Best Mortgage Lenders of March 2023
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to mortgage financing. The best mortgage lenders may vary depending on the type of loan you need — whether you prefer a completely digital loan experience or need a special home loan program. LendingTree considered a number of factors to determine the best mortgage lenders of February 2023.
On this page
- Best overall mortgage loan variety: Fairway Independent Mortgage
- Best overall online mortgage experience: Zillow Home Loans
- Best for refinance loans: Guaranteed Rate
- Best for VA loans: Rocket Mortgage
- Best for FHA loans: AmeriSave Mortgage
- Best for Jumbo loans: Ally Bank
- Best for home equity loans: BMO Harris
- Summary of the best mortgage lenders of 2023
- How we chose our picks for the best mortgage lenders
- Current mortgage rates
- Frequently asked questions
Best overall mortgage loan variety: Fairway Independent Mortgage
Fairway at a glance
- Minimum credit score: 580 to 620
- Available loan programs: Purchase and refinance programs offered for Conventional, FHA, VA, Jumbo and USDA loans. Fixer-upper loans, which include the FHA 203(k) program, Fannie Mae HomeStyle® Renovation loans and VA and USDA renovation loans.
- Additional loan products: Reverse mortgage and physician home loan
- LendingTree rating:
Why we chose Fairway
Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation has more than 25 years of experience originating loans. In addition to offering the standard array of purchase and refinance mortgages — including conventional and government-backed refinance home loans, they offer refinance products for homeowners with mortgages currently backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Fairway took the lead in the “loan variety” category with an unmatched selection of renovation loans among the lenders we reviewed, including a USDA renovation refinance product. They also offer reverse mortgages and a physician home loan program.
Best overall online mortgage experience: Zillow Home Loans
Zillow at a glance
- Minimum credit score: 620
- Available refinance programs: Conventional, FHA, VA and jumbo
- LendingTree rating:
Why we chose Zillow Home Loans
Zillow Home Loans was launched in 2018, to give aspiring homebuyers a place to shop for mortgages with a familiar and trusted brand. Like many online mortgage lenders, Zillow Home Loans provides a wealth of information about purchase and refinance mortgages to help consumers learn about and better understand which loan type is best for their needs.
However, Zillow really outperforms the competition when it comes to rate transparency, publishing daily rate updates for 16 different refinance and purchase programs. Consumers can check Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) fixed-rate loan rates or peruse adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) programs with initial fixed rates of three, five, seven or even 10 years.
Best for refinance loans: Guaranteed Rate
Guaranteed Rate at a glance
- Minimum credit score: Not published
- Available refinance programs: Conventional cash-out refinance, FHA refinance, VA cash-out refinance, VA IRRRL, FHA 203(k) renovation refinance, Fannie Mae HomeStyle and Freddie Mac Renovation refinances and VA renovation refinance
- Additional loan products: Jumbo loans, interest-only mortgages and home equity loans
- LendingTree rating:
Why we chose Guaranteed Rate
Founded in 2000, Guaranteed Rate specializes in providing a digital mortgage experience for consumers. Consumers will find a library of online resources and information about refinancing a mortgage to help decide which refinance option fits their financial goals. Guaranteed Rate’s refinance rates are displayed online and updated daily. Borrowers can choose from seven different refinance programs, including a wide variety of fixer-upper refinance programs.
Best for VA loans: Rocket Mortgage
Rocket Mortgage at a glance
- Minimum credit score (VA loans): 580
- Available VA loan programs: Purchase, streamline refinance (IRRRL), cash-out refinance
- Additional loan products: Conventional, FHA, jumbo, home equity loans
- LendingTree rating:
Why we chose Rocket Mortgage
Rocket Mortgage is one of the largest mortgage lenders in the country. When it comes to VA loans, it offers military homebuyers all of the essential VA loan programs, including purchase options, the VA cash-out refinance and the VA streamline program more commonly known as IRRRL (interest rate reduction refinance loan). VA borrowers can apply online, check out VA rates online that are updated daily and educate themselves about VA loans with articles and information on the website.
Best for FHA loans: AmeriSave Mortgage
AmeriSave Mortgage at a glance
- Minimum credit score (FHA loans): 600
- Minimum down payment (FHA loans): 3.5%
- Available FHA loan programs: Purchase, streamline refinance, cash-out refinance
- Additional loan products: Conventional, VA, USDA, jumbo
- LendingTree rating:
Why we chose AmeriSave Mortgage
AmeriSave Mortgage has more than 20 years of experience making home loans and offers three popular FHA loan programs including purchase loans, the FHA streamline and the FHA cash-out refinance. FHA borrowers can review rates online before filling out an online application and read a variety of different articles to get up to speed on how FHA loans work. AmeriSave’s online rates are updated daily and can be customized to fit your financial situation.
Best for Jumbo loans: Ally Bank
Ally Bank at a glance
- Minimum credit score (jumbo loans): Not disclosed
- Minimum down payment (jumbo loans): 10%
- Maximum jumbo loan amount: $4 million
- Additional loan products: Conventional
- LendingTree rating:
Why we chose Ally Bank
The online-only platform offered by Ally Bank includes an excellent selection of jumbo mortgage rates and product information for borrowers that need a loan above the conforming loan limits in their area. According to the company, they can produce an online preapproval in less than five minutes and offer a digital mortgage process.
Jumbo rates are easy to find on Ally Bank’s website with more detail than most jumbo lender websites typically offer. Rate quotes can be customized to fit customers’ location, credit score, property type and more. Ally Bank gives jumbo homebuyers extra borrowing power with loan amounts available up to $4,000,000.
Best for home equity loans: BMO Harris
BMO Harris at a glance
- Minimum credit score: 580 to 620
- Available home equity loan terms: 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-year
- Available HELOC loan terms: 20 years
- Additional loan products: Conventional, FHA, jumbo
- LendingTree rating:
Why we chose BMO Harris
BMO Harris, the eight-largest bank in North America, offers home equity loans and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) with transparent online information that includes current rates, product information and educational articles. You can choose a personalized home equity loan to receive an upfront sum of money and repay it in fixed installments. A BMO Harris HELOC works more like a credit card, allowing you to use and pay off the line as needed and only make payments on the amount used.
Once you’re ready to apply for a home equity loan or HELOC, BMO Harris offers an online application with a guide to help you navigate the information needed to apply.
Summary of the best mortgage lenders of 2023
| Lender | LendingTree rating and “best of” category | Lender review |
|---|---|---|
 |  Best overall mortgage loan variety | Read our review |
 |  Best online mortgage experience | Read our review |
 |  Best for refinance loans | Read our review |
 | Best for VA loans | Read our review |
 |  Best for FHA loans | Read our review |
 | Best for jumbo loans | Read our review |
 | Best for home equity loans | Read our review |
How we chose our picks for the best mortgage lenders of 2023
We reviewed data collected from 35 lender reviews completed by the LendingTree editorial staff for 2023 to determine the best mortgage lenders in each category chosen in this round up. It includes winners in best overall categories awarded to lenders in our FHA, VA, home equity, refinance and jumbo “best of” articles.
To determine the best overall loan variety category loan lenders, we reviewed data from LendingTree’s 35 lender reviews and tallied the total number of standard and special loan programs offered to choose the winner.
Each lender is given a score between zero and five stars based on several features including digital application processes, available loan products and the accessibility of product and lending information. To evaluate best mortgage-specific factors, we chose lenders that won the best overall categories in the refinance, FHA, VA, home equity and jumbo roundups we completed.
To be included in the “best of” roundup, lenders must offer mortgages in at least 35 states.
Current mortgage rates
Mortgage rates were headed lower as the 2023 began but ran into inflationary headwinds that have since driven them back toward the 7% mark — close to the peak reached in the fall of 2022. Despite the uptick, the mortgage interest rate forecast is still for lower rates by end of 2023.
Homebuyers should consider locking in their rate as soon as they have an accepted contract to avoid the ups and downs of an interest rate market that has been extremely volatile for the past year. If you’re rate shopping, pay attention whether the rate quotes include paying mortgage points, commonly called discount points. A discount point is equal to 1% of your loan amount, and many online lenders are quoting rates that include discount points in the fine print. Make sure you calculate your break-even point to determine if the extra points are worth the cost.
Frequently asked questions
Lenders often advertise their ratings with different agencies to convince consumers they are the best option for mortgages, but there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned day of shopping lenders to get a feel which company is best for you. No consumer’s credit, employment or money management history is the same — and different lenders often specialize in different products. For example, you may not want to choose the highest-rated conventional refinance lender if you have low credit scores that would be a better fit for an FHA lender.
It depends on your particular financial situation. Institutional banks tend to be a bit more strict with their minimum requirements but may offer extra mortgage rate or cost incentives if you carry large deposit balances. Mortgage banks and mortgage brokers often work with a number of different lenders, giving you more choices — especially if your financial background doesn’t quite meet the bank’s stringent underwriting guidelines.
Three words: shop, shop, shop. LendingTree studies show that shopping around, regardless of the lender’s “rating,” often leads to short- and long-term savings of hundreds to thousands of dollars. Gather loan estimates from at least three to five lenders on the same day (rates change daily) and compare the lender fees and rates.
However, if you have complicated self-employment income, bumps in your credit history or some special situation, an experienced loan officer may be worth much more than an eighth of a percent lower in rate or a few hundred dollars saved on closing costs.
The bank with the lowest rate changes on a daily basis depending on several different factors. Some banks may offer low rates for government-backed loans, while others focus their low rate products on high credit score borrowers with large down payments. Make sure you learn the minimum mortgage requirements for different programs before you start shopping for a home loan so you don’t waste time shopping for a mortgage you don’t qualify for.