CrossCountry Mortgage Review 2024
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Our Take
4.0
CrossCountry Mortgage stands out for its impressive selection of grants and loans for first-time buyers. Customer service receives high praise, but its digital experience is lacking: CrossCountry doesn’t post rates online or offer a mobile app. Most likely to appeal to low-income borrowers who qualify for down payment assistance and are prepared to close fast.
Pros
- Receives high marks for customer satisfaction, according to J.D. Power and Zillow.
- Qualified borrowers can receive up to $6,500 in down payment assistance.
- Offers conventional loans for manufactured homes.
Cons
- Doesn’t post rates online.
- No mobile app.
- Fees are on the high side, according to the latest federal data.
Lender | Min. credit score | Min. down payment | |
|---|---|---|---|
580 | 3% | Visit Lenderat New American Funding at New American Funding | |
620 | 3% | Visit Lenderat NBKC at NBKC | |
580 | 3.5% | Visit Lenderat Rocket Mortgage, LLC at Rocket Mortgage, LLC |
Full Review
CrossCountry is a nonbank lender based in Cleveland. Loans are available nationwide.
🏠 Popular loan types include: Fixed or adjustable rate; conventional; FHA; VA; USDA; jumbo; rate-and-term refinance
🔑 Specialty loan options include: Renovation loans; interest-only loans; loans for manufactured homes; reverse mortgages
💵 Home equity borrowing options: HELOC
The lender offers multiple down payment assistance programs to make homebuying more affordable. Available grants for first-time buyers include:
CCM Community Promise: Offers $6,500 to first-time home buyers who live in qualifying neighborhoods in about 20 metro areas. No income restrictions apply.
CCM Smart Start: Offers up to $5,250 for first-time home buyers who are at or below 80% of the area median income (AMI).
Freddie Mac BorrowSmart Access: Offers up to $4,000 in assistance for down payment or closing costs for first-time home buyers in about a dozen eligible cities. Borrowers can make up to 140% of AMI.
When applying for down payment assistance, be sure to check the program’s requirements. Often, borrowers must be first-time home buyers and complete a first-time home buyer class.
MORE NERDY PERSPECTIVE 🤓
 | What’s unique about CrossCountry’s down payment assistance programs? Green flag: Finding a mortgage lender that’s eager to connect you with free money. If you live in one of the qualifying metros, my advice is not to sleep on the CCM Community Promise program. Unlike many other grants I've researched, this one doesn’t set a household income limit. Plus, eligibility is based on your current address — so even if you’re relocating to a different city, you can still get the $6,500 if you live in an eligible area now. - Abby Badach Doyle, Lead Writer, Mortgages |
» MORE: How to apply for a mortgage
How we score CrossCountry Mortgage
Every year, NerdWallet writers and editors use the latest data and independent research to score lenders on an overall rubric, reflecting factors that are most important to mortgage borrowers. Select Why This Category Matters below to learn more.
CrossCountry has a NerdWallet home loans rating of four stars overall. Here’s a breakdown of this year’s score.
Category | Star rating |
|---|---|
Average mortgage rates and fees | |
Mortgage rate transparency | |
Variety of loan types | |
Customer experience |
- Why This Category Matters
Average mortgage rates and fees (30%)
Our team analyzes federal data to compare mortgage lenders’ origination fees and offered mortgage rates, measuring annual averages across all loan types, as reported by the lenders. The lowest combination of average rates and fees earns the highest star rating in this category. (It’s worth noting that loans considered higher risk, including those such as FHA loans that are easier to qualify for, often have higher interest rates and fees.) Pro tip: In some cases, paying upfront fees may lower a borrower’s mortgage interest rate.
Mortgage rate transparency (25%)
We check how straightforward it is to comparison-shop rates online. NerdWallet’s transparency ratings are higher for lenders that post sample rates on their sites, and highest for sites with self-serve tools that allow shoppers to see what rates might be like for their particular loan. Pro tip: Borrowers who compare customized rate quotes by applying to three or more lenders could save thousands of dollars over the life of their loan.
Variety of loan types (25%)
Finding the right mortgage is different for each borrower. The highest star ratings in this category are awarded to lenders that our research shows offer a wide range of loan types, improving the odds that a borrower will find the best match for their needs: options for purchase and refinance; fixed-rate and adjustable-rate loans; government-backed FHA, VA or USDA loans; renovation or construction loans; and home equity loans or HELOCs.
Customer experience (20%)
How easy is it to interact with this lender? The highest-rated lenders in this category offer features that are convenient and clarifying for borrowers, such as: an online application, multiple customer service options, a helpful mobile app and candid closing timeline communications.
CrossCountry earned bonus points for its proprietary down payment assistance programs and for offering conventional loans to finance manufactured homes.
What borrowers say about CrossCountry Mortgage
NerdWallet’s lender star ratings assess objective qualities, including rates, fees and loan offerings. To help you understand borrowers’ subjective experiences, NerdWallet has gathered customer satisfaction ratings from J.D. Power and Zillow. We also contacted CrossCountry customer support.
→ Above-average score in J.D. Power’s 2023 U.S. Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study. Mortgage origination covers the initial application through closing day.
Score: 737 out of 1,000. Industry average for origination is 730.
→ Above-average score in J.D. Power’s 2024 U.S. Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study. A mortgage servicer handles loan payments.
Score: 623 out of 1,000. Industry average for servicing is 606.
→ Excellent customer rating on Zillow.
Customer rating: 4.97 out of 5, as of the date of publication. Rating reflects more than 21,177 customer reviews.
🤓 Our Nerds say ...
CrossCountry doesn’t offer online chat or a mobile app, but you can email or call customer support with any questions. When we called to test the customer service line, we didn’t experience any hold time and a friendly agent answered our sample question quickly.
Alternatives to a home loan from CrossCountry
We recommend comparing mortgage rate offers from three or more lenders. Here are some comparable lenders we reviewed that borrowers can consider.
Rocket Mortgage, one of the largest nonbank lenders, offers a down payment assistance grant for low-income borrowers.
LoanDepot also offers renovation mortgages, including the FHA 203(k) loan.
» MORE: Best FHA 203(k) mortgage lenders
More from NerdWallet
NerdWallet’s overall ratings for mortgage lenders are evaluated based on four major categories: average mortgage rates and origination fees, rate transparency to consumers, variety of loan types (purchase, refinance, fixed and adjustable, for example) and customer experience. Among the factors we consider in these categories are: options to apply for home loans online, typical time to close, mobile app experience, level of detail about mortgage rates on lender websites, and NerdWallet’s own analysis of the rates and fees lenders reported in the latest available Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. These and other items inform detailed rubrics, which generate ratings from 1 star (poor) to 5 stars (excellent). Read more about how we rate mortgage lenders here.
