Consumers Register Discontent With Lenders' Customer Service.

If the 2003 J.D. Power and Associates Home Mortgage Study is any sort of guide for mortgage lenders, they need to be forewarned. Their customers are not happy with the service they are receiving.

The survey found that only one in 10 consumers said they are loyal to their current primary home mortgage service provider. Truly loyal customers are defined as those who would consider using their existing mortgage servicer again, definitely recommend their servicer to others and are delighted with the level of service they receive. As in last year's survey, Power found that customers whose loan servicing rights were not sold are more satisfied with their current company than those whose loans were sold to another lender.

Among the 31% of the sample whose loan was sold, only 17% said they would consider using the new servicer for their next mortgage. This is down from last year, when 20% of the borrowers whose loan was sold said they would use the new servicer for their next loan. In creating rankings for the overall service experience a borrower received from the entity he or she is currently sending their monthly payment to, J.D. Power looked at four things in the following order of importance: day-to-day administration of the account, billing and payment process, customer-initiated contact experience and loan origination process. The company with highest overall satisfaction rating is USAA, a San Antonio- based financial services firm that specializes in dealing with military families. Jeremy Bowler, senior manager for J.D. Power, commented, "USAA really stands out among home mortgage providers. Not only does USAA score highest in each of these four areas, but it does so by a substantial margin."

Yet because of the nature of the survey, this might be misleading. Outsourcing arrangements are not taken into account, mostly because consumers are unaware of such deals. USAA has had a ...