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When in Doubt, Talk it Out!

When in Doubt, Talk it Out!

As you know, Equity National Title, which serves as a closing professional for numerous mortgage lenders, has had the privilege of surveying over 17,000 homebuyers about their experience.  Needless to say, one of the things our lending clients want to know about almost immediately was how well the consumer felt treated by his/her loan officer (l.o.).  The good news for our lending clients is that over 80 percent of those surveyed said they’d “very likely” recommend their l.o. to friends and family.  Almost 13 percent said it was “likely” they’d do the same. So, as you read on, keep in mind that 93% is not a bad grade no matter what school you’re in!

Nonetheless, there’s something to be learned from the less than 3 percent of respondents who responded “unlikely” or “very unlikely” to the same question.  We asked our respondents to expound. Although we can’t print all the responses here, we feel the following are a fairly representative sample.  And yes, names have been redacted/changed to protect the identities of the innocent!

  • “While Joe was able to close the loan and got the job done, I would have appreciated more constant feedback on the progress. I feel it is not Joe but ABC Bank as a whole which lacks communication to customers during a long transaction such as this.”

  • “unprofessional, never returned calls, did not keep on top of things, 3 1/2 month ordeal…”

  • “She wasn't as responsive as we would have liked. She didn't respond to voice mails we left her requesting status updates. We delivered all documentation requested within one day of being notified of what was needed. She was out of the office for a few days and nobody was processing our documents in her absence. The process could have moved much faster had her team been as responsive as we were.”

  • “The loan process took more than 60 despite the fact that I already had the mortgage with XYZ Bank. I was very disappointed with the lack of communication and time management for the team that was working on my loan. Also the time of response between the underwriter and loan officers and loan processors was extremely long. Waited weeks for an update and then finding out that they needed more paperwork from me. I think that a refinance process shouldn’t take more time that a regular initial loan. Mr. ABC rarely responded to my messages and never responded to my calls or emails. Very disappointed and awful experience.”

Ok.  See the theme?  “Lacks communication.” “Wasn’t as responsive as we would have liked.” “Disappointed with lack of communication and time management.”  You get the picture.

Now contrast these to a few of the positive comments:

  • Jane was with us every step of the way as promised!!! Extremely helpful.

  • Any time he called us he always had whatever info we needed for this loan. If I needed to get a hold of him and left a message, he called me right back with the answers I needed. There was no second guessing. He explained every detail to the letter, making it very easy to close this deal.

  • John was professional, informative and quick with responses!

  • He was on the top of the case all the time. When our Loan File was sent to wrong person, he sorted it out quickly and informed us.

Not rocket science, eh?  Recurring concepts would be “organized,” “quick to respond/communicative” and “helpful” or “informative.”  In fact, even where a mistake was made, the l.o. was given positive remarks for sorting it out quickly and keeping the consumer informed.

It would seem from our data that the consumer, above anything else, wants to hear something from his/her loan officer. The mortgage process can be a murky, protracted, confusing space. A home hangs in the balance, and likely even a second transaction for the seller.  It appears that many of the consumers look to their loan officer to keep them updated, even do a little “hand-holding” if that’s what it takes. Judging by the responses to our question about likelihood of recommending that same l.o. to others, it just takes a few minutes and an open line of communication to keep the business flowing.

By: Equity National   January 17, 2017   Mortgage, Borrowers, Closing, Title, Feedback   A Closer Look

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