Home Refinance Loans
Mortgage lenders are approving more loan applications! Determine your potential savings & find out if you qualify for a home refinance.
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Home Purchase Loans
New programs are available, minimum credit scores are coming down & more applicants are being approved!
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Home Equity Loans
Thousands of homeowners are taking advantage! Find out how you can exchange home equity for cash.
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VA Loans
Pay no mortgage insurance! There is no loan limit & VA mortgages can be assumed by non-military home buyers. Find out if you qualify
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FHA Loans
Underwriting guidelines are flexible, the loans are assumable & there are no prepayment penalties! Get current FHA mortgage rates.
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Reverse Mortgage
With monthly checks, a lump sum of cash or an emergency line of credit with a government-backed reverse mortgage!
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From first-time home buyer programs to mortgage refinances, LendingTree lets you shop home loans across multiple lenders to help you get your best rate. Start by clicking on a link below to find a mortgage that suits you:
Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer or someone who’s trying to refinance from a 30-year to a 15-year mortgage, it’s important to ask yourself the following questions to help you determine what’s the best home loan for you.
Purchase or refinance
Are you trying to buy a new home or refinance the home loan on a property you already own? Just because you used your current lender to buy your home doesn’t mean you need to use them again for your mortgage refinance.
Fixed rate or adjustable rate home loan
Do you want a standard fixed-rate or do you want a lower monthly payment upfront with potential for rate movements in the future? Adjustable rate home loans offer lower monthly payments in the short run but your payments will likely change over time.
Conforming or jumbo loan
How much do you plan to borrow with your home loan? Is the home located in a high-cost area? If your mortgage exceeds the conforming loan limit of $484,350 or more, you may need to take out a jumbo loan or high balance mortgage.
Government or conventional mortgage
Government mortgage programs offered through the FHA, VA and USDA offer great low down-payment options for homebuyers, however conventional loans usually feature more flexibility for those with good credit.
Consumers should discuss their options with mortgage lenders to come up with the program that best meets their needs. The following loan types are offered for borrowers looking to purchase or refinance a home.
Conventional home loan
These are the most “vanilla” of home loans and are not backed by a government agency. As a result, lenders usually offer these loans to homeowners with better credit scores. They are offered in “conforming” and “non-conforming” variants.
VA home loan
VA loans are backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and require as little as 0% down for qualifying homebuyers affiliated with the military. Unlike comparable FHA home loans, VA loans do not require private mortgage insurance (PMI).
FHA home loan
FHA loans are backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and allow qualifying homebuyers to put as little as 3.5% down on their home purchase. These feature lower qualification hurdles for borrowers facing credit issues.
USDA home loan
Designed for rural homebuyers and issued through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA loans are only available for properties purchased in qualifying rural areas. USDA home mortgages offer attractive rates and low down payment options.
If you’re looking for ways to cash out on your home, the following mortgages allow you to withdraw your home equity for anything you need, be it home repairs, education or even to fund the down payment on an investment property.
Home equity loan
Home equity loans let you borrow against your home in a single lump sum. Also known as “second mortgages” these can be taken out alongside your primary home loan, provided you own enough equity in your home.
Home equity line of credit (HELOC)
Similar to a home equity loan, HELOCs also let you borrow against the equity in your house. However instead of a single lump sum, HELOCs allow you to withdraw and pay back the funds on a rolling basis, similar to a credit card.
Reverse mortgage
Reverse mortgages are available to qualifying individuals age 62 and older. They’re a good way to supplement your income and don’t require repayment until the borrower leaves the property.
There are plenty of options for borrowers looking to build their dream home as well as homebuyers who aren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty on a home renovation project. Explore your options for new construction and home renovation loans below.
New construction home loan
These specialized home loans provide the funds needed to fund the construction of your new home as well as purchase the land on which it’s built. Lenders often require detailed blueprints and timelines for these.
Home renovation loans
While not technically home loans in the traditional sense, these are designed for homeowners who need funds for home repairs and are offered by both public and private lenders. Some, like the FHA 203k loan, allow you to bundle the purchase of a home with added funds for home renovation purposes.
If a traditional single-family home isn’t for you, there are home loan options for a variety of non-traditional property types, including condos, co-ops and even mobile homes.
Condo loans
Condo and co-op mortgages behave similarly to regular mortgages but often feature extra underwriting requirements that review the condo development’s finances, governance and vacancy rates.
Mobile home loans
These loans are often financed directly from the manufacturer of your home. Traditional lenders will sometime require you to purchase the underlying property on which your new mobile or manufactured home sits.
Once you’ve selected a program, borrowers should compare mortgage rates and terms from mortgage lenders in their area. That’s easy to do online with sites like LendingTree.com. When comparing mortgage programs, consumers should gather the same information from each lender and contrast them after receiving multiple quotes.
This includes information like mortgage rates, available loan terms, lender fees, 3rd party charges and other closing costs, estimated APR and any special features like interest-only payments or prepayment penalties.
It’s important when shopping for a mortgage to get all home loan quotes at approximately the same time. Mortgage rates change constantly, because they are affected by the prices of bonds and mortgage-backed securities (MBS), which are bought and sold like stocks. Global economic news, Treasury auctions and decisions by the Federal Reserve can cause mortgage rates to move up and down very suddenly.
Just as stock prices change all day long, so can the rates on your home loan. This means a quote from Lender A on Monday can’t reliably be compared to one from Lender B on Wednesday. LendingTree allows consumers to easily compare real-time quotes from competing mortgage lenders, helping them make informed choices and save money.
Whether you’re trying to find a bank loan for your house or a condo loan for your new investment property, you can compare home mortgage loans by entering your zip code above. You can then pick the home lenders that best fit your needs and contact them for a free rate quote.
The daily mortgage rates table above also helps you see where current home loan rates stand, and feature updated rates for 30-year, 15-year and 5/1 adjustable rate mortgages. Enter your zip code and credit score range to get a quick estimate of where reasonable mortgage rates are in your area.
Generally speaking, conventional home loans will require a credit score of 620 or higher according to Fannie Mae’s qualified lending requirements, but lenders will set their own minimum credit requirements.
| What Credit Score Do You Need to Buy a House? | |
| Mortgage Type | Minimum Credit Score |
| Conventional | 620 |
| FHA | 500 |
| VA | No minimum (whole loan profile reviewed) |
| USDA | 640 |
Regardless of whether you’re buying for the first time or refinancing an existing mortgage, the minimum credit score required for a home loan will depend on the type of mortgage you’re applying for and your lender.
While conventional home loans have higher credit thresholds, homeowners may still be able to be approved for mortgage financing through government-backed mortgage programs, like the ones sponsored by the VA, FHA and USDA.
These programs receive explicit backing from the Federal government which reduces their risk to the lenders that provide them. As a result, prospective borrowers are able to be approved for home loans with credit scores as low as 540 in the case of an FHA-backed hone loan.
If you’re a military veteran or servicemember who qualifies for a VA loan, you may not even be required to meet any credit score standard, but will instead be evaluated based on your entire financial profile.
Keep in mind that even if you’re approved for a home loan with a poor credit score, you will likely be penalized with a higher interest rate or more restrictive loan terms. It may be more cost effective to defer taking out a home loan until you’ve had a chance to improve your credit score.
Prospective borrowers can improve their credit profiles by reducing their outstanding debts, paying off their credit cards and staying up to date on their monthly payments. It’s also helpful to avoid making any new credit applications or taking out any new debt in the interim.
Credit repair is a long-term commitment which may take months or even years to remedy, depending on your financial profile. However, the benefits of a high credit score cannot be understated, as it can mean tens of thousands of dollars in savings over the life of a home loan and even the difference between rejection and approval.
You can check out LendingTree’s collection of guides on how you can improve your credit. For those who need hands on guidance, LendingTree also features its own credit repair and consulting services through Ovation.
