Best Mortgage Rates Available
If you’re searching the internet for the best mortgage rates, chances are you are in the market for a new home. Or, perhaps you are looking to refinance your current home. Either way, buying or refinancing is an exciting time for you and the family.
There could however be real financial drawbacks to poor or inadequate research on your part before deciding on a lender.
In addition to closing costs that you’ll have to pay upfront (or roll into your mortgage), some mortgage lenders are unable to offer the best or lowest mortgage rates. Those lenders are not your target, and you definitely are not their audience. The wrong lender could end up costing you thousands more if you do not do the right shopping around.
You are here however – which means you are doing your due diligence.
Your mortgage is something you will likely be paying on for 10 to 30 years, depending on your individual budget or how aggressive you plan to be. Regardless, a decade (or three decades) is a long time to be stuck in a subpar loan.
Today, I have compiled a list of lenders with the best mortgage rates to help you drill down and decide on a reputable lender, while at the same time, taking advantage of low rates available to you.
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Which Lenders Currently Offer The Best Mortgage Rates?
It is essential that prior to making a final selection on the company with which to sign up for a any loan – especially a mortgage loan – you take the time to explore some items.
The items to explore and compare are:
- Fees and Levies
- Interest Rates
- Closing Costs
- Customer Service Ratings
Here’s a list of the top mortgage lenders available, based on several criteria including having the best mortgage rates, customer service, and ease of process from initiation to closing.
- United Faith Mortgage
- Quicken Loans
- Amerisave
- Bank of America
- Texas Lending
- Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation
- loanDepot
- Chase
- VA Loans
#1: United Faith Mortgage
United Faith Mortgage is quickly growing into one of the most beloved mortgage lenders in the country.
Not only does United Faith Mortgage consistently offer the most competitive rates available on the market today, they also offer a faith-based, family atmosphere that puts them in the top mortgage lenders stratosphere.
United Faith Mortgage offers a program where your approved rate is locked in place. This takes a ton of pressure off you while you shop for the perfect home, or go about putting together all those documents you need for underwriting your loan.
For first time home-buyers, United Faith Mortgage offers a first time home-buyer blueprint that spells out steps in the pre-home buying process so you stay on the right track all the way to closing.
#2: Quicken Loans
You are likely very familiar with the name Quicken Loans.
Founded in 1985 and formerly known as Rock Financial, Quicken loans is often mentioned as one of the top mortgage lenders across the nation.
On top of staying competitive from a loan interest rate standpoint, the Quicken Loans application process is fully automated, which is nice. You can go through the entire loan process from the comfort of your home up until the time of only having to show up at the title company to close.
Their RateShield feature is nice as it lets you lock in your approved rate for up to 90 days while you peruse homes and gather all of your loan documents.
#3: Amerisave
Amerisave Mortgage Corporation is one of the top mortgage lenders offering the best mortgage rates.
The company operates out of 49 states and Washington D.C. and has funded over $55 billion in home loans to date. They are particularly known nationwide for their low rates and easy online loan application process.
They offer many different types of loans including Conventional, Jumbo, FHA, VA and USDA, with every available loan timeline known to man.
#4: Bank of America
The beauty of working with Bank of America for your home mortgage needs is their sheer size, and as such, resources they have available to them.
As a would-be borrower, Bank of America’s process allows you to get an online pre-qualification which does not affect your credit.
This is great, especially if you are still shopping rates and trying to decide.
Bank of America offers some of the best mortgage rate options, accessible to lenders nationwide. This catapults BOA to the realms of top mortgage lenders available to home loan seekers today.
#5: Texas Lending
True…Texas Lending is not a national lender. Even though residents of the great state of Texas often joke about Big Tex being a country of its own.
Texas lending does qualify for honorable mention as one of today’s top companies with the best mortgage rates available to lenders – that is Texas lenders of course.
They also boast an online pre-qualification process that skips the hard inquiry on your credit. Closing cost discounts and efficient ways to roll other costs into a low-cost loan makes Texas Lending one of our top mortgage lenders overall.
#6: Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation
Fairway Independent Mortgage offers mortgage loans in 49 states.
They make the list of top mortgage lenders because they offer some of the best mortgage rates available, have a family atmosphere to their loan process and offer a super easy application to loan closure process.
The company was founded in 1996 and maintains dual headquarters. One in Madison, WI and the other in that great country of Texas, in the city of Carrollton.
Fairway is a top mortgage lender that offers many types of loans. These include Conventional, FHA, Fixed Rate, Jumbo, VA and USDA.
#7: loanDepot
Think of loanDepot if you’re looking to expedite your entire loan process and skip the paperwork, skip the appraisal and skip the waiting.
Depending on your credit rating, loanDepot offers some of the best mortgage rates for new home purchases and home refinances.
LoanDepot takes all your information and then connects you with a loan expert in your locality for a more personalized overall experience.
#8: Chase
JP Morgan Chase is better known as a credit card and banking products company. They do however stand tall as one of the nation’s top mortgage lenders.
Chase offers some of the best mortgage rates for a good variety of mortgage products.
Much like Quicken Loans, Chase offers a pre-qualification process that does not include a hard inquiry on your credit. This makes it easy for you as a borrower to shop Chase as well as other lenders, and get a good idea of what rates you qualify for.
You also know in advance how much you can afford to borrow.
#9: VA Loans
To our Veterans, we applaud your service and appreciate your sacrifice.
Veterans United Home Loans exists to grant access to veterans, active duty military personnel and their spouses to VA loans. These loans often come with low rates and super easy qualification requirements, which is awesome.
VA loans are excellent as our military personnel can purchase homes without the burden of large down payments or credit score hoops to jump through.
They do however come with the private mortgage insurance (PMI) stipulations that add to your monthly mortgage bill.
How To Get The Best Mortgage Rates
Typically, the best mortgage rates are landed by borrowers with excellent credit, proof of a steady source of income, long and verifiable employment history and the funds for a substantial down payment on the loan.
For the average buyer, this could mean having to wait and take some steps to improve all of the above in order to take advantage of those sweet rates.
There are a series of steps that you could take in the pre-loan application to position yourself as a desirable loan prospect.
Each of these steps are outlined below.
Take The Necessary Steps to Improve Your Credit
By most standards, a credit score just shy of 700 is considered good enough. If you’re looking to be in the higher echelon of low rates, you’ll want to push your score well north of 750.
Your debt to credit ratio, or better described as how much of your available credit you are actually using, is a major determining factor in your score. Another factor is your payment history.
You will want to stay on top of your payment (i.e, never miss a payment) on any recurring loans. Also, keeping your debt to credit ratio below 30% will bode well for you in boosting that credit score.
Having these two factors alone in check will place you well on your way to improving your scores and qualifying you for the best mortgage rates with the nation’s top mortgage lenders.
Shop Multiple Lenders
When you are looking to buy a new car or make a number of large purchases, you shop around. Mortgage rate shopping should be no different.
Stack and compare several lenders and see how their loans measure against one another. Consumer Advocate is a great source for comparing several top mortgage lenders in one place.
It is super important to shop multiple lenders as each will have their own in-house pre-qualification criteria, which could mean you may look more attractive to one lender versus the other. Only way to know is to shop around.
Another key comparison you should make is closing costs. You do not want to be surprised on closing day with fees and costs you did not factor into your loan process.
Go Local
While much of this article is highlighted by the nation’s top mortgage lenders with the best mortgage rates, your local credit union is typically not a bad place to look for amazing interest rates.
While most credit unions require membership to qualify for loans, the membership process is usually very easy and can be completed in minutes in most cases.
Do not neglect to shop local when trying to make a mortgage lender decision. Credit unions still have some of the best mortgage rates available.
Opt For A Shorter Mortgage Term
While traditionally, mortgages come with a 30-year term, if you can afford to, you should go with a shorter term.
Most lenders offer the fixed-rate home loan option. Better still, many of them offer the fixed-rate loan in 10-year, 15-year and 20-year terms, in addition to the traditional 30-year loan option.
Most of the shorter term loans carry lower interest rates. This means as a borrower, you’ll be able to pay off your mortgage faster and save a good chunk of interest in the process. The thought alone of being mortgage free should spur you to think strongly about a shorter mortgage term.
The lower interest rate is just an added bonus.
Wait Until You’ve Saved A Larger Down Payment
It’s no secret that putting a larger down payment towards the purchase of your home saves you on interest.
Most lenders (national and local) extend the best mortgage rates to lenders who put down at least 20% of the home value at the time of purchase.
It may be prudent to cut down on your current monthly costs, live well under your means for a while, get a side hustle, save as much as you can, until you can afford to put down a substantial payment.
Don’t forget that besides saving for a mortgage, living beneath your means and saving more is a truly prudent and wise path to financial freedom.
Consider Government Mortgage Programs
You should also look into government supported mortgage programs like FHA loans, VA and USDA loans.
These are government-backed and as such, have the potential of qualifying you for better rates even with less than stellar credit.
You should know however that these loans often come with strict stipulations like closing cost add-ons and mortgage insurance premiums that last the life of your loan.
So, What Are The Best Mortgage Rates?
The best mortgage rates are often market driven and sometimes out of our hands. As mentioned earlier, there are some steps you can take to position yourself to obtain the lowest rates possible.
You can also take control of your everyday spending habits to ensure you are well positioned to take advantage of these rates when available.
Lastly, make use of home value estimators to track your home values if you are in the market for a refinance or looking to sell your home in the future.
