Rising servicer satisfaction puts broker recapture at risk, analyst says
For the first time in JD Power’s research, better rates are no longer the primary reason a borrower would switch, but instead the quality of customer service provided. Servicers have spent several years building the kind of relationship that makes borrowers want to stay, and the data is now reflecting that investment.
Bruce Gehrke (pictured top), senior director of wealth and lending intelligence at JD Power, said the current rate environment has given servicers time to build real relationships with borrowers.
“Mortgage servicing is a pretty low-touch relationship, and in the current interest rate environment it’s a longer and longer relationship than it has been,” Gehrke told Mortgage Professional America. “You’re with your servicer now longer than you were five or six years ago when people were refinancing more aggressively. So people were refinancing multiple times during that time period because it made sense to — now you don’t have that option.”
Wholesale versus retail
In this year’s rankings, Chase led with an overall satisfaction score of 694, followed by Rocket Mortgage at 690, Bank of America at 672, and Huntington National Bank at 654. United Wholesale Mortgage, which is continuing to build out its in-house servicing, scored 608, one point above the study average.
Gehrke said servicers have used the extended relationship window to build trust with borrowers. He said satisfaction tends to peak in the three- to five-year range, after the initial adjustment period but before the relationship becomes routine, and that the best servicers are focused on staying relevant through that entire arc.
