Best Mortgage Web Sites

Watchfire GomezPro recently announced that Countrywide Financial Corp. earned the highest overall score in its first half 2005 semiannual Online Mortgage Scorecard, which analyzed 13 lenders and captured how well their sites facilitate the completion of specific user tasks across four categories — Functionality, Ease of Use, Privacy and Security, and Quality and Availability.

Helping the Calabasas, Calif.-based mortgage giant outrank the competition was its “well-designed site elements that include simple requests to check the applicant’s credit, an intuitive ‘How Much Can I Afford’ calculator and a helpful chart for comparing refinancing alternatives,” Watchfire reported. With such features, Countrywide also received the highest score in the Ease of Use category.

Watchfire noted that although 12 of the lenders now streamline the new loan application process for existing customers by pre-filling the 1003, lenders could still do more to educate borrowers about the overall application process.

The second overall best site was that of Bank of America, which moved up seven slots from the fourth quarter 2004 ranking, according to Watchfire. The Charlotte, N.C.-based banker was the winner, however, in the Privacy & Security category for protecting users’ personal information the best.

A newcomer to the scorecard and landing a prestigious third place was Wells Fargo, the announcement said.

ABN AMRO reportedly had the fourth best overall site, which is an improvement from seventh in the previous ranking.

ABN AMRO “is committed to simplifying the mortgage process; one of [its]key goals is to make it efficient and easy for consumers to research, apply and obtain a mortgage loan through mortgage.com,” said company vice president Michael Maher in an announcement.

E-Loan had the fifth top site, down from third place in the previous ranking. But the Pleasanton, Calif.-based lender earned the top score in the Functionality category, which analyzes what users can accomplish on the site. Watchfire commended E-Loan for offering users a comparison of its loan terms against those from competing lenders, detailed estimates of closing costs, and remaining helpful throughout the application process, from allowing prospects to print a pre-approval letter to enabling them to track the status of their loan.

IndyMac’s site, which was the overall best in the past year and a half, came in at No. 6. Nonetheless, the Pasadena, Calif.-based nonprime lender took the gold in the Quality & Availability category “based on the strength of its money-back guarantees and the ease with which online visitors can access customer service,” Watchfire said, noting that in general, most lenders still have room to improve in this category.