Mortgage servicers more often miss on delivering key service practices during the loan modification process than during the loan origination process, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 U.S. Primary Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study.
The study finds that, compared with the loan origination process, mortgage servicers more often fail to deliver on certain best practices during the loan modification process, including providing and meeting a time frame for approval; not asking for information more than once; explaining the entire process during application; and providing proactive status updates during the process.
For example, only 28% of customers were asked to provide information more than once during the mortgage origination process, compared with nearly 80% of customers during the loan modification process.
‘While the loan origination process is already a milestone event for most homeowners, the stakes are even higher for those going through the modification process,’ said David Lo, director of financial services at J.D. Power and Associates. ‘Homeowners navigating the loan modification process may be fearful of losing their home, and that can add significant fear and anxiety to an already stressful experience. As a result, it's especially important that servicers make every effort to deliver on key best practices and make the experience as painless for customers as possible.’
Other key service practices that the survey found to have a particularly strong positive impact on customer satisfaction during mortgage servicing are fee transparency, informative account statements, billing and payment by preferred method and problem resolution.
BB&T (Branch Banking & Trust) ranked highest in customer satisfaction among primary mortgage servicers this year, with a score of 795. BB&T performs particularly well in fees and billing and payment process, according to J.D. Power and Associates.
SunTrust Mortgage followed with a score of 767, and U.S. Bank ranked third with 755.
SOURCE: J.D. Power and Associates