Securing a mortgage for a home can be a stressful experience. But those who have gone through the process say an online mortgage servicer beats all of its brick-and-mortar competitors when it comes to customer service.
Quicken Loans took the top spot for a seventh consecutive year in J.D. Power’s 2020 U.S. Primary Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study.
The study polled more than 7,000 homeowners who originated or refinanced a mortgage more than 12 months ago. It rated customer satisfaction based on the following factors:
Communications
Customer interaction
Billing and payment process
Escrow account administration
New customer orientation
Of the more than three dozen servicers ranked, the top finishers were:
Quicken Loans — overall customer satisfaction score of 854 out of 1,000 points
Regions Mortgage — 846
Huntington National Bank — 827
TD Bank — 815
Chase — 810
M&T Mortgage — 810
SunTrust Mortgage — 808
Bank of America — 804
Guild Mortgage — 803
Citizens Mortgage — 802
U.S. Bank — 802
Two servicers that serve only military members and their families also ranked highly — USAA Federal Savings Bank (895) and Navy Federal (864). However, J.D. Power notes that those two servicers were not included on the list because they do not “meet study award criteria.”
Gallery: 7 Major Expenses That Shrink When You Retire (Money Talks News)
Everyone dreams of the day they can stop working for good. But worries about finances can cloud the sunniest visions of retirement.
How will you cover daily expenses when you no longer can count on a regular paycheck?
Fortunately, some costs shrink significantly — or even disappear — once you quit the rat race. Following is a look at major expenses that will cost you less during your golden years than they did during your working years.
The daily grind can wear away at a worker’s wallet. But when you exit the workforce, much of the money you otherwise would have spent on getting to and from work will remain in your pocket.
Indeed, U.S. households overall spend an average of $10,742 a year on transportation — costs such as vehicles, gas and insurance — according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest data on consumer spending.
A paycheck is a beautiful thing, but it is often less attractive than it appears on the surface.
FICA taxes, often referred to as simply “payroll taxes,” siphon 6.2% of an employees’ pay for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare. That’s a total of 7.65% of your pay taken for the systems that fund those future retirement benefits.
The situation is even tougher if you are self-employed. Instead of splitting payroll taxes with your employer — 7.65% paid by you, 7.65% paid by your company — you are on the hook for the full 15.3%.
Fortunately, once your job disappears, so does your obligation to fork over payroll taxes.
3. Retirement contributions
Millions of American workers desperately pinch pennies so they can save money for retirement, often in a tax-advantaged investment account such as a 401(k) or an individual retirement account (IRA).
But once you stop earning income, you can start reaping the benefits of all those years of saving for “the future.” Instead of contributing to your retirement accounts, you will be withdrawing from them.
That means you no longer will have the “expense” of contributing as much as $19,600 to a 401(k) or $6,000 to an IRA each year. And those amounts don’t even include so-called “catch-up contributions” that those age 50 and older can make to their retirement accounts.
4. Life insurance and disability insurance
Typically, workers purchase life insurance to protect their families in the event that the worker dies and leaves dependent loved ones without income. Similarly, disability insurance is there to replace a worker’s income should he or she become ill or injured and unable to work.
But if you are retiring from work, chances are good that you plan to live off of savings, investments and Social Security benefits. In other words, if you have enough money to retire, you probably no longer need to insure your income.
While life or disability policies can still make sense for some retirees, others can say “so long” to these forms of insurance — and their associated costs.
5. Housing
Housing costs — from mortgage and rent payments to insurance and maintenance — are the single biggest type of expense for the average U.S. household and the average older household. But they are lower each year for the latter.
Households led by someone who is 65 or older spend an average of $17,472 per year on housing expenses, compared with an average of $20,679 across all households, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
6. Food
Chances are good that your household will be smaller in retirement than it was when you were younger, with children likely having grown up and moved out. That means fewer mouths to feed, which means lower food costs.
Older households spend an average of $6,599 per year on food, including both the cost of food eaten at home and eating out. That’s compared with an average of $8,169 spent across all U.S. households.
7. Clothing
Chances are good that in many homes, a large percentage of the clothing budget goes toward work-related attire.
When you finally retire, you can trade in those fancy suits and other attire for T-shirts and jeans. And as your wardrobe becomes more modest, your apparel costs likely will follow suit.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that households led by someone 65 or older spend an average of $1,305 per year on apparel and related services, such as dry cleaning and alterations. That compares with an average of $1,850 per year across all households in the U.S.
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As we noted above, securing a mortgage can rattle anyone’s nerves. We all want to make the right decisions when choosing something as big — and financially impactful — as a home loan.
“Getting an affordable property at a great rate can make you feel as if life couldn’t be any sweeter. But ask anyone who bought a house with a mortgage they didn’t understand and couldn’t afford, and they will tell you the house has brought them frustration and tears.”
Are you earning as much interest on your savings as you could be? Grow your savings faster with banks offering rates that are significantly higher than the national average! Find the best rates and start earning more interest on your savings by using the Money Talks News savings and CD account comparison tool.
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