Countrywide: How Exciting Can a Mortgage Review Really Be?
Written: Dec 16 '07
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Pros: Online account management.
Cons: Duplicative and repetitive mailings to existing customers.
The Bottom Line: Countywide has provided a decent customer service experience and affords members a relatively simple way of doing business.
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| Bounty628's Full Review: Countrywide |
One of the last things that you want to have to deal with while going through the process of buying a home is trying to figure out which lender to use. For the simplicity if the mortgage process, we decided that it would be best to find a local mortgage broker to go through in helping to obtain our financing. Of course, most of the large national lenders were willing to offer mortgages and after running the numbers for us our mortgage broker decided that Countrywide's offer was the best fit for us.
It is almost near impossible to write a review of a mortgage company based upon rates alone since all in all there is really little variation from one company to the next. Since rates are largely set by the actions of the government and since the variation often times is not significant enough to complain about, it is the intention of this review to instead focus upon the customer service and experience aspects of Countrywide.
Mailings
For the first few months of our mortgage being maintained by Countrywide we decided to obtain our monthly statements via regular mail. However, Countrywide does offer a very attractive option of allowing for e-delivery of your monthly statements through email. The other option is to review the monthly statements online through your Countywide website account.
A major complaint that I have with Countrywide is that for about a year and a half we continuously received offers in the mail for home equity lines of credit. These mailings were sent on an almost weekly basis. It truly seems that should Countrywide be concerned about the customer service aspect of a mortgage, harassing current clients via mailings on a weekly basis begging for more business is about the least customer friendly tactic that they can take. A phone call was placed to the Countrywide customer service phone number the mailings have subsided.
The Website
The simplicity of the Countrywide account website is one of the best aspects of having a mortgage through Countrywide. Once you register your account through the website, their online portal is a great avenue for exploring information on your specific mortgage. Should you wish to learn more about other services offered by Countrywide, this is the best place to do it, as well.
The account page maintains almost everything you would possibly need to know about your current mortgage being maintained by the company. Payment information for both upcoming and past payments can be researched at the click of a mouse, escrow information about how much is currently in your escrow account for either taxes or insurance is readily available, and at anytime of the day you can determine how much is currently owed on your mortgage and when and for how much your next payment might be.
On the same account page site is where the customer can make online payments for the mortgage. If the user does not have the mortgage scheduled for an automatic debit program, which can also be set up on the website, the member can input checking or savings account information for the bank from which the mortgage payment will be drawn. An added benefit is that the routing number, checking account number and other bank information can be securely saved on the site eliminating the need to re-enter information for each payment processed.
The Customer Service Phone Number
The customer service team at Countrywide seems no better or no worse than most major company customer service units you might deal with. I have called the customer service unit relative to a tax payment issue as well as a refinance offer that Countrywide had sent along to me.
The phone menu is quite expansive with several different push options needing to be selected before you move on to someone in the unit that you need to speak with. The team seems to be quite well trained and versed in their area of expertise as the two representatives that I spoke with were both quite helpful. An added bonus is that based upon the dialects, it does not appear as though these jobs have been outsourced overseas yet.
The Statement
Monthly statements that can be read through either regular mail or online through the account page are perhaps the best resource for gaining a snapshot into your mortgage account. The monthly statements are easy to read and offer just the right amount of information relative to the mortgage account.
Overall Impression
Let's be honest: There are probably few people in the world that actually look forward to taking on hundreds of thousands of dollars of mortgage debt and pay interest to a national company to manage the associated mortgage account. And perhaps paying a mortgage is not everyone's ideal way to want to spend a weekend, a day off or perhaps a week of vacation thinking about. That's why we all hope we are able to find a mortgage company that will provide us at least the status quo, decent customer service coupled with a sense of ease of doing business with that company.
Countywide has provided a decent customer service experience and affords members a relatively simple way of doing business. The ability for customers to manage their mortgage account through a comprehensive and user friendly online system is perhaps the best selling point for Countrywide.
Certainly, Countrywide does have some room for improvements in terms of eliminating duplicative and repetitive mailings to already existing customers. By simply taking this easy step, Countrywide would be able to ensure even greater customer satisfaction.
Recommended:
Yes
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