Bank of America and PNC tied for first place in Keynova Group’s 2026 Mortgage-Home Equity Scorecard, maintaining their top ranking for the second consecutive year. The annual benchmark evaluates the digital consumer experience of the top 12 US-based mortgage and home equity lenders, assessing capabilities across application ease, approval speed, and funding timeliness.

Keynova Group, a competitive intelligence firm for digital financial services, released the findings on August 19, 2026. The scorecard covers eight major financial institutions—Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Citizens, PNC, Truist, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo—and four large non-bank lenders: Freedom Mortgage, loanDepot, Rate, and Rocket Mortgage.

Accelerated Closing and Funding

Faster closing and funding options have emerged as a primary battleground in home lending, directly influencing origination growth and borrower satisfaction. Over the past year, the number of lenders offering accelerated home equity closing and funding doubled, with one-third of Scorecard participants now providing this feature. Non-bank lenders lead this segment, often delivering approvals in minutes and funding within a week.

Digital tools driving these efficiencies include asset valuation modeling instead of traditional appraisals, integration of third-party or internal account data, e-signatures for closing documents, and online notaries for remote video closings. Additionally:

• Two-thirds of mortgage lenders use existing applicant credentials to prefill applications.
• More than 40% of home equity lenders offer similar prefill capabilities.
• 25% of lender sites promote borrower incentives if stated closing dates are missed.

Building Relationship Value

Lenders are increasingly leveraging mortgage holdings to deepen broader financial servicing relationships. With mortgage holders typically maintaining higher depository and investment balances, 42% of lenders incentivize the use of credit cards, auto loans, and other products through discounts on loan rates or fraud monitoring.

Home-purchasing needs remain a focal point for incentives:

• 25% of lenders offer refunded or reduced closing costs.
• Another 25% provide credits for shopping, purchasing, or selling via the lender’s home shopping program.

Seamless access to account information for underwriting further enhances the digital experience, allowing customers to bypass manual entry of asset details.

Visual Consumer Education

Given the infrequent and complex nature of home lending, visual resources are critical for driving adoption and self-servicing. All 12 Scorecard lenders provide rich media content, with 60% covering the mortgage process via video and one-third outlining steps for home equity loans or lines.

Chase and U.S. Bank distinguish themselves by offering videos on financial hardship options to help borrowers avoid foreclosure or short sales. PNC provides the most extensive selection of practical calculators, including tools for debt consolidation and evaluating the cost-benefit of paying points.

What the Numbers Show

The data reveals a clear divergence between bank and non-bank strategies regarding speed versus breadth. While non-bank lenders dominate the accelerated funding metric (approval in minutes, funding in a week), traditional banks like Bank of America and PNC leverage their broader product ecosystems to drive relationship value. The fact that 42% of lenders incentivize cross-product usage suggests that digital excellence in lending is no longer just about transaction speed, but about integrating lending into a wider, sticky customer financial profile.

Bank of America will face trial in a long-running multi-district litigation concerning its handling of unemployment benefits for Californians during the COVID-19 pandemic. On August 18, 2026, Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel of the U.S. District Court in San Diego issued a 105-page order denying the bank’s motion for summary judgment in In re Bank of America California Unemployment Benefits Litigation (Case No. 3:21-md-2992-GPC-MSB).

The denial clears the path for plaintiffs, represented by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy and Altshuler Berzon LLP, to pursue class-wide damages. The lawsuit alleges that more than 100,000 recipients had their unemployment and disability benefits stolen from prepaid debit cards due to the bank’s failure to implement basic security measures, specifically the omission of industry-standard EMV security chips.

Allegations of Fraud Filter Abuse

Plaintiffs contend that Bank of America violated the federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act by failing to investigate unauthorized transaction claims. Instead of conducting required investigations, the bank allegedly used an automated Claim Fraud Filter to summarily deny all claims alleging unauthorized ATM transactions and freeze accounts. This action deprived cardholders of access to previously paid benefits.

The suit further alleges that the bank compounded the harm by making it nearly impossible for aggrieved cardholders to reach customer service centers, often forcing them to spend hours on hold before disconnection. Plaintiffs seek treble (3x) damages for willful violations of federal statutes and punitive damages for intentional disregard of class members’ rights.

Legal History and Regulatory Context

The litigation originated from a class action filed by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy in January 2021 (Yick v. Bank of America, N.A.). In June 2021, a San Francisco district court issued a preliminary injunction, finding that plaintiffs demonstrated a strong likelihood of success. The injunction required the bank to stop using the Claim Fraud Filter, reopen denied claims, reimburse improperly denied cardholders, and improve call center service.

In July 2022, Bank of America entered into Consent Orders with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, agreeing to pay fines totaling $225 million. These orders mirrored many claims in the original complaints. In June 2025, Judge Curiel certified five classes: Claim Denial, Credit Rescission, Account Freeze, Customer Service, and EMV Chip.

What the Numbers Show

The case involves significant potential liability exposure beyond the $225 million in regulatory fines already paid. The court’s certification of five distinct classes suggests a broad scope of alleged misconduct, ranging from technical security failures (EMV chips) to procedural due process violations. The pursuit of treble damages under federal law indicates that plaintiffs are positioning the bank’s conduct as willful rather than negligent, which could substantially increase the final settlement or judgment value if proven at trial.

Claims Proceeding to Trial

Plaintiffs are pursuing several key legal theories against Bank of America:

• Violations of the federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act by failing to timely investigate and reimburse unauthorized transaction claims.
• Violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act by issuing EDD debit cards without EMV security chips and failing to ensure confidentiality of personal information.
• Violations of due process rights by depriving class members of protected property interests without adequate due process.
• Negligence in failing to include security cards on EDD debit cards and inadequately staffing customer service call centers.
• Breaches of the implied covenant of good faith and fiduciary duties owed to EDD cardholders.