Best Mortgage Lender for Online Loans

How we picked the lenders to evaluate:

NerdWallet reviewed the majority of the largest U.S. mortgage lenders by annual loan volume (lenders had to have at least a 1% market share). We focused on lenders that offered the following loans: purchase, refinance, jumbo, FHA, VA and/or HELOCs. In addition, we reviewed online lenders and small but growing lenders. We also considered lenders with significant online search volume and those that specialize in serving various audiences across the country. Some of the providers are NerdWallet partners, but this did not influence our selection of the winner.

How we chose the winner:

We started by pooling all of our reviewed lenders. The winner(s) must offer all five online capabilities (full online application, document upload, loan-process tracking, e-signature and a mobile-responsive website) (14.28%). Winner(s) must also offer online applications that do not require first engaging with a loan officer (14.28%), online preapproval (14.28%), real-person access (14.28%), must immediately show mortgage rates for most of their products (14.28%), have low origination fees (14.28%) and have a form to fill in for customized rates that takes credit score and location into account (14.28%). In the result of a tie, the winner(s) will offer the widest selection of loan types and products and have the lowest origination fee.

How we verified our data:

NerdWallet solicits information from reviewed lenders on a recurring basis throughout the year. All lender-provided information is verified through lender websites and interviews. We also utilized 2019 HMDA data for origination fee and share-of-product data.