We’re headed to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Servicing Solutions Conference and Expo from Feb. 23-26 in Orlando, where the industry has plenty to celebrate:
- Mortgage applications are at their highest level in seven years.
- Mortgage interest rates are at their lowest level in more than three years.
- Home buyers and sellers are optimistic, with home purchase sentiment from Fannie Mae 8.3 points higher than a year ago.
But there’s another key performance indicator that could spell trouble. In a report released last summer, J.D. Power said a whopping 70% of customers do not have complete trust in their mortgage servicer. Mortgage servicers also received some of the lowest customer satisfaction scores of any industry studied by J.D. Power.
There are three main reasons for the poor scores:
- The industry as a whole has focused on efficiency, cost controls, regulatory compliance and minimizing delinquencies instead of customer experience.
- Investment in digital technology trails other retail banking segments.
- Customers don’t control which company services their mortgages, with original loans frequently sold in the secondary market—sometimes multiple times during the life of the loan. These transfers leave 54% of first-time home buyers confused, angry or irritated, J.D. Power reports.
Building Customer Trust with Digital Technology
Digital technology that focuses on CX offers a clear path to improving satisfaction and trust. Already, overall satisfaction is highest among customers who use digital self-service channels, J.D. Power found. Digital utilization rates, including for checking alerts and messages, are 20% higher for the best-in-class mortgage servicers than the industry average.
Moving from satisfaction to trust, though, takes customer communications management (CCM) technology that enables companies to treat customers as individuals whose needs and preferences are valued. That’s especially important for establishing a good relationship with consumers who may be upset that their mortgage was transferred to a new servicer.
76% of consumers expect businesses to know their needs and expectations, according to Salesforce research.
CCM technology also enables omnichannel communications. So customers can choose their preferred methods, including mail, email, and text, for receiving statements and confirmations. Cloud-based CCM software gives companies the power to develop and make changes to billing and other communications, including tailoring messaging and other information by customer segment or even by individual. For instance, mortgage servicers can use the monthly paper statement to suggest customers opt in for e-statements or encourage digital payments through their portal.
For those servicers that manage multiple brands with different messaging, CCM technology can be truly transformative, improving flexibility and accuracy while saving time and money.
Improving CX through digital technology certainly delivers a major payoff: Customers who completely trust their servicer are three times more likely to reuse the company for their next home purchase, J.D. Power said.
Connect with us at sales@nordistechnologies.com to see how Nordis Technologies can help make 2020 a great year for building customer trust through better communication options for mortgage holders.
About the Author
Bryan joined Nordis Technologies in 2016 to manage and grow the company’s already-large vacation ownership client base. He also is responsible for business development and market expansion in the healthcare and financial services markets. Before joining Nordis, Bryan spent more than 21 years with Interval International, a leading global provider of vacation ownership services. Bryan graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor of science in political science.
Bryan Ten Broek
Vice President, Business Development
