Customer Contact Improves 'Retention' Rates

The findings of the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Primary Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study suggest that a more proactive customer contact will help servicers improve customer retention rates. It found among those who contacted their mortgage servicer, customer satisfaction averages 613 on a 1,000-point scale, compared with 651 points among those customers whose mortgage servicer initiated contact. "Taking care of customers in their hour of need is critically important, particularly among homeowners with otherwise blemish-free credit histories ... can form lasting positive impressions of servicers and create lifelong customers," says J.D. Power and Associates director of financial services, David Lo. "For example, of customers who say their servicer was helpful in dealing with their current situation, 21% say they definitely will use their servicer again. Only 1% of customers who say their servicer was not helpful plan to use their servicer again."

The study is based on the primary mortgage servicer experiences of over 5,000 homeowners and took place during May 2009. The primary mortgage servicers with the highest customer satisfaction rate scores were Regions Mortgage with 780 for its performance in the annual account review/administration and payment processing areas, followed by Branch Banking and Trust with 777 and U.S. Bank with 771. It also found that 18% of customers who contacted their servicer had difficulty understanding the representative. Among this group, contact satisfaction declines dramatically to an average of 353, usually because the representative spoke with an accent, did not speak well or articulate clearly. This is compared with an average of 707 among customers who didn't have any difficulty understanding their representative.