Bank of America tanks for lender customer satisfaction
According to the 2010 US Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Survey by J.D. Power and Associates, Bank of America tanked in their customer satisfaction. The study was fielded in July and August and used 3,401 consumers applying for new mortgages, and on a satisfaction scale of 1000, Bank of America scored 676; best scored Quicken Loans was 150 points more.
While it is most important now for banks to use a more cautious approach when underwriting mortgages, the more requests and the more times consumers are asked to resubmit information, the less satisfied customers get. Right now banks are creating negative feelings throughout the entire lending industry.
Consumers were measured in four different areas:
1. Application and approval
2. Loan officer/Mortgage broker
3. Contact
4. Closing
The application process is longer and approval time for a loan has increased to 27 1/2 days; up from 20 days last year. From the beginning of the application, if you started the origination process today, it would now take 52.1 days to close as opposed to 46.9 days in 2009. It now takes longer to get approved despite the latest guidelines affecting the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) guidelines.
David Lo, Director of Financial Services at J.D. Power stated that although processing times negatively influence a customer’s experience with banks, there are certain factors that make a positive impact on customers.
So what makes a positive impact on banking customers despite the long wait for approvals? To begin, customers want to know the progress of their loan applications. They want to be informed, and want “proactive updates.” Consumers want to have their loans acknowledged; they want to receive a “welcome.” Loan officers and mortgage brokers should be able to explain the different products to customers and ensure that customers understand. Reading applications can be a very tedious process, and very few people ever turn to an attorney for advice when applying for a mortgage. Finally, customers want to close on time; delays cause bad feelings, stress, extra moving charges, and more inconveniences.
On the satisfaction scale, Quicken Loans did the best with a score of 826 followed by MedLife Home Loans, and PNC/National City Mortgage. Wells Fargo ranked eighth with an index of 758.
photo credit: Daquella manera
Elizabeth Kane said:
Nov 28, 11 at 3:45 pmOn the day I was advised that my mother had dementia, I asked a local branch of Bank of America to exercise caution with any items she might present in our joint account. The branch manager refused to listen, stating that the bank could honor all checks. The sense conveyed was that the manager was much smarter and more powerful than I, a mere customer and attorney. The moronic component of this is that the response concerns whether the bank would be protected should an item be presented for payment. The manager completely failed to grasp the request for service as owner of the funds deposited with the bank.
Bank of America next refused to deposit a tax refund because in the banks’ view the account was not a special estate administration account. A call to customer service revealed that the bank had discretion to deposit the item. Customer service failed to call back as promised, but the branch manager did, saying that the legal department said he did not have to accept the check. Having failed to exercise discretion in favor of the account owner, the manager seized the occasion as a marketing opportunity, suggesting opening another account.
I found these experiences to reflect an unprecedented callousness and poor judgment. Moreover, the customer service manager deceived me into thinking that the matter would be resolved. It should be noted that written complaints are to be directed to an address with which no name is associated.