Companies and professionals may have different definitions of success, but virtually all set out to achieve it every year. In 2024, InGenius customer, friend, and partner Prosperity Home Mortgage (PHM) achieved success by anyone's definition when they earned the rank of number one in customer satisfaction by J.D. Power among mortgage origination companies. In their second year of eligibility for Power's survey, Prosperity beat Movement Mortgage for the top spot, and one of the largest financial institutions in the world - Bank of America - trailed at number three. Achieving the pinnacle of customer satisfaction is an impressive feat; but the way PHM went about getting there is a lesson for companies of all sizes and industries.
In addition to being a global leader in customer insights, J.D. Power's survey provides a great deal more information and depth than typical reviews that are conducted immediately post close. Power survey participants are borrowers who closed their loans within the previous twelve months, and their feedback revealed lasting impressions…the things that stuck out in customers' minds over time. Power forwards the findings on what companies did well and areas where they need to improve. After Prosperity's first year participating in the survey, the company gathered department heads and took an honest look at opportunities to level up their performance. Prosperity's Senior Vice President and National Sales Support Manager Ron Wivagg said the company's point-of-sale system (POS) required customers to move from their website to a different portal, which created friction in the process. "The client feedback reinforced what we had been thinking about our POS, and we changed vendors as a result. It wasn't by accident that we moved up from number four to number one in satisfaction in just one year. We took steps to impact change."
Power found in the 2024 survey that even though the industry is going digital, consumers still want humans involved in the mortgage process. Wivagg said this and other findings reinforced the value of PHM's business model - especially in a post National Association of Realtors settlement world. Wivagg is optimistic about PHM's future under new rules, explaining, "The NAR practice changes will make the lender engaging with buyers earlier in the process easier, promote more transparency, and ultimately help the consumer." Wivagg believes their mortgage consultants can assist agents in this new era, saying, "Agents need to prove their value more than ever before. We understand that because it's what we do with every transaction - justify our value." PHM isn't slowing down in the wake of reaching number one: Wivagg says the data from the 2024 survey is part of their 2025 game plan, adding, "We got positive reviews from consumers on our response to issues that came up during the loan process. Of course, we're always working to minimize the potentially negative impact of the situations that inevitably arise in this industry, but we got great insight on how we can keep customers happy by setting proper expectations."
PHM's Power award is a great achievement and a great example of how using data to drive decisions leads to reaching goals and desired results. It sounds simple - so why isn't everyone doing it? Wivagg says that "Nothing happens if you can't get your leaders excited about it. We get buy-in from our leaders, stack rank our priorities, and then the engagement spreads…our people take pride in that." At InGenius, we work with companies every day to help them leverage data to reach all kinds of goals, including production, regulatory, and mission-driven objectives.
The InGenius team congratulates and salutes PHM's customer satisfaction win!
Jeff Walton is CEO of InGenius. With over 35 years in home mortgage and as a CEO and President of large national mortgage companies, Jeff is focused on helping the industry achieve high performance using actionable intelligence. Interested in learning more? Book an intro call with InGenius Data.
