Mortgage Sites Ranked

In its semiannual Internet Mortgage Scorecard, GomezPro once again ranked IndyMacMortgage.com as the best overall Internet mortgage site. The Web site of Pasadena, Calif.-based IndyMac Bank Home Lending reportedly remained in the top spot due to its continual upgrade of online features and its “dynamic” ability to adapt the site to changing online mortgage market needs.

“Being named by Watchfire GomezPro as the number one overall mortgage website again continues to highlight that we don’t just talk about being the best, we work to achieve and uphold it,” said Roger Molvar, IndyMac Bank CEO, in a written statement.

The Mortgage Scorecard rankings are done semiannually, said Matt Lehman, spokesman for Watchfire Corp., which recently acquired GómezPro — a benchmarking and website assessment services business. The latest rankings were released in February — later than usual due to company rearrangements — while the previous rankings consisted of second quarter 2003 results and were released in June of that year, added Lehman.

The Scorecard measured the overall quality of the mortgage online services by evaluating firms’ sites across four main categories: Ease Of Use, Customer Confidence, On-Site Resources and Relationship Services, according to Gomez.com. Individual elements of quality that lenders were also ranked in were user profiles of Rate Hunter, One-Stop Home Buyer, Novice Home Buyer and Pre-Qual.

Gomez.com cited that since the last Scorecard, IndyMac, which reported fourth quarter loan production of $6.3 billion, added a number of new fixed rate and adjustable products, as well as a redesigned user interface. Improved messaging on the interface allows for consumers to be better informed during the application process, IndyMac’s fully online application and decisioning process enables customers to obtain online rate locks and approvals, plus the site continues to offer a number of customer guarantees around rates, closing and response time, said Gomez.com.

Consumers can lock a rate online for up to 60 days, according to IndyMac, and the site guarantees response time within three hours or the applicant receives $300 at closing. In addition, IndyMac says it rewards consumers who apply online with a $200 savings. IndyMac ranked No. 1 in the individual categories of Ease of Use, Customer Confidence, Relationship Services, and subcategories of Rate Hunter and Pre-Qual, Gomez said.

Compared to the previous Scorecard, changes occurred only in the last 10 of the top 15 sites, while the top five mortgage sites maintained the same positions.

The overall second best quality mortgage site was Countrywide Home Loans, which reported its February loan fundings totaled $23.3 billion. However, Gomez said that the Calabasas, Calif.-based lender ranked No. 1 for On-site Resources, Novice Buyers and One-Stop Shopping. The benchmarking company highlighted that Countrywide continually upgrades its offerings, as evidenced by its new online home equity service, MoneyLane, which can approve customers in minutes for a home equity line of credit.

At No. 3 was E-LOAN.com, which reported its fourth quarter closings totaled $724 million for mortgage loans and $278 million in home equity loans. Gomez said E-LOAN retained its position for its broad set of on-site resources and general ease-of-use, which include the following factors: customers can easily identify a path suited to their specific mortgage needs from the homepage; E-LOAN “excels” in informing about credit and credit-related issues; the site “clearly” indicates that it services subprime borrowers; and the design of its “recommend a loan” wizard allows more sophisticated borrowers to incorporate such items as personal tax-rates and investment returns as factors in prioritizing loan recommendations.

E*TRADE Mortgage remained in fourth place, the Scorecard said. The New York-headquartered company, which reported February direct mortgage originations of $360 million and $227 million in HELOCs, was credited for its straightforward user interface, its application process and for continually enhancing its site with innovative products such as the Mortgage on the Move — a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage that “customers can transfer to a subsequent home purchase, thereby locking in current rates on what in reality is two distinct mortgages on two distinct properties,” said Gomez.

Charter One Direct retained the No. 5 slot, according to the rankings, due to the “overall depth and breadth of its mortgage services and features on its site.” Charter One, which said real estate-secured originations totaled $2.0 billion in the fourth quarter, reportedly provides “clear” information on closing costs and rates, and offers a number of guarantees for closing costs, on-time closing and decision timing.

Lehman said the top four companies have remained in the top four positions since 2002, and the No. 1 spot has always been filled by either Countrywide or IndyMac.

Rounding out the top 10 were ABN AMRO Mortgage, which moved up two spaces from the previous ranking to No. 6; Quicken Loans fell one slot to No. 7; Bank of America placed eighth and was a newcomer on the list — it was previously not evaluated because it was missing the ability to check the status of online applications, said Lehman; WaMuHomeLoans dropped two slots to No. 9, followed by GreenPoint Mortgage, which moved up one spot.

The last of the list consisted of National City Mortgage, which moved down one space to No. 11; down three spots to No. 12 was GMAC; PHH Mortgage advanced one space to No. 13; Citimortgage fell two spots to 14 and DiTech joined this quarter’s list at No. 15.

The two sites bumped from this quarter’s list were those of Home Loan Center and Wachovia, according to Watchfire.

Firms considered for the Mortgage Scorecard were the top 100 lenders in the nation (based on their loan volume), which must process applications in-house through closing and be licensed to operate within states covering at least 50% of the U.S. population, said Watchfire. The Web functionalities each lender site must have in order to be evaluated are online applications for a purchase mortgage, loan status tracking ability, posting of current interest rates, access to both telephone and e-mail customer service contact information and privacy statements.