Who Do Mortgage Customers Like Best?
J.D. Power and Associates released their results of a study of mortgage lenders and customer satisfaction. The 2006 Primary Mortgage Origination Study is based on responses from 4,115 consumers who originated a new mortgage in the previous nine months. The study was fielded between October and November 2006.
And the winner is? 
 SunTrust Mortgage with a 782 score of a possible 1,000
The remaining lenders in the top 5 are:
- Bank of America – 781
- Wachovia – 774
- Wells Fargo – 766
- Chase – 762
Option One Mortgage Corporation scored a second to last place with the satanical 666 score. After their parent H&R Block announced last week a $39 million pre-tax loss for Option One, this probably adds insult to injury. H&R Block has been trying to sell Option One for several months.
Good news for the industry overall is that satisfaction was up 7% over the same period in 2005. The study measures satisfaction in the three phases of lending: application/approval process; loan officer; and closing. The increase over 2005 satisfaction survey results was primarily in the closing phase.
The study found that 28% of people surveyed had problems in the closing phase of the transaction. On average, 40 percent of these people stated their loan did not close on time. How important is that third phase of the transaction? Customers of the top 5 ranked lenders make 20% more recommendations of their lender  to others.