Mortgage lenders who fast track their closing and funding processes have a critical differentiator in the marketplace, with the number of those offering an accelerated home equity function has grown, a report from Keynova Group said.

The company's 2026 Mortgage-Home Equity Scorecard covers eight bank and four nonbank mortgage originators digital channels.

The highest ranked companies, tied for first for the second year in a row are Bank of America and PNC. Third was U.S. Bank. The other banks covered are: Chase, Citizens, Truist and Wells Fargo, while the independent mortgage bankers are Freedom Mortgage, loanDepot, Rate and Rocket.

"As consumers increasingly use on-demand services across all retail sectors, faster closing and funding options are the new battleground in home lending, with origination growth and borrower satisfaction closely tied to ease of application, speed of approval and timely access to funds," said Beth Robertson, managing director at Keynova Group, in a press release.

"Home lending is also a cornerstone of consumers' financial servicing relationships, so it's important for lenders to remove barriers between related business lines and use visual content to drive improved consumer experiences and create long-term, valuable customer relationships."

JD Power's most recent mortgage originator satisfaction survey, released in November, ranked B of A second overall but PNC was third from the bottom; U.S. Bank also came in with a score below the industry average.

Bruce Gehrke, the senior director of wealth and lending intelligence for JD Power, said at the time home equity lending was trend to watch, noting that both Rocket and Freedom were likely to benefit from this, along with Pennymac, which was not part of the Keynova scorecard.

The leading companies on the JD Power list, both bank and nonbank, "are bringing to the process less friction; smoother, faster transactions; and then that engagement difference, being more advisory in the process earlier, it is magnifying that effect," Gehrke said.

Expanding home equity programs

The number of Keynova scorecard participants offering accelerated home equity product closing and funding has doubled to one-third. Furthermore, the nonbanks which are offering this are using a system provided through Figure Technology Solutions, which the report noted promotes a five-minute approval process with funding in up to five days.

National Mortgage News recently spoke with Figure CEO Michael Tannenbaum regarding its focus on the home equity segment, including it now has 20 different banks on the platform, plus 20% of what it produces is in a first lien position.

Meanwhile, 25% of the reviewed lenders support video chat for home lending. But two-thirds are able to do home equity closings via e-signature.

"Integrating third-party or primary data to the home equity application can also speed both application entry and the underwriting process," the Keynova report pointed out. "Only Bank of America and U.S. Bank incorporate third-party data access with the home equity application, while more than 40% use an applicant's existing credentials to access the HE application — enabling the process to be expedited by using internal information to fill the application or facilitate approval."

Nearly all of the lenders which Keynova benchmarks have a customer reward program on their homepage for borrowers who take out a mortgage or refinance.

Using marketing and education

"To varying degrees, rewards programs from more than 40% of the reviewed lenders encourage a larger and/or ongoing customer relationship, offering the opportunity to substantially advance total relationship value," Keynova said, pointing out B of A and Citi have the most prominent positioning of these on their websites.

As part of the cross-sell program, 42% provide incentives to borrowers who also have credit card, auto loan or other financial relationships. About one-quarter of the lenders offer refunded or reduced closing costs, while another 25% provide credits for shopping, purchasing and/or selling through the lender's home shopping program.

Video-based education is another way these companies set themselves apart. For first mortgages, 60% had a video addressing the lender process, while one-third did so for applying for a home equity loan or line of credit. All of the lenders in the Keynova report had some form of rich media content regarding home lending.

Chase, which was No. 1 in the recently released JD Power servicing satisfaction survey, and U.S. Bank, which ranked ninth but was still above the survey average, were also cited by Keynova for having videos which explain financial hardship options and the process where consumers can apply for assistance.