Countrywide Financial's customer value delivery through loan servicing

Customer Value

Countrywide: Delivering Customer Value

Early in a company's evolution much should be decided as a foundation for doing business. The nature of the company's business practices and product it represents defines the company's core values and basic spirit. It is important to establish this basis early on in order to build and nourish the business in a successful direction. Only then can a company enter into the market place with any real hope of remaining competitive. The beginnings of a corporation like Countrywide Financial Corporation better known as Countrywide Home Loans, early on were based on simple values and goals. What later would become corporate culture, defined the nature of doing business the Countrywide way. Effectively, it is the product of the home loan or mortgage that has created Countrywide's core value of customer service satisfaction. A home loan or a mortgage, although at one time paper, remains a non-physical product. It is the act of servicing the loan that becomes the product Countrywide represents, markets and sells to the public. It is this act of servicing the loan and the person who owns the loan that becomes the company's main business activity. Essentially Countrywide is not selling loans but they are selling the dream of homeownership. They are providing a service on a very intimate level. Really Countrywide has made people their business and they have chosen to adopt an expert approach to maintaining superior customer value in their service. It is because Countrywide realizes the value behind their customers that their service excels above the rest. It is the attention to detail, the personal effort of going the extra mile that has made Countrywide the success it is today. No question, they deliver value by putting the customer first.

This paper is about Countrywide's ability to deliver customer value in the form of excellent customer service. Without the customer, the company would fold. This paper will look at the division of Loan Administration Servicing, the arm of the company to handle customer service and more specifically the department of Communications Compliance. It is this department's responsibility and mission to preserve Countrywide's brand identity and reputation by being the first to perform customer service. This paper will explore many facets of how Countrywide delivers customer value not only is its services but also in its policies, procedures and actions. These items are what make service possible. The paragraphs below will examine the organization's mission, goals and objectives. In doing this, the paper will look at market place and strategy, operating practices, marketing approach, brand identity, informational infrastructure and technology, quality assurance procedures, customer relationship management, Countrywide's Global presence and customer care programs. Throughout the paper, strategy will be discussed as it pertains to loan servicing and Countrywide's joint ventures. By analyzing the mirror images of Countrywide's influence, one can see the importance of the customer to the process. Countrywide's credo has always been to not only think outside the box to fix problems but to also continue rethinking them by breaking them over and over. This is reflective in every aspect the company touches. It has been this philosophy that allows for creativity and diversification of making dreams come true.

Countrywide's History

Founded in 1969 as Countrywide Credit Industries, the company "provides consumer and business to business financial services in domestic and international markets" (Simon, 2001 par. 1). The company is headquartered in Calabasas, California and has more than 40,000 employees in over 500 offices many in California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Virginia and New York. Countrywide Financial as it is now called, boasts a wide diverse portfolio of products that acts as an umbrella for the Countrywide Family. This includes Global Home Loans; Ltd. United Kingdom, Balboa Life and Causality and Countrywide Bank. The company has seen the need to keep every aspect of mortgage banking under one roof to better serve its customer base. Countrywide is also the largest direct online lender, offering applications and rich content detailing every step needed to make homeownership a dream come true (Simon, 2001 par. 6). This provides the customer with an enjoyable experience that is simple, easy and convenient. Countrywide has been able to achieve this goal by constantly raising the bar and accepting new technologies into its mindset. Much of the company's growth during the 1970s and 1980s can be attributed to thinking outside the conventional process of mortgage banking. The company recognizes a need to be innovative and therefore has been the first to provide cutting-edge ideas to remain competitive. Not only have technology played a significant factor but also diversification of product. As a result, today Countrywide offers loans to a public that was underserved before. These loan products push the parameters of conventional lending practices and allow people from different backgrounds to be served. Countrywide has applied this "home-centric approach" (AboutCountrywide.com, 2005) to meeting the customers' needs and therefore, created a level of trust and integrity for its name.

Countrywide was founded on the premise that homeownership should be available to all Americans from every walk of life. The co-founders, Angelo Mozilo and David Loeb recognized the lack of mortgage products in the banking field at the end of the 1960s. Because they believed mortgage banking should not discriminate, they called the start-up Countrywide to encompass the concept of the American Dream. Like many mortgage companies of the time, Countrywide offered FHA and VA loans but soon they figured out they would need to break the rules to succeed (AboutCountrywide.com, 2005). They implemented the idea of a brick and mortar presence within the public's frame of reference of the mall setting. They saw establishing this enterprise in California as a must and the first Countrywide retail store opened for business in 1974.

Countrywide's Mission, Goals and Objective

Countrywide's mission from the beginning has been to make the dream of homeownership a reality for Americans. It has done this by positioning themselves in the traditional brick and mortar setting of the retail store and bank but it has also done this by taking advantage of new technologies like the World Wide Web and the Internet. It has been a goal of the company to use every tool available to better serve its customers. This innovative approach has allowed Countrywide to set new goals for itself and create new objectives for its culture and the future of the company. One main goal for the company has been to establish a global presence and spread the dream of homeownership to other nations. Also a main objective for Countrywide is to remain true to the customer in its services provided. By valuing the Customer, Countrywide has gained accolades amongst the mortgage banking community and this in turn, has fueled the fire for expansion. Mozilo has also made it a priority for Countrywide not lose sight of the underserved demographics. "Countrywide has worked to lower the barriers to homeownership, especially among lower-income and minority individuals and families" (AboutCountrywide.com, 2005).

By doing this, the company's mission continues. This keeps the momentum of the corporation strong during times of economic troubles, which over the years Countrywide has weathered well. Currently with interest rates still low, the company is able to focus on further achieving its goals. One important goal for Mozilo has been to eat up the marketplace as 68% of it remains untouched (AboutCountrywide.com, 2005). Currently, Countrywide is rated third among mortgage banking organizations based on the size of its portfolio. Mozilo has made it a goal for Countrywide to move into first place by 2008 (AboutCountrywide.com, 2005). It is important to set goals because it keeps the atmosphere competitive internally and publicly.

Mozilo has used different tactics to achieve this goal. One technique has been to not only acquire other institutions bad loans but to also strengthen Countrywide's sub-servicing portfolio. He estimates "five to 10-year forecasts calling for 75% or more to be concentrated among this group" (Mozilo, 2001 par. 1). This allows the company to reach more customers with growth potential but also strengthens the competitive nature for smaller companies. Sub-servicing also has its benefits and efficiency by "controlling costs, enhancing customer service and increasing profitability" (Mozilo, 2001 par. 6). This put the customer in the driver's seat. Countrywide understands the customer's need for a business relationship that is personal and Countrywide values retaining customers by developing these relationships.

Countrywide is a visionary company in many ways. Its success domestically has depended upon the constant acquisition of other institutions' loan servicing portfolio and new storefronts in malls. This strategy along with a consistent pace of originating loans throughout the country has made the company true to its namesake. To keep such a pace, new goals must be set and strive toward innovative products and service must continue. Still there came a time when just having a presence in the United States was not enough and management looked abroad to discover new opportunities.

Management discovered after careful study that Great Britain was an untapped market of potential homeowners. In many ways, it was all about timing what would become the existing combination of American and British ties. The real estate concept is very different in Great Britain. It consists of a system of bidding and auction. Still this obstacle did not stop Countrywide's management from seeing a wave of change. Many other companies had already seen Great Britain as an entry point into the rest of Europe. These success stories are Safeway, Wal-Mart and Pizza Hut to name a few. The means to acquiring a ready-made company within Great Britain was the next step. At this point, it was understood that independently opening a Countrywide branch there would be too risky. The strategy was to acquire or create a joint venture with a company that already existed where Countrywide could slowly take over meanwhile slowly introducing that workforce to American mortgage knowledge and skills (Globalhomeloans.com, 2005). The irony in this situation is that Countrywide may have been cocky. After all, the situation is very favorable and almost safe. The country where they were doing business speaks the same language and has similar core values to America, right? Countrywide chose to partner with Barclay's to create a new company called Global Home Loans.

Countrywide's Operating Practices

Countrywide is in a pickle. For thirty years, the company has been a California company through and through. It was founded on American principles that anything is possible if you dream it. Still due to political and economical reasons, the company is finding that it will need to relocate a lot if its operations inside its home state. The cost of doing business in California is too costly in comparison to other western states such as Arizona and Nevada. It is also focusing on expanding its operations out of its existing offices in Plano, Texas. This will mean great growth for those regions but what about Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Calabasas offices? How can the company continue operations at these locations where over 20,000 employees rely on the company for a living (AboutCountrywide.com, 2005)? It is no joke. More and more companies are leaving California, faster than companies are being born.

Countrywide has changed its strategy starting last year to help cut its operating costs in California and at other locations as well. There are comparative advantages with outsourcing much of Countrywide's IT and data programming to India. This over all decision, maybe have cost 100 employees their positions in California locations but it has saved the company over one million dollars operating costs each month for the last ten. This is money that can be invested in other areas of the company such as market research for new global joint ventures. The outsourcing to India seems like an expensive idea but the truth is that data processing and other IT functions can be done by Indian workers a lot faster and cheaper so that California functions can continue as a cheaper rate. The overhead involved paying California workers and covering them for insurance and Workman's Compensation was a lot more costly. Where that overhead for a California worker may be $10,000; it is half that with an Indian worker because the operating costs are cheaper. These Indian workers do come to America for training but they remain contractors, mainly working from their homes in India. Also by outsourcing the data integration to India, the work is done faster and better, making loan servicing back in California a seamless and less complicated function for Customer Service representatives (Lardy, 2005). The outsourcing makes the data on their screen possible in real time. The quality is impeccable and as a result the servicing of each loan cost remains the same from last year: $34.56 per month (AboutCountrywide.com, 2005).

Marketing Approach

For this paper, it was very difficult to find information on marketing from an outside point-of-view. I interviewed a former marketing manager regarding the incorporation of e-marketing strategies within the overall marketing plan at Countrywide. Susan Lardy worked at the corporate level in Calabasas and now works in Communications Compliance. She has also been with the company over 12 years and has seen the introduction and emergence of electronics and Internet that is so prevalently used in the company today. Boy, does she have stories of the way it used to be. The department of Communications Compliance works very closely with Corporate Headquarters' marketing team, her insight and knowledge on the subject was warranted. As well as discussing how segmentation and positioning strategies are affecting marketing and the media mix, she also recommended studying the Corporate Marketing department's intranet web site to get a clearer picture of the overall status of strategies being used currently.

What was discovered? In a very large corporation like Countrywide that has many different divisions, it seems that each separate area has its own approach to marketing its own unique product. From the standpoint of creating leads for home buying purposes that lead to origination, it seems that the marketing is focused in separate areas. This leads to many complexities within the organization. Each area uses marketing strategies differently in conjugation with traditional methods as a result. Is this strategy working? Is it cost effective and efficient? Also it appears that if an area has any big marketing issues, legal or otherwise, these issues are taken to the corporate marketing team level and the legal department for remedy.

Another factor that departments must consider at all times regarding marketing strategies is the legal parameters in which Countrywide must do business. Many federal and state statues govern the home loan business and if a marketing strategy is presented to the public incorrectly, there are very costly with public ramifications such as lawsuits and loss of brand name integrity. Even after speaking with Susan, my understanding of how all these departments interact to have a final product is simple in nature. Still I have seen the significance of having everyone involved in the marketing decision because when a 400 Billion-Dollar servicing portfolio is at stake, every detail matters (Countrywide.com, 2005). This section will explore how marketing segmentation and strategy of e-marketing enriches the way Countrywide does business and how marketing influences customers and the services they expect.

Marketing Segmentation and Strategy

In Susan's experience as a marketing manager at the corporate level of Countrywide, she has seen many things change. When she started working here, the company did not have computers at their desks. Everything was hand typed. Obviously during that time in the mid-1980s, there was not e-commerce. Even ten years ago, it was still not widely used. It was not until 1996 that Countrywide introduced the concept of e-business into its strategic plan. That was the year Countrywide went on the web and everything changed for the company as a whole but especially the marketing department.

For one, because of the Internet each department began to create its own identity within the company. Each department implemented its own strategy of selling itself to upper management. It was only logical that each department has its own Intranet site. This would help communications among its employees as well as promote the department to other areas of the company. Before this happened, corporate marketing pretty much did all the marketing work for the company. Of course, this seemed practical when there were less than 5,000 employees. Today Countrywide is the largest employer in Ventura County and has over 40,000 employees nationwide (AboutCountrywide.com, 2005). Lardy insists that this type of growth could not have been accomplished without e-business and electronic communications. When asked, how has e-marketing come into play and impacted the company as far as its strategies? She replied that unfortunately there seems to be a trend. Indeed, e-marketing the products online via the web site, email campaigns and spot advertising on Google has increased the customer outreach and base but it is the use of traditional marketing techniques that have sold people to apply for home loans. It is the newspaper ads, radio ads and television segments on the news that have perked people's interests. From there, people are likely to educate themselves via the web site and ask for more information to be sent to them. She said that on average only ten percent of loans originated come from solely e-marketing methods. In fact, 70% of Countrywide's originating loans marketing source is from the Countrywide store in the mall (Lardy, 2005). This method has more consumer strength than all other methods used combined.

Still she points out that times are changing, people are indeed coming more reliant on the Internet for communication and convenience. It will be Countrywide's use of technology and implementation of innovative practices that brings e-marketing more into the forefront. The company is taking strides to enforce this strategy by making the web site very user friendly and simple. It also customizes a lot of details that another site might not. The company is constantly testing new technology to bring the home loan process completely to the customer because that is Countrywide's main focus. Because segmentation exists within the company structure, it has been very important for upper management to direct each department in the correct direction for marketing strategy.

When it comes to Communication Compliance department, the main concern is that the customer be sent the correct information, at the correct time and in the correct format, wording style. Our concerns are that Countrywide present itself in the most positive of lights as well as protect itself from future problems. This requires a partnership with corporate marketing to insure all bases of sensitivity are covered. As a result, there must be an understanding of the customer and their needs. It is easy to say that customer service comes first but without the customer, where would the product be? On the shelves, stuck in a warehouse. In Countrywide's case, Countrywide would not have a customer to serve. Still, the customer is not always right. Employees just have to stay one step ahead of the game. Lardy could not stress, "enough how seamless and effortless the way we do business must remain" (Lardy, 2005). Countrywide does not want to appear any other way. It is marketing's job to think up new strategies to not only remain on top but also implement all technologies possible so that Countrywide does not misrepresent their name in a market.

So as much as e-marketing is important, how it is done remains in the hands of its user. In what my co-worker and I do on a daily basis there are dozen of eyes involved. Because Countrywide's major marketing strategy is to target the retail stores and use a more traditional method or brick and mortar, it is important that its e-marketing remain fresh, cutting edge and completely correct in form. I believe as more time goes by, that e-marketing will be used more prevalently especially as the Internet becomes faster and new technologies are introduced to the culture. Still this emergence should not undermine the strengths that traditional methods bring to the audience. As these methods such as film, radio, print and word of mouth move to the central location of the Internet, e-marketing will be a mainstream concept every company will embrace.

Countrywide's Brand Identity

Countrywide's intellectual property begins with its name. Because the business of doing creating home loans is mostly service oriented, it is of utmost importance that Countrywide's name must have integrity. The company has a reputation to uphold where market share remains wide-open and competitive advantage strong. Recently Countrywide's name and intellectual property in the forms of trademarks and brand has been at the forefront, in constant view thanks to e-business. The Internet has opened a whole new area of protection issues for companies and individuals especially when electronic crime seems on the rise. By having this arena of trade open, makes it possible for even the worst thief to take advantage of the situation. Using E-business can be a win situation for a company if they know how to protect these properties online similar to the way a company might set-up a security team to patrol its office buildings.

For a company like Countrywide whose success is linked to its name, protecting these intellectual properties is extremely important for its internal and outside influences. Still a company of Countrywide's size implements its own procedures and laws in a sense. The industry of home loan origination is regulated by government organizations on both state and federal levels. Especially when it comes to communicating debt to a homeowner. It seems that because of its umbrella-style of structure of the organization, much like its e-marketing practices, legal and ethical issues of protection fall into the jurisdiction of each individual department. Even so, these departments work very closely with Countrywide's team of attorneys on every detail.

Informational Infrastructure and Technology

As e-business has become more prevalent in work, it has become easy to get caught up in the excitement. So many technologies have made jobs easier but at what price? Employees are only humans running the inventions and errors do occur. Overtime a team structure of multiple eyes has replaced the assembly line. Employees have learned to adapt to their environment so well they forget about the other threats that are out there. These threats cannot only destroy their customers but also stop their productivity. One example is a common computer virus. It is not a terrorist attack but it is potentially paralyzing for a company that relies on a network to exchange information at the speed of light. The last Worm virus caused Countrywide to lose at least a day of productivity (Lardy, 2005). The only answer is to protect the company but building better firewalls and implementing better procedures for employees. Since then, employees are not allowed to receive emails with attachments from email addresses not registered with the IT group. This in a sense will save Countrywide from future problems but people, who are hurtful in this way, are always one step ahead. It is the IT group's function to also stay ahead of the hackers. This takes many resources such as labor but also research for better products and training for new programs. It is well worth it if Countrywide does not lose any more time and if their homeowners are not affected.

Many companies understand the benefits of investing in a web site and even consider it a "must have" in the business plan despite the expenses involved. A web site if done correctly cannot only expose the company to new demographics of customers but also can become the method of doing all its business. By implementing such technologies, a company can reduce inefficiencies and automate many processes. This brings down the cost of doing business globally and makes both managers and employees happy. It makes it possible for a company to remain in their home country while doing business internationally on a constant basis.

Quality Assurance Procedures

For a department such as Communications Compliance, they are constantly watching the law books for potential change. Actually they need to be one step ahead to ensure the homeowners are communicated the correct information. Employees do not at all costs want a miscommunication to the homeowner. This can lead to a class action lawsuit. Still they also focus on other details that bring this sensitive job together. When a letter is sent to the homeowner, presentation is everything. Communication Compliance employees work very closely with outside vendor to fold and stuff these letters into envelopes. There have been situations where the paper is folded incorrectly or the formatting of the word document has been off by an eighth of an inch. This resulted in a group of homeowners' personal information being shown through the window of the envelope. It is their job to act ethically in such a situation. It is Countrywide's duty to confess to the mistake to the homeowners affected and negotiate immediately (Lardy, 2005). The company strives itself to be the best by taking ownership and responsibility even in times of mistakes. In this example, they were lucky and fortunate to contact the homeowners before the mail was delivered. They must take into account how they would feel when out in their shoes. In this respect, a proactive customer relation is key to damage control. Still the bottom line in many cases is that Countrywide in order to remain competitive must not only cater to the customer but also to the governing laws of the land.

Countrywide wants to continue to thrive in this questionable economy and therefore employees must play by the rules. Sometimes a company does not always believe themselves exempt from such practice. There are companies out there that believe in order to remain on top of the profit margin, they must lie, cheat and steal. Eventually this behavior will be discovered and then who will be on top? Someone else, of course. It is my opinion that in order for a company to strive toward greatness, honesty and integrity must be valued at the core but also be a part of the strategy. Countrywide was founded on the principle that no one else is going to work harder to help people realize the dream of homeownership. In that principle, a connection is born, a value conceptualized. Countrywide realizes their relationship with the customer is of utmost importance and they do not want to jeopardize the bread and butter.

Customer Relationship Management

Countrywide's Communication Compliance department has an exclusive partnership with a small family owned company called All Direct Mail Services. Countrywide have been working with this company for about three years. When Countrywide first started using them, they took about 10% of the company's overall letter business (Alldirect.com, 2005). What does this mean? Communications Compliance department sends out on average over 2.2 million letters and statements to homeowners across the country every month (AboutCountrywide.com, 2005). All Direct started with doing only very small folding and envelope stuffing jobs of maybe 500-1000 letters at a time. Their turn around time would vary depending on the complexity of the job. At that time, they were working mainly off line, with older machines and did not have a website. Now as their partnership has become more important and All Direct has bid on over 80% of their print jobs, they have upgraded their systems (Alldirect.com, 2005). They have had no choice really.

To remain competitive and take on other clients, they have had to use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to strengthen its levels of communications with Countrywide. As a result of using CRM, All Direct has assigned a sales representative to their account. At times, when there is a hot job, the President of the company will call to follow-up with Countrywide on the status of the job and even ask questions on what worked and did not. They have opened a technological link with Countrywide by doing exactly what UPS did when they partnered with them. All Direct has created an area on Countrywide's intranet site, where they can exchange information with each other in EDI format. As a result, this has helped the overall process of doing a print job. Instead of faxing a proof over to them, All Direct can easily go to the intranet site and upload the images right there for them to see and vice versa. The next step is to work with them to create a tracking system for all the jobs Countrywide gives them. Communications Compliance has noticed over time that no matter how careful Countrywide is to keep track on paper the jobs All Direct is processing that some how the mechanical data is lost. Countrywide hopes to put this tracking system on the intranet site. Also All Direct is hoping to implement a similar compatible system in their shop. Countrywide believes this will increase efficiency and productivity of both company's employees and also decrease the actual mistakes that happen with the paper system.

Global Presence

One of the first things that Countrywide did to strengthen the joint venture was to move key, trusted management leaders over to Woolrich, England to work with and among that workforce. I believe this was a good move for the following reasons: first even with a joint venture, it is important to have management presence and teamwork and secondly, this opens the door to cultural understanding. There are many factors and variables that go into a deal being successful, one of the greatest being sensitivity because this promotes open communication. It is my understanding through hearsay but yet a reliable source, that one management member was sent to Woolrich to live and work there for two years (Lardy, 2005). He was a Countrywide of veteran of over 15 years and quite experienced in negotiations. Still even the savviest businessman can lack common sense. It was reported he was at a luncheon eating his sandwich with his bare hands. It also took him time to adjust to different words meaning different things in British English (Lardy, 2005).

Obviously he needed a period of adjustment and it slowly sunk in that there was a different code of conduct in England.

Another reason that Countrywide chose this joint venture was to get around legal barriers that exist in Great Britain to have an international presence. Still this did not prepare the company for the other ethical and social barriers it would have to overcome. In many ways, our countries are very much a like in value systems. We both believe in the value of hard work and knowing the difference between right and wrong. Our governmental systems teach us that. Still because of the economic state of Great Britain, the atmosphere of the workforce is different. It seems the class structure is also complex and not as flexible as the American one. There is a high rate of violence and unemployment among the working classes. It has only been recently that there is a class of upwardly mobile. The economic environment is changing because of e-commerce and the European Union breaking down borders. Countrywide needed have an understanding of these issues and how working with employees from this background would be different from the American employees. It was also important that Countrywide management have an understanding of certain cultural customs that they could find as a negative. The management would need to realize that their British employees would take a Tea Time in the afternoon and that they would also take more vacation than their American counterpart. These factors could lead to conflict and insubordination. In many cases, it is a matter of respect and handling each situation separately.

Customer Care Programs

In December of 2001, Countrywide Home Loans was "ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction among the largest national mortgage lenders" by J.D. Powers and Associates (Simon, 2001 par. 1). This ranking was based on the inaugural Home Mortgage Study conducted by the global marketing firm. Mozilo attributes this excellence to the touch point technique, as it is understood interaction with the customer can be rare. It is important to establish excellence "from the initial phone call about applying...through maintaining a relationship over the life of the loan" (Simon, 2001 par. 4). Mozilo continues by saying "every decision made is reviewed for its impact on customers" (Simon, 2001 par. 4). It is employee excellence that is main driver behind this success but also it is Countrywide's conscious effort to maintain relationships and acquire new ones. It does this by employing two critical elements to its business practice. First, as Countrywide continues to diversify and grow, it implements new programs or whole new divisions to serve a segment of the community. Second, it applies new technologies to make the customer service experience seamless.

Countrywide, within its Loan Administration arm has numerous effective programs to enhance communication and add value with the borrower. These programs are evident in every step of the loan process. Countrywide understands a need to serve minority groups in homeownership education. As a result it created WeHouseAmerica, which works with underserved populations across the country to make them aware of homeownership being an option. This has added value to these customers' lives by aiding them in the home buying process. It has also provided credit counseling and other cutting edge products to these people. One example is a low documentation loan that establishes credit on past rental history and utility bill payments. This opens up the company to a whole new marker but also establishes the company as someone who cares and goes the extra mile. Another area that is proactive in customer relations is the Loss Mitigation department. Their main objective is to communicate with the customer while the customer may be having financial troubles. It is Countrywide's goal to work with customers and retain them rather than allow a foreclosure. It is the diligent work of these employees and their message of help to the customer that influences the relationship and establishes appreciation. This appreciation also creates possible avenues for cross selling later. Really it is the premise that a company would care enough to work with a customer through hard times that underscores this significant action. Many analysts would argue Countrywide's motivation is purely business and profit oriented but it is clear Countrywide values its customers throughout the life of the loan and this creates success. The company takes a personal stake in establishing customer relationships and this adds value to every aspect of its business.

Conclusion

In closing this paper was about Countrywide's ability to deliver customer value in the form of excellent customer service. Without the customer, the company would not exist. This paper looked at the division of Loan Administration Servicing, the arm of the company to handle customer service and more specifically the department of Communications Compliance. It is this department's responsibility and mission to preserve Countrywide's brand identity and reputation by being the first to perform customer service. This paper explored many facets of how Countrywide delivers customer value not only in its services but also in its policies, procedures and actions. These items are what make service possible. The paragraphs below examined the organization's mission, goals and objectives. In doing this, the paper looked at market place and strategy, operating practices, marketing approach, brand identity, informational infrastructure and technology, quality assurance procedures, customer relationship management, Countrywide's Global presence and customer care programs. Throughout the paper, strategy was discussed as it pertained to loan servicing and Countrywide's joint ventures.