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The Best Home Loan Providers

Where Can You Get the Best Home Loans?

Your first thought might be to visit your local bank or broker, but think again. Why? You're not likely to get the very best rates and terms there. True, you might get a promo or slightly lower interest rate for being a current customer, but will your financial institution shop around to find you the ideal loan for your situation?

More than likely, they'll fit you with whichever mortgage is convenient (or profitable) instead of working to get you a home loan with the best possible terms. With interest rates constantly fluctuating, it's never a bad time to start looking into your financing options if homeownership is your goal. Even if you're just curious to see how much you can ultimately afford when the time comes, that will help you start budgeting and saving to have enough to secure your new home when you're ready.

Tuesday, March 19th

2024 Home Loan Provider Reviews

Better Review Top Consumer Reviews Best-In-Class Blue Ribbon Award 5 Star Rating

Better

5 Star Rating Top Consumer Reviews Best-In-Class Blue Ribbon Award

You won't find another online lender that can match Better for home loans. This service is completely transparent with rates and fees, gives you plenty to choose from in loan types and terms, and provides exceptional customer service from prequalifying to closing and beyond. Thousands of happy homeowners say that Better deserves a perfect score for offering a streamlined mortgage process with interest rates that are much lower than average - and with no commissions or lender fees. Better earns our highest recommendation among providers of home loans.

Rocket Mortgage Review 4.5 Star Rating

Rocket Mortgage

4.5 Star Rating

Formerly known as Quicken Loans, Rocket Mortgage can help you close your home loan in record time - or just provide you with helpful tools as you begin your research into financing a home purchase. As the nation's largest mortgage lender, this company is an expert in providing excellent service from start to finish, earning awards for customer satisfaction for eight consecutive years. Rocket Mortgage is one of the most hassle-free ways to apply for a home loan online.

loanDepot Review 4.5 Star Rating

loanDepot

4.5 Star Rating

loanDepot has been in business since 2010, and they're one of the biggest home loan providers on the market. Their mortgage rates are competitive and their service is legendary, earning thousands of five-star reviews from clients across the country. Give loanDepot a look when you're ready to find a mortgage that fits your needs.

New American Funding Review 4 Star Rating

New American Funding

4 Star Rating

New American Funding is a family-owned lender with all of the traditional home loan options you need and even a way to make a cash offer that converts to a mortgage: a fantastic strategy during a seller's market. Although their online application process could use some improvements (like making it easier to get personalized rate quotes early on), tens of thousands of clients have rated NAF and its agents with a perfect five stars. This is a good lender to consider for your home loan.

AmeriSave Review 3 Star Rating

AmeriSave

3 Star Rating

AmeriSave comes in as "just average" among providers of home loans. They've got an "A+" and accreditation from the BBB and have funded over 390,000 home loans in 49 states plus Washington DC. However, a non-refundable application fee of $500 plus a recent downturn in client feedback prevented AmeriSave from outranking many of their rival mortgage lenders.

LendingTree Review 2.5 Star Rating

LendingTree

2.5 Star Rating

LendingTree works as a referral service to match you with offers from up to five different home loan providers in their network. You should be aware upfront that once you've provided LendingTree with your contact information, it will be shared with many lenders - which will likely mean emails, calls, and texts that could last for months, even if you're just seeing what your mortgage rates might be. Plus, even if LendingTree matches you with the perfect loan, you'll still have to take the time to vet the lender and complete their application process. While we like the idea behind LendingTree, it's not our favorite resource for researching home loans.

SoFi Review 2 Star Rating

SoFi

2 Star Rating

SoFi offers a variety of financial products, ranging from home loans and refinancing to credit cards and more. They openly post their typical mortgage rates on their website and update them daily, but you'll need to create an account to see your personalized offers. Unfortunately, SoFi is not very transparent with closing costs and fees until much later in the process, and numerous client complaints about hard-to-reach customer service and late delivery of funds for closing have kept SoFi from earning our recommendation.

Freedom Mortgage Review 2 Star Rating

Freedom Mortgage

2 Star Rating

Freedom Mortgage has time on its side: this lender has been around for over 30 years and has over a million customers nationwide. You can use their site to prequalify for a mortgage, learn about various loan types, and get a better understanding of the home loan process. That's about all we'd recommend you do, though: despite an "A+" from the BBB, this company has over a thousand complaints that frequently mention how Freedom has dropped the ball with paperwork, payment processing, and so on. We suggest checking out our higher-rated home loan providers instead.

Truist Review 2 Star Rating

Truist

2 Star Rating

When BB&T and SunTrust merged, they became Truist, with 2700 branch locations in 15 states and Washington DC. Their website is easy to use, but not very informative when it comes to home loans: unless you're ready to jump right into an application, getting prequalified leaves you waiting for a Truist mortgage professional to reach out. Thousands of people say that the service here has gotten horrible since the merger, and unless you already have a satisfactory relationship with this bank, you're probably not going to be impressed with their home loan service.

Ally Review 1.5 Star Rating

Ally

1.5 Star Rating

Ally gets off to a good start by using a top-rated partner for home loan processing, and by not charging any lender fees on mortgages. They're also a step ahead by offering customizable rate quotes right on the website without requiring personal information. That's why we were so disappointed to see the bad reputation this financial institution has when it comes to actually servicing home loans. Ally gets our lowest ranking among mortgage lenders.

Compare the Best Reviews

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Some mortgage terms stipulate that the funds can't come from a last-minute gift or contribution from a well-meaning family member, so plan ahead!

The easiest way to know how much you can borrow is by shopping for a home loan online. While some lenders require you to enter your personal information to show you their rates, others post sample rates online or let you choose your credit score range and other details to preview a more personalized quote. Be mindful that there's a difference between a "soft pull" on your credit - usually used to prequalify you, and only uses your address and phone number to verify your identity - and a "hard pull" that will impact your credit history.

The latter usually happens only when you've got a home under contract and you're ready to secure a mortgage, but pay attention to the fine print when you're checking out a lender's rates. You don't want to be "just browsing" and find out that your credit score took a nosedive with an unintentional hard inquiry on your report!

With many lenders interested in your business, how can you decide which one to use for your mortgage? Here are a few factors to look at before you complete a loan application:

  • Loan types. Most people choose a conventional fixed mortgage of 15 or 30 years, and the majority of lenders offer that. If you're looking for something different, like an FHA loan or an ARM, you might need to shop around a bit more.
  • Transparency. How easy is it to see the lender's current rates and fees? Can you get an idea on their main site or do you have to create an account first?
  • Closing costs. The best home loan providers will tell you what to expect well in advance. Some include that information in the disclosures in the fine print at the bottom of the site, even before you give them any of your personal details. Others provide it when you've given them enough info to verify your identity but before filling out a formal application. Some closing costs are negotiable, so don't be afraid to ask any lender to make you an offer.
  • Reputation. What do borrowers say about their experience with the financial institution? It's one thing to have great loan rates, but if the lender drops the ball during the purchasing process or if their customer service after closing is a nightmare, it's not worth the money you might save. Consider the lender's rating with the Better Business Bureau to start, but also look at recent customer comments to get a snapshot of how well the home loan provider is doing across the entire lifecycle of the mortgage (from pre-application to post-closing servicing).

To help you finance the home of your dreams, TopConsumerReviews.com has evaluated and ranked today's most popular mortgage lenders. We're confident that this information will be useful on your journey to home ownership. Congratulations!

The Best Home Loan Providers Compare Home Loan Providers Compare Home Loan Provider Reviews What are the best Home Loan Providers Best Home Loan Provider Reviews

Home Loan Provider FAQ

Yes, a home loan is the same thing as a mortgage: borrowing money to purchase a home. Home loans are different from home equity loans or home equity lines of credit: the former represents the funds you use to buy your home, while the latter two are used to borrow money against any equity you've built up in the property.
Lenders use many factors to determine your eligibility to take out a mortgage. One of the biggest is your credit history: your credit score, your debt-to-income ratio (i.e. how much you owe on credit cards and any other loans vs. how much you earn), any missing or late payments, and so forth. Other factors include the amount of your down payment, how long you've had steady employment, and the purchase price of the home you want to buy.
It's commonly said that you can afford to buy a home that costs anywhere from 1.5 to 2 times your yearly gross income, but there's a lot more to consider. How much will you pay for property taxes and insurance? Do you have any other debts, like car payments or student loans? How much money will you put down at closing? There are plenty of sites that offer tools to help you calculate how much you can afford to borrow when buying a home; these tools take into account many of these components to give you a more accurate picture of your borrowing power.
Prequalifying for a home loan means that you've taken an informal look at your finances to determine how much you can afford and whether you meet the minimum requirements to take out a mortgage. This can be done without going too deeply into your financial information. On the other hand, a preapproval is given when you complete a full mortgage application: the lender accesses your full credit report and gives you a written offer for a loan at a specific interest rate, subject to your finding a home to buy and completing the underwriting process. Having a prequalification or preapproval letter can make you a more compelling candidate to buy a home and may put you ahead of other parties making an offer.
Yes, especially if you're a first-time home buyer. There are VA loans with no down payment required if you have a military connection, USDA loans with 100% financing on rural properties, FHA loans for buyers with less-than-stellar credit, and many more. While those programs are all federal, there are additional home-buying programs offered by individual states that may also help you get a loan.
An escrow account holds money in reserve to pay your homeowner's insurance, property taxes, and PMI (if required). Your lender collects that money with your monthly mortgage payments, and then disburses the funds to your insurance company and local tax collector by the due date. Some home loans require you to have an escrow account, while others may allow you to pay your taxes and insurance on your own. (But you'll have to make sure to set aside the money, since it won't be collected automatically each month.)
PMI stands for "private mortgage insurance" . It's a fee you may have to pay each month if you're not going to make a down payment of at least 20% of the total loan amount. This third-party insurance coverage protects your lender if you default on your mortgage. You can usually request to have those payments removed once you've reached an equity level of at least 22%; that can be accomplished by making your regular monthly payments over time, by making additional payments towards the principal balance, or by submitting an appraisal showing that your home would currently sell for an amount that would give you the necessary equity (i.e. if home values have increased significantly since the date of purchase).
Absolutely. Some of today's most competitive rates are offered by online-only mortgage lenders with thousands of satisfied customers and a strong reputation for integrity, efficiency and affordability. Of course, it's always a wise idea to check out the background of any home loan provider you're considering prior to offering sensitive financial information or documentation. The Better Business Bureau is a good resource to determine a company's history, as well as current customer reviews.
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