to an adviser.

Useful mechanisms may include:

• A clear process indicator

• Plain language

• Summaries before commitment

• Automatic completeness checks

• Explanations of risks and trade-offs

• Confirmation that no required step was missed

• Transparent next steps

• A clear record of the customer’s choices

Keep Human Support as a Deliberate Fallback

Customers should be able to request help without abandoning the digital journey.

Support should be available at moments where customers commonly experience uncertainty, particularly when:

• Their financial situation is unusual

• They do not understand the offer

• They want to discuss risk

• They have multiple loans or additional financing needs

• They are not confident completing the process alone

The objective is to use human support where it creates value, rather than making it the default route for every customer.

Use the Mortgage Term to Build a Relationship

Useful communication should not begin only when a renewal offer is ready.

Potential long-term touchpoints include:

• Visibility of remaining debt and progress

• Timely reminders before the fixed-interest period ends

• Information about special repayment options

• Relevant updates about future financing decisions

• Clear indications of when the customer needs to act

• Contextual information about property-related financing opportunities

These touchpoints should provide genuine value rather than create additional marketing noise.

Outcome & Impact

The project is still ongoing, so there are no post-launch conversion, retention, or automation metrics yet.

The immediate impact of the discovery phase was therefore primarily strategic and organizational.

The research:

• Created a shared end-to-end understanding of the mortgage-renewal journey

• Reframed the problem from “digitize the paper process” to “support a complex financial decision”

• Identified the most important sources of uncertainty and distrust

• Made the tension between self-service and human reassurance explicit

• Translated customer evidence into prioritized product hypotheses

• Aligned Research and Design around an optimal MVP from the user perspective

• Provided Business and Technology with a concrete basis for feasibility assessment

• Created a consolidated record of interviews, Journey Mapping, Design Sprint decisions, concepts, and test findings

• Supported the preparation of the concept for management review

The discovery also established a common language across a large group of stakeholders. Rather than discussing isolated features, teams could refer to shared customer needs such as transparency, control, individualization, and confidence.

Research Operations Challenges

Recruiting a Specialized Audience

Customers approaching or completing a mortgage renewal form a narrow and time-dependent target group.

Multiple recruitment partners were initially approached before a suitable provider was found. Even then, criteria had to be relaxed, several profiles required additional clarification, and some participant information did not match the screener.

This reinforced the importance of:

• Starting recruitment early

• Defining which criteria are truly essential

• Creating escalation points with recruitment providers

• Verifying critical information before the session

• Documenting changes to the intended sample

• Avoiding false precision when reporting findings from a difficult recruit

Technical Problems During Remote Testing

The remote testing platform created technical issues in almost every concept-test session.

One scheduled session could not be completed because the participant’s technical environment appeared to block the platform. Other sessions required troubleshooting or workarounds.

For future studies, I would prepare:

• A tested video-call fallback

• A browser-based backup prototype

• A separate method for recording consent

• A clear troubleshooting guide

• More buffer time between sessions

• A contingency plan that does not depend on one research platform

Working Within a Large Organization

The project involved a substantial number of stakeholders, teams, and technical dependencies.

Different participants brought valid but sometimes competing priorities:

• Customer experience

• Retention

• Sales

• Automation

• Compliance

• Technical feasibility

• Operational efficiency

• Long-term platform strategy

Research artifacts such as the Journey Map and prioritized hypotheses were important not only for documenting findings, but also for keeping discussions centered on the customer problem.

Learnings & Reflections

This project was one of my first major research initiatives after joining DKB.

Because I was new to the organization and still early in my career, I initially had less historical context than many of the domain experts around me. However, that became a strength. I could ask fundamental questions that people familiar with the process might no longer think to ask.

A key contribution I brought to the project was repeatedly challenging whether we were designing a better customer experience or simply reproducing the existing process in a new channel.

I also learned that research in a complex financial environment must operate on several levels at once.

It needs to understand customer behavior, but it must also help a large organization align around:

• The problem being solved

• The assumptions that still need to be tested

• The difference between an ideal experience and a feasible MVP

• The risks of removing human support too quickly

• The evidence behind product priorities

The Design Sprint demonstrated how effectively research can create a shared foundation for cross-functional ideation. At the same time, the project highlighted areas I would improve in future work: defining metrics earlier, documenting discussions more systematically, involving additional sales perspectives sooner, and preparing more robust recruitment and technology fallbacks.

Leading the concept tests and final documentation gave me greater ownership toward the end of the discovery phase. It required me to connect multiple research activities into one coherent narrative and ensure that insights remained accessible after workshops and presentations had ended.

Most importantly, the project reinforced that successful digital self-service does not mean removing every person from the experience. It means giving customers enough clarity, control, and confidence to proceed independently—while ensuring that meaningful support remains available when complexity or uncertainty makes it necessary.

Side note: I am continuing to validate product decisions through an ongoing Continuous User Interviews process. That research will be presented as a separate portfolio case study.