In a Nutshell

LoanDepot offers speed, signup through closing, on many kinds of home loans, including FHA, VA and home equity loans.

pros

Basic information is available without a signup
Viewing loan types is easy thanks to the simple layout

cons

Difficult to find mortgage offers without adjustments
Income statements are required for some information

LoanDepot Visit Site

LoanDepot at a Glance

Loan types

Home Purchase, Home Refinance

Loan features

Fixed and adjustable rate

Repayment Terms

Varies, depending on specific loan

Best for

Comparing loan options

Overview

LoanDepot offers homebuyers a portal to compare mortgage loan offers. You can access basic mortgage information without signing up for an account, and it’s easy to update your information and view additional loan offers in a simple and straightforward manner. A variety of loans are available to search, including hard-to-find 10- and 20-year fixed loans.

Types of Loans

LoanDepot is one of the few lenders in its class to offer home equity loans, and it also offers FHA and VA loans for qualifying borrowers in need of assistance. The company is also known for its rapid closing times, which is a serious asset if you’re looking to get into your new home as quickly as possible.

Rates and Fees: The Bare Basics

You can search for a wide range of options, including 30-, 20-, 15- and 10-year fixed. You can also search for 10/1, 7/1, 5/1 and 3/1 ARM mortgages. Your results will vary depending on your information, but you can find 10- and 20-year terms with only moderate effort.

There is a wide spectrum of APR offers available. LoanDepot offers as low as 2.95% and as high as 4.056%. Though the lower APRs were impressive, they were mostly limited to the 5/1 ARM offers. Unfortunately, adjustable rate mortgages aren’t ideal for every home buyer. Interest rates are consistently lower than APRs, sometimes by a wide margin. There are interest rates as low as 2.25% for adjustable rate mortgages and as low as 3.25% for fixed rate mortgages. There is a downside, though. People are only offered these rates with a credit score of 700 or above. As you dip below 700, the rates rise rapidly. If your credit score is around 650, you’re more likely to find rates in the 4% range.

Repayment Terms

You can expect your monthly payments to be about average compared with other lenders. Using the wide range of parameters into the company’s Rate Quote form, you can expect to see numbers that are consistent with a wide range of other lenders. For example, if you lock in a 30-year fixed loan for a $300,000 home and you have a credit score of 690, you can find monthly payments as low as $898 per month. The site also has a handy Mortgage Purchase Calculator that provides further perspective on what you can expect to pay.

LoanDepot Visit Site

Summary

The most impressive aspects of LoanDepot are the wide range of term options and the ease with which you can review and compare information. The layout on the results page is also among the best that the industry has to offer. You are limited, however, in the number of available options afforded to you, and the company is insistent upon phone correspondence after you move past the rate estimator. Look forward to some additional haggling before you secure your loan.