According to a scorecard released by Keynova Group, Bank of America and PNC have earned top marks for the second consecutive year when it comes to the digital experience they offer home equity and mortgage borrowers. The ranking evaluated twelve major lenders on how they're using technology to make borrowing easier and faster. The assessment looks at everything from application processes and closing procedures to the educational tools and relationship-building features lenders provide online.
What's driving competition among lenders right now is speed. Keynova found that lenders are racing to offer faster closings and funding, with the number of companies providing accelerated options actually doubling over the past year. Some nonbank lenders are now advertising approvals within minutes and funding within a week. To make this happen, lenders are using automated property valuation tools, pulling in data from existing accounts to prefill applications, and offering electronic signatures and remote video closings with online notaries.
Lenders are also getting creative with incentives to attract and keep borrowers. According to the scorecard, about a quarter of lenders will credit you money if they miss their own closing deadline. Many are offering perks like discounted mortgage rates, credits toward closing costs, or rewards if you use multiple financial products with them, such as auto loans or credit cards. These incentives reflect how competitive the lending market has become.
Because most people don't take out mortgages or home equity loans very often, lenders have figured out they need to educate consumers better. All twelve lenders studied now offer some kind of visual content, with about 60 percent using videos to walk borrowers through the mortgage process. Some lenders like Chase and U.S. Bank have even created videos explaining financial hardship options and foreclosure prevention. PNC stood out for offering a broad range of calculators that help you think through decisions like using home equity for debt consolidation.
What I am seeing locally in the Bay Area and East Bay is that borrowers today have much higher expectations around speed and convenience than they did just a few years ago. When families are trying to navigate big decisions about their homes, they want instant answers and streamlined processes. The trends Keynova is tracking tell me that any lender wanting to compete seriously for our business needs to invest in both the technology and the educational resources that make borrowing less stressful.
