Editorial reviews: loan types and lender categories, rated on five criteria
These are Tech-Bharat’s editorial assessments — scored on cost, accessibility, flexibility, risk and long-term value for loan types; cost, speed, transparency, flexibility and service for lender categories. They are not user ratings and no company pays to be included.
Loan types
- FHA loans — editorial rating 3.4 / 5
- VA loans — editorial rating 4.6 / 5
- USDA loans — editorial rating 3.4 / 5
- Conventional 97 and 3%-down loans (HomeReady, Home Possible) — editorial rating 4 / 5
- State housing finance agency (HFA) loans — editorial rating 3.4 / 5
- Jumbo loans — editorial rating 3 / 5
- Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) — editorial rating 2.6 / 5
- 15-year fixed-rate mortgages — editorial rating 3.2 / 5
- DSCR loans — editorial rating 3.4 / 5
- Loan modification — editorial rating 3.4 / 5
Lender categories
- Mortgage brokers — editorial rating 3.6 / 5
- Credit union mortgages — editorial rating 3.8 / 5
- Online mortgage lenders — editorial rating 3.4 / 5
- Big-bank mortgages — editorial rating 2.8 / 5
- Hard money lenders — editorial rating 3.4 / 5
How to read them: the criteria are weighted equally and the verdict explains the trade-offs. A 3 is not bad; it means the product is right for some borrowers and wrong for others, which is true of nearly everything in mortgage lending.