According to the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study, mortgage lenders have evolved from a transactional, volume-at-all-costs approach to adopt more consultative, advisory-style engagements with customers. That shift is paying off in the form of significantly higher customer satisfaction scores, improved trust and increased levels of brand loyalty.
“Mortgage lenders have come to recognize that the more educated their customers are about the details of their mortgage products, the more loyal and lucrative their relationships become,” said Bruce Gehrke, senior director of wealth and lending intelligence at J.D. Power. “The highest-ranked lenders in today’s market aren’t just those with the best rates, they’re the ones that have perfected hybrid engagement. By blending high-touch advisor relationships with intelligent digital infrastructure, leading lenders are transforming what used to be a transactional, document-focused ordeal into a consultative partnership.”
Key findings of the 2025 study:
Overall satisfaction rises sharply: Overall customer satisfaction with mortgage lenders is 760 (on a 1,000-point scale), up 33 points from a year ago, when mortgage customer satisfaction was in decline. In the past year, mortgage lenders have made significant strides in customer communication, reliability and accountability and use of innovative technologies to engage with customers.
Lenders build loyalty with advisory-style approach: Mortgage lenders receive top scores from a majority (79%) of their customers for providing useful guidance or advice, up from 76% in 2024, 70% in 2023 and 69% in 2022. Additionally, customers of mortgage lenders that receive top scores for delivering useful guidance are 2.3 times more likely to say they “definitely will” choose the same lender for future loans.
Early engagement drives higher satisfaction: Overall satisfaction is 32 points higher when lenders connect with customers at the beginning of their home-buying journey, before they start actively shopping, compared with satisfaction when engagement begins later in the journey. Satisfaction drops by 64 points when lenders first engage at the application stage.
Borrowers open to AI involvement in lending process: Slightly more than half (54%) of customers say they are “completely comfortable” with their lenders using AI in the origination process, and another 31% say they are “partially comfortable” with the use of AI. However, customers also want to know how the technology is being used; 71% say it is “very important” for their lender to inform them when they are using AI.
Study ranking
Citi ranks highest in mortgage origination satisfaction, with a score of 802. Bank of America (792) ranks second, and Citizens (787) ranks third.