New research highlights why borrower trust hinges on fixing one critical interaction
December 11, 2025 – DENVER, Colo. – STRATMOR Group, a leading mortgage industry advisory firm, today released “The ROI of “Why”: Fixing One Defining Borrower Moment Can Transform Your Business,” an in-depth look at how a single interaction can determine whether a borrower continues with a lender — or quietly walks away. The article, authored by STRATMOR consultant William Ayer, draws on STRATMOR’s extensive secret shopping program to reveal how often lenders unintentionally deliver experiences that feel “too transactional,” causing breakdowns in trust, conversion, and long-term loyalty.
Ayer recounts a recent secret shop in which he posed as “Wes Arnold,” a newly divorced borrower preparing for a move. After spending half an hour with a loan officer, he called back the next day—only to find the LO had no recollection of the conversation. “I knew this was a secret shop,” Ayer writes. “I wasn’t actually buying a house. But I still felt a real emotion: I felt forgotten.” According to Ayer, many borrowers experience something similar: a process defined by numbers, documents, and checklists, but lacking the empathy and continuity that drive lasting trust.
Ayer urges lenders to intentionally uncover and document the borrower’s emotional motivation, or their “Why,” whether driven by death, divorce, debt, diapers, or diamonds. When processors, underwriters, and closers all see this Why, every step of the experience becomes more personalized, more relational and more memorable. “You can check the boxes and still leave no emotional footprint,” Ayer explains.
STRATMOR’s findings show two recurring missteps in the customer journey. First, leads frequently disappear long before a relationship even forms: in nearly nine out of ten secret shops, the borrower’s information never enters the CRM. Second, more than 90 percent of loan officers conclude rich, personal calls by redirecting borrowers to apply online, effectively handing the process back to the consumer and missing an opportunity to build a connection. “In a market where acquisition costs have doubled or quadrupled, overlooking the borrower’s ‘Why’ isn’t just poor service—it’s poor economics,” Ayer advises.
He provides an important reminder that underscores the business case: “The math is simple: remembering people costs nothing. Forgetting them costs a fortune.”
In a second article this month, “CX Power Is Changing Hands. Here’s How to Stay Ahead,” STRATMOR Customer Experience Director Mike Seminari examines a surprising shift: for the first time in a decade, banks now lead independent mortgage bankers in NPS and Overall Satisfaction. With volumes low and competition intense, borrowers are placing greater weight on friction-free processes and consistent communication, areas where banks’ scale and stability are helping them outperform. Seminari notes that across STRATMOR’s MortgageCX dataset, 55 percent of borrowers encounter at least one process failure, each costing an average of 75 NPS points and erasing loyalty at a rate of four to one compared to positive loan officer interactions.
Seminari offers three priorities for lenders looking to stay competitive: eliminate common process failures, modernize reputation strategies, and build a long-term retention engine that keeps borrowers engaged well after closing. His message aligns squarely with Ayer’s: lenders who combine operational consistency with systematized empathy will be best positioned to win—and keep—borrowers in 2026.
Click here to read the December 2025 edition of STRATMOR’s Insights Report.
About STRATMOR Group
STRATMOR Group is a leading mortgage industry advisory firm that provides a range of programs and services for senior industry executives. STRATMOR serves more than 250 companies annually, recommending strategies that increase growth and improve profitability in sales, marketing, technology, operations and mergers and acquisitions. The company leverages comprehensive, proprietary data and key insights gained through extensive experience in the mortgage industry. STRATMOR is well known for its financial models and its collaboration with the Mortgage Bankers Association in the PGR: MBA and STRATMOR Peer Group Roundtables Program. Find out more about STRATMOR on its website at www.stratmorgroup.com.