A new study by J.D. Power and Associates finds that a growing number of home mortgage customers are either behind on their payments or worried about being late. According to the 2009 Primary Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study, 21 percent of current home mortgage customers have already missed a payment or fear they may in the future. The research also shows that while satisfaction with mortgage servicers tends to decrease when customers are delinquent or at risk of being delinquent, proactive contact from the servicer can help to mitigate this decline in satisfaction. Results of the study indicate that satisfaction is higher among those customers whose mortgage servicer contacts them first. For those customers who contacted their mortgage servicer, satisfaction averages 613 on a 1,000-point scale, compared with 651 points among those customers whose mortgage servicer initiated contact.

"Taking care of customers in their hour of need is critically important, particularly among homeowners with otherwise blemish-free credit histories," said David Lo, director of financial services at J.D. Power and Associates. "Helping these customers can form lasting positive impressions of servicers and create lifelong customers. For example, among customers who say their servicer was helpful in dealing with their current situation, 21 percent say they definitely will use their servicer again. Only 1 percent of customers who say their servicer was not helpful plan to use their servicer again."

The 2009 Primary Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study measures customer satisfaction with four areas of loan service:

• annual account review/administration
• payment processing
• billing statements/payment coupon book
• contact

The study also finds that mortgage servicers who perform well on the key fundamentals of loan servicing have higher levels of loyalty and retention. These practices include:

• Keeping problems and complaints to a minimum
• Improving speed and effectiveness of problem resolution
• Offering customers choices in billing and payment options
• Providing adequate information on statements
• Clearly communicating information in statements

"The current challenging economic circumstances give mortgage servicers an opportunity to grow their business, particularly with low interest rates and the large number of customers who wish to refinance their mortgages," said Lo. "Providing current customers with the best service practices increases the chances that the customer will return with more business and also recommend the mortgage servicer to others. In contrast, just one dissatisfied customer translates to an average of more than five negative recommendations."