According to a new study, home loan lenders who guide borrowers through the mortgage process earn the best reviews. However, customer satisfaction has generally decreased in the past year, and stubbornly high mortgage rates may be partly to blame.
JD Power has published a new list of mortgage lenders ranked for customer satisfaction. U 2024 Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study saw a bet of the main lenders, with the most rated lender pair in 2023, Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation and Mortgage Rocketfall out of the top five.
Prosperity Home Mortgage rose from number four to the top position in the new study.
Bruce Gehrke, senior director of wealth and lending intelligence at JD Power, said homebuyers faced higher costs and relentless interest rates. Mortgage lenders who work to understand borrowers’ challenges earn higher satisfaction ratings.
“Consistently, we see that lenders who play an active advisory role in helping their customers navigate the current market earn significantly higher customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy scores than those who treat mortgage lenders as It’s a transactional process,” Gehrke said. in a release.
On a 1,000-point scale, lenders rated an average of 727 this year, down three points from 2023. JD Power said smaller staffing levels could contribute to a decline in customer service.
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The study identifies the areas where consumers are most disappointed. JD Power said that in its 2024 analysis, the factors with the most significant year-over-year declines in customer satisfaction were:
When a representative is involved in the loan application process, overall satisfaction increases by 40 points, the study said.
The ranking of lenders in the top five of the JD Power survey were:
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Prosperity Home Mortgage, with a score of 772
Two highly rated lenders that did not meet the criteria to be classified in the study were United Veterans (793) and Navy Federal Credit Union (748). A JD Power Public Relations representative told Yahoo Finance via email that the two brands were excluded because they only serve military members and their families, and “both business models are not available to the general public.”