Guild Mortgage Review

Guild Mortgage at a glance

3 stars

Minimum credit score: 540 to 620   Minimum down payment: 0% to 3.5%  Available loan products and programs: Conventional, VA, FHA, Jumbo, energy-efficient mortgages, renovation, reverse, down payment assistance

Guild Mortgage is an independent mortgage lender that has been in business since 1961. The company is headquartered in San Diego and is licensed to offer mortgages in 48 states and the District of Columbia.

Guild Mortgage products

Conventional

Guild offers a variety of conventional loan programs with features including:

• Fixed and adjustable rates
• Down payments as low as 3%
• 5% standard down payment loans for manufactured-home loans
• Down payments as low as 3% on manufactured-home loans with the FNMA MH Advantage and the FHLMC CHOICEHome programs

Borrowers can also choose refinance programs offered through Guild:

• Cash-out refinance loans. You can replace your current loan with a new loan and pocket the difference with a cash-out refinance.
• Rate-and-term refinance loans. Homeowners can opt for a rate-and-term refinance to lower their monthly payments, shorten their term to pay their balance off faster or get rid of private mortgage insurance (PMI) if your home’s value has risen.

FHA

Borrowers with low credit scores may qualify for a loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan at Guild. Guild FHA borrowers may be able to:

• Qualify with a 3.5% down payment and 580 credit scores
• Be approved with a score as low as 540 with a 10% down payment

VA

Guild is approved to offer qualified military borrowers loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). With a VA loan:

• You won’t typically need a down payment.
• You won’t pay PMI regardless of your down payment.

Jumbo

Homeowners and buyers looking for a loan amount above the conforming limits in their area to buy a home will find a variety of jumbo loan options available at Guild.

Special programs

First-time homebuyer “3-2-1 Home Plus” program

Guild offers a first-time homebuyer program called the “3-2-1 Home Plus program.” It offers qualified buyers:

• A 3% minimum down payment
• A $2,000 eGift Card to The Home Depot®
• Between $1,000 and $2,500 paid toward closing costs

Bridge loan

If you need equity from your home to buy another home, Guild’s bridge loan program allows you to tap equity from your current home while it’s for sale to use toward the down payment on a new home.

Energy efficient mortgages

Guild offers six different options to help make your home more energy efficient.

• GreenSmart Advantage Program powered by the Home Depot®. Homeowners can finance up 5% of their home’s appraised value to use toward energy- or water-saving improvements to an FHA mortgage.
• FNMA HomeStyle Energy. This program allows you to bundle the cost of smart thermostats, upgraded windows, solar systems and other energy-efficient upgrades.
• FHA Solar. Qualified borrowers can add the cost of a Photovoltaic (PV) Energy System into an FHA loan.
• FNMA Solar. Conventional borrowers building a new home may be able to add the cost of a solar system to their loan.
• FHA EEM. Another option for borrowers to add energy-saving equipment to an FHA mortgage
• VA EEM. Qualified VA buyers or homeowners can add $6,000 in energy-efficient upgrades to make energy bills on an older home more affordable.

Down payment assistance (DPA) programs

Guild Mortgage is an approved lender for over five hundred down payment assistance programs across the country.

Renovation loans

Borrowers may qualify to buy or purchase a home and roll the cost of improvements into one loan with Guild Mortgage’s renovation loan programs. Options include the Fannie Mae HomeStyle® Renovation Loan and the limited and standard FHA 203(k) loans.

Reverse mortgage

Homeowners aged 62 or older may be eligible to convert their home’s equity into income, a credit line or receive a lump sum with a reverse mortgage. No monthly payment is required.

Guild Mortgage rates and fees

Rates

There are no current rates published on Guild Mortgage’s website, although there is a detailed article that explains how rates are determined. However, Guild offers a Lock & Shop program for borrowers to secure an interest rate lock before they are under contract. A LockNow and Sell program for sellers to give buyers an opportunity to lock in a rate to buy their home and even drop the rate if rates go down during the loan process.

Compared to other large national lenders, Guild Mortgage’s rates are reasonably competitive, and on average came in around 0.60 percentage points above the average prime offer rate (APOR) in 2022. The APOR is a benchmark rate that captures what is, in effect, the lowest APR a bank is likely to offer in the current market. Mortgage loans aren’t typically considered “higher-cost” until they reach 1.5 percentage points over the APOR.

Fees

Guild’s doesn’t publish how much they charge in lender’s fees on their website. However, we do know that the average total cost of taking out a mortgage with Guild was $7,939 in 2022, according to data from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). That included an average of $3,980 in origination fees.

Guild Mortgage’s application experience

Clicking on the “Apply Now” button takes you to a preselected loan officer near the part of the country you live in. Users have a similar experience if they click on the “Get Pre-Qualified For Purchase” button or the “Learn If You Can Save With a Refinance” button. The form allows you to fill out basic contact information, but there doesn’t appear to be a way to fill out an online application without first speaking to a loan officer.

The Guild Mortgage website describes a traditional mortgage loan process, with the borrower providing information along the way as needed. No reference is made to a digital loan experience.

How to boost your loan approval odds

Guild doesn’t disclose the exact minimum requirements it uses to approve or deny your application. However, based on nationwide data from 2022, we can say that Guild approved customers who — on average — had: 

• An 82% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio or lower 
• A debt-to-income (DTI) ratio below 40% 

In that same year, Guild denied about 5% of its mortgage applications. That’s quite low when compared with other large, national mortgage lenders. For comparison, most large lenders have denial rates in the low teens up to the mid-thirties. 

Guild Mortgage’s customer service experience

Customers with a current Guild mortgage can reach out:

• By phone at 1-800-365-4441 Mon. through Fri., 6.a.m. to 5 p.m., Pacific time

Consumers looking for a new purchase or refinance loan can:

• Call 1-800-971-3864 Mon. through Fri., 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., Pacific time

Current homeowners having difficulty making their payments can call:

• 1-800-365-4884 to reach someone in the Loan Counseling Department

How does Guild Mortgage compare to other lenders?

*Rate spread is the difference between the average prime offer rate (APOR) — the lowest APR a bank is likely to offer any private customer — and the average annual percentage rate (APR) Guild offered to mortgage customers in 2022. The higher the number, the more expensive the loan.

How we rated Guild Mortgage

LendingTree’s mortgage lender rating is based on a five-point scoring system that factors in several features, including digital application processes, available loan products and the accessibility of product and lending information.

LendingTree’s editorial team calculates each rating based on a review of information available on the lender’s website. Lenders receive a half-point on the “offers standard mortgage products” criterion if they offer only two of the three standard loan programs (conventional, FHA and VA). In some cases, additional information was provided by a lender representative.

Guild Mortgage’s scorecard: 3/5

  Publishes rates online

  Offers standard mortgage products

  Includes detailed product info online

  Shares resources about mortgage lending

  Provides an online application