Mortgage Servicers Need Better Customer Communications to Reduce Portfolio Churn and Preserve MSR Value

The divide between what mortgage holders want in customer communications and what they get is only widening, increasing borrower dissatisfaction and contributing to high levels of customer turnover. Non-banks retained just 35% of refinancing borrowers in the third quarter of 2025–and that’s three times better than banks, with just 13% retention, according to the December 2025 ICE Mortgage Monitor Report.

In fact, overall “satisfaction with mortgage origination is reaching record highs at the same time that satisfaction with mortgage servicing is reaching all-time lows,” according to Bruce Gehrke, JD Power senior director of lending intelligence. 

Based on the JD Power 2025 U.S. Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study^SM, the difference between the originators and servicers largely comes down to effective communication and customer service. Just 32% of customers give their mortgage servicer a high overall communication rating, down 5 percentage points from 2022.

This widespread discontent with mortgage servicing communications experiences presents a prime opportunity to develop a competitive edge. With customer communication management (CCM) software, mortgage servicers can shift from a transactional, just-collecting-payments approach to a more strategic, proactive relationship-building engagement —a proven success for leading mortgage originators. By integrating with legacy technology and siloed systems, a tech-enabled CCM solution enables servicers to develop data-driven, customer-centric communications programs focused on borrower retention and lifecycle management.

Many mortgage servicers are lacking in communications options and capabilities now standard in other industries. What’s more, mortgage holders want servicers to cater to their specific preferences, especially for billing and payments. To meet each borrower’s definition of choice, convenience and ease of use, servicers need:

While a sizable minority of consumers want print and mail and some compliance and legal correspondence still requires it, digital communications, namely text messaging and email delivery channels, now dominate. Many consumers opt for a variety of all three, such as mailed statement, text payment reminder, and emailed payment confirmation.

A robust 45% of U.S. consumers prefer to pay their bills with a mobile device, up from 29% in the previous year, according to InvoiceCloud’s 2026 Annual State of Online Payments Report. Yet mortgage servicers are lagging badly in optimizing their website and payment portals for mobile use. 

Many servicer mobile apps also are extremely limited, discouraging borrowers from using them. Just 12% of mortgage servicer apps deliver valuable user experiences that include the ability to easily set up alerts, direct extra payments toward principal balance and identify an expected shortage/overage in escrow, according to December 2025’s JD Power U.S. Mortgage Servicer Digital Experience Study^SM.

Borrowers want to view statements, key account information and make payments online. In its 2025 report, JD Power found that 36% of borrowers would switch mortgage companies for easy access to loan information and 27% for flexible ways to make a payment. They also value the ability to set up and automate recurring payments. Pairing CCM software with an electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) solution enables customers to handle all mortgage-related activities from one platform.

In addition to choice of delivery channels, borrowers want tailored messaging and information about everything from changes to their escrow and how that impacts their monthly payments to refinancing deals based on their current rate or options for switching from an adjustable rate to fixed rate.  

An omnichannel CCM platform can simplify the complexity of managing different systems and vendors by centralizing development and distribution of communications for email, text messaging and print and mail. Leveraging reusable content, templates and programmed rules, servicers can do everything on the platform: Compose, modify, approve, update, track, analyze, report on and archive communications.

Emerging AI-powered capabilities will drive further customer experience and operating improvements. Some AI tools and innovations, such those enabling predictive analytics and next-best experiences, will support more targeted and timely campaigns and individual outreach. Others work behind the scenes, strengthening data security and identifying real-time compliance changes.

CCM platform control, efficiency, flexibility and scalability are more easily in reach than servicers might think. That’s because they can link legacy technology, including mainframe-based core systems to modern, cloud-native CCM platforms using APIs.

These secure API connections enable business users of the CCM platform to draw data from escrow, servicing and other systems to populate and tailor content for customer segments or individual borrowers. Customer service representatives also can tap into the system for real-time access to borrower statements and other account information.

Customer communications programs that engage and satisfy instead of frustrating and confusing borrowers deliver major benefits, from improved on-time payments and cash flow to reducing churn. After all, retaining customers is 5X to 25X times cheaper than acquiring new ones, boosting profitability, according to Bain & Co. CCM technology is the key to improved communications CX that keeps servicers competitive.

See how CCM solutions from Nordis help mortgage servicers strengthen borrower relationships and protect MSR value. Request a demo today.