Customer satisfaction scores for mortgage servicers are significantly lower — and declining — than they are for mortgage originators, based on the results of J.D. Power’s recent 2025 U.S. Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study.
Customer satisfaction with mortgage servicers has plummeted in 2025, with an average satisfaction score that is now 131 points (on a 1,000-point scale) lower than the average score for mortgage originators. Though the average 30-year mortgage rate in the United States continues to hover near recent highs of 6.8%, high rates alone do not explain the drop, study authors said, who noted that the difference increasingly comes down to effective communication and customer service.
Overall customer satisfaction with mortgage servicers is 596, which is down 10 points from the 2024 study. Customer satisfaction with mortgage servicers declines across all dimensions year over year. This decline contrasts with customer satisfaction with mortgage originators, which reached a score of 727 in the J.D. Power 2024 study of U.S. mortgage origination satisfaction.
While better interest rates and lower costs and fees are cited most frequently by customers as a reason to switch mortgage providers, service quality and responsiveness can be equally powerful drivers of customer loyalty and retention, the study seemed to indicate. Customers cite better/improved customer service (51%); easy access to loan information (36%); and flexible ways to make a mortgage payment (27%) among the top reasons to switch mortgage companies.
Thirty-one percent of mortgage servicer customers gave an excellent or perfect rating to their servicer for messaging that got their attention. Attention-getting is rated higher when there is a level of personalization added to the communication. Among those who have received personalized communications, account alerts are the most frequently recalled form of communication at 46%. Just 32% of customers give their mortgage servicer a high overall communication rating, down five points from 2022.
Escrow costs are rising nationwide, with 57% of mortgage servicer customers experiencing an increase in escrow costs this year. Overall satisfaction is 67 points lower, on average, among those who experienced an escrow cost increase than among those who experienced no change.
“[Interest] rates are still high, volumes are down, consumer financial health is strained and the industry is struggling to maintain high levels of customer engagement and personalization throughout the servicing experience,” said Bruce Gehrke, senior director of lending intelligence at J.D. Power. “However, without delivering on important loyalty and advocacy metrics, servicers could be headed for some challenges down the road when volumes pick back up again.”
