Lenders Improving Digital Resources for Mortgage and Home Equity to Enhance Loan Origination Experience
Wilmington, Del., August 13, 2025 – Keynova Group, the leading competitive intelligence source for digital financial services, today announced the results of its 2025 Mortgage-Home Equity Scorecard, a consumer experience benchmark evaluating the top 12 U.S.-based mortgage and home equity lenders. Bank of America and PNC tied for first place in the annual Scorecard, which assesses the digital channels of leading bank and non-bank lenders.
This year’s evaluation covers the importance of using digital channels to support visibility into mortgage rates, highlighting advances in integrating loan applications with related tools and ongoing enhancements to home equity products that drive marketability while improving the products’ viability for borrowers. Scorecard leader Bank of America continues to be noted for its streamlined mortgage application, expanded mortgage rate information and the ability for applicants to digitally lock a mortgage rate. PNC—tied for first place this year for the first time since 2021—stands out for its real-time mortgage prequalification, its Home Insight Planner tool and for integrating a soft credit pull into its home equity application.
“High interest rates and stabilizing home prices are pushing today’s consumers to focus on identifying ways to make home buying and improvement more attainable and affordable,” said Beth Robertson, managing director at Keynova Group. “Consumer demand can be sustained by using digital channels to provide consumers with clarity about home lending rates and related costs, providing cohesive home lending applications and tools and by elevating lending products to meet a wide range of borrower needs.”
Key Findings:
Mortgage Rate Visibility Critical for Consumers
With the market closely monitoring interest rates, the potential to secure a lower rate is currently a central driver of mortgage and refinancing activity, making rate transparency from lenders vital to sustaining both the home sales market and related growth in home lending portfolios. More than 80% of Scorecard lenders clearly display mortgage and refinancing rates on their websites and mobile channels. Since last year’s benchmark, 42% have expanded the information and loan details they provide, including specifics on rate-point combinations and relevant closing costs. Additionally, 25% of lenders enable applicants to use a digital option to lock a quoted mortgage or refinancing rate for a specified period. As borrowing options have tightened for many prospective homeowners, all lenders promote low down payment alternatives on their sites, and more than 80% detail grant programs that can assist borrowers in attaining homeownership.
Advances in Integrated Loan Application and Processing
Lenders continue to improve the integration of loan application and processing steps within common interfaces, as most digital mortgage applications tie directly to a loan status tool that enables applicants to save and add to an in-process application, upload documents for review and communicate with their lending representative. One quarter of reviewed lenders also link loan servicing to the status portal, as well as elements like property search, lending calculators and informative content, helping to streamline and ease the evolution from applicant to customer. To reduce friction and data entry time, more than 80% of lenders provide the option for third-party data to be used to fill or verify application content while 33% have added interactive external verification of an applicant’s identifying information. Further, more than 40% now offer a fully digital mortgage pre-approval or prequalification, reserving the applicants’ entered responses for use in a future full mortgage approval.
Improving Home Equity’s Appeal
As mortgage rates and home prices remain high, many consumers are deferring a new home purchase and are instead tapping into home equity to improve their existing properties. Keeping pace, 75% of the Scorecard lenders that offer home equity products continue to enhance their offerings, building utility and usability for borrowers. More than half of home equity lenders now provide an interest-only payment option during a HELOC’s draw period—up from just over 20% in 2024—an option that improves affordability. Similarly, two thirds of home equity lenders offer variable-rate lines with a fixed-rate conversion option that can provide expense stability for borrowers. Options like an initial soft credit pull in the application flow and accelerated closing and funding are also making home equity lending more desirable and increasing origination activity.
About the Keynova Group Mortgage Home Equity Scorecard
Keynova Group’s annual Mortgage-Home Equity Scorecard, syndicated since 2005, objectively reviews the digital capabilities and user experience at 12 of the top bank and non-bank lenders in the U.S. This includes eight of the largest financial institutions in home lending: Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Citizens, PNC, Truist, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo, and four of the largest non-bank home lenders: Freedom Mortgage, loanDepot, Rate, and Rocket Mortgage. For more information, please visit https://www.keynovagroup.com/scorecards/#credit-cards-and-lending.
About Keynova Group
Keynova Group is the nation’s foremost competitive intelligence firm providing trusted benchmarking insights and analysis of consumer and small business digital financial services, including banking, credit card, home lending and insurance. Since 1999, Keynova Group’s Scorecards have served as the go-to source for leading financial services firms to obtain reliable competitive intelligence and actionable insights. The firm’s proven methodology and highly detailed results help its clients maximize the value of their digital channels to deliver a premier experience to customers and prospects.
For more information:
Meggan Manson
Young & Associates, for Keynova Group
301-371-6995
megganm@yapr.com