Fairway Mortgage Review 2024
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Our Take
2.5
Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation has a reputation for top-notch customer service and a plethora of brick-and-mortar branches, but you can't view rates online and it doesn't offer home equity lending. Fairway was recently penalized for discriminatory lending practices. Most likely to appeal to borrowers looking for a hands-on lender.
Pros
- Loan options include government-backed mortgages and physician loans.
- Offers first-time home buyer grants to buyers in eligible locations.
- Highest scoring mortgage lender for customer satisfaction, according to J.D. Power.
Cons
- Mortgage rates aren't posted online.
- Online customer service requires contact information, and phone is for existing customers only.
- Home equity loans and HELOCs are not available.
- Has been penalized for redlining.
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
Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation is a nonbank mortgage lender based in Madison, WI. Loans are available in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. In addition to making home loans, Fairway also services mortgages — meaning it manages payments and escrow for home loans — in all states except New York.
🏠 Popular loan types include: Fixed or adjustable rate; conventional; FHA; VA; USDA; jumbo; rate-and-term or cash-out refinance.
🔑 Specialty loan types include: First-time home buyer; physician; renovation; reverse mortgage.
The Fairway Community Access program gives a boost to first-time home buyers in eligible Census tracts in 21 metro areas including Atlanta, Chicago and Phoenix. Borrowers can get a $7,000 grant — yes, free money that isn't repaid — to use toward their down payment or closing costs. Depending on the details of your loan, additional benefits can include credits toward title insurance and the appraisal. It's especially worth noting that eligibility is tied to location, not income.
» MORE: How to apply for a mortgage
How we score Fairway 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.
Fairway has a NerdWallet home loans rating of 2.5 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.
Fairway earned bonus points for its first-time home buyer assistance. We deducted points for regulatory action against the lender for violations that harmed mortgage borrowers.
What borrowers say about Fairway 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 Fairway customer support.
→ Highest score in J.D. Power’s 2023 U.S. Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study. Mortgage origination covers the initial application through closing day.
Score: 776 out of 1,000. Industry average for origination is 730.
→ Excellent customer rating on Zillow.
Customer rating: 4.95 out of 5, as of the date of publication. Rating reflects more than 35,000 customer reviews.
🤓 Our Nerds say...
Especially for a nonbank lender, Fairway is fairly brick-and-mortar oriented, with branches in 48 states and the District of Columbia. But if in-person isn't your style or you're not yet ready to apply, getting your questions answered may be a little challenging. The website does not feature online chat or prominently post a phone number. A phone number for customer service and a link to a customer service form — which requires contact info — are at the very bottom of the home page. When we called that number, we ended up listening to menu options for existing loan servicing, not for new borrowers.
Fairway and consumer trust
In October 2024, Fairway Mortgage settled a complaint from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice over alleged discriminatory lending practices. The CFPB and DOJ claimed that Fairway illegally redlined Black neighborhoods in Birmingham, Alabama.
Redlining is the practice of restricting or denying loans to qualified borrowers based on location. Rampant during the first half of the 20th century, redlining entrenched racial segregation by neighborhood. Even though redlining was outlawed by 1968's Fair Housing Act, the effects are still seen today, for example, in lower levels of Black homeownership.
The CFPB and DOJ complaint against Fairway noted that the lender made many fewer loans in majority-Black neighborhoods than its peers. Additionally, all Birmingham Fairway branches were in majority-white neighborhoods, with marketing targeting these areas even though the lender claimed to serve the entire metro area.
If the settlement is approved by the court, Fairway will have to pay a $1.9 million dollar settlement to the CFPB victims' fund, as well as providing $7 million dollars to create a loan subsidy program for home purchases, refinances and renovations in majority-Black neighborhoods. At least another million will go toward directly serving neighborhoods most affected by this discrimination.
When shopping for a mortgage lender, do an online search to see if the company is in the news, and why.
MORE NERDY PERSPECTIVE 🤓
 | Why is Fairway's star rating on the low side? Fairway's score gets dinged the hardest by not making mortgage rates available online, meaning that comparing this lender against others isn't as easy as it could be. But Fairway also received a penalty for the CFPB fine they incurred in October 2024. When we get that kind of news, our key concern is whether the lender's misdeeds directly harmed consumers — and this one was a definite yes. - Kate Wood, Lead Writer/Spokesperson, Mortgages |
Alternatives to a home loan from Fairway Mortgage
We recommend comparing mortgage rate offers from three or more lenders.
Guild Mortgage and CrossCountry Mortgage both also boast a wide variety of loan offerings and lots of local branches.
Like Fairway, Rocket Mortgage earns high ratings for customer service.
» MORE: Best 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.
