Personalized refi analysis outperforms unsolicited pitches: Survey

The low interest rate landscape created a mortgage origination boom that's expected to carry into 2021. As rates bottomed out over the summer, a surge of borrowers entered the market to refinance their loans.

These consumers conducted research through online lenders and comparison sites, or contacted their existing loan officer or another mortgage broker directly to get personalized rates. Through this research, they provided contact information and opened themselves up for sales calls.

About 71% of these borrowers received unsolicited and unwanted pitches by phone, text, email and letters, according to a survey by online loan marketplace site Credible. Within this group, only a 26% share didn't mind the outreach. The remaining three quarters found it annoying and disruptive. Broken down further, the sales pitches were unwelcomed and unhelpful for 67.3% of borrowers who refinanced and 87.3% of borrowers who didn't end up refinancing. The process becomes a Catch-22 for both borrowers and lenders.

"Those who succeeded in refinancing were more likely to get personalized rates, as opposed to comparing generic rate ranges in a table," a spokesperson at Credible said in a statement to NMN. "But in many cases comparison sites will require that you provide an email address in order to receive personalized rates. Once you've been converted into a lead, your email addresses may be provided to many lenders, triggering multiple sales pitches."

Despite hovering near all-time lows, rates being too high when researched on aggregator sites online stood as the biggest roadblock for borrowers. A 38% share said it's what stopped them from applying to refinance altogether while 18.1% said the same about rates offered by individual lenders.

Another 17.4% said exorbitant lender fees got in the way and 9.4% couldn't find a lender to approve their application. The remaining 17% chose "other."