Credible is an online marketplace that allows users to compare personalized home loan offers from multiple providers side-by-side. Once you’re done comparing lenders, you can apply for a mortgage or refinance without ever having to leave the Credible platform. The service is completely free to use and it’s incredibly simple too.
Most mortgage marketplaces exist to help home buyers and owners compare mortgage options. But Credible is a mix of marketplace and licensed broker in that it enables borrowers to compare and close a mortgage from the one platform. Credible does this by integrating its partner lenders’ systems into its own online system.
It takes just four steps to go from starting out with Credible to securing a new mortgage or refinance.
1. Fill out a short application form to get pre-approved by multiple lenders without any impact to your credit score. This shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.
2. Select one of the personalized, pre-approved loan offers.
3. Submit all your documentation (e.g. recent bank and tax statements, copies of pay stubs, information about debt obligations like student loans and credit cards) on the Credible online platform, without having to communicate directly with your chosen lender. Much of the documentation can be gathered electronically and instantly, without having to search for paperwork at home.
4. Wait for Credible to verify the loan on behalf of your lender and send you the final closing documents.
Credible offers all the advantages of an online mortgage marketplace – and more. While other marketplaces focus on helping users search and compare for lenders, Credible actually helps users close their mortgage by integrating its partners’ application forms into its own system. It does all the work on behalf of the lenders, saving borrowers (i.e. you) the trouble of having to communicate directly with the lenders.
Credible doesn’t offer alternative loans like FHA loans, VA loans, or home equity loans just yet. One other thing worth noting is that borrowers in NY, NV and WA are excluded from using the Credible platform.
As mentioned, Credible focuses on helping users compare and close on conventional regular home purchase loans and refinancing.
Conventional loans include a choice of fixed-rate or adjustable rate loans with 20% down payment and minimum credit score of 620. Refinancing options are designed to help each home buyer refinance their existing loan with a fresh, improved rate and payment.
There’s also a jumbo loan option for people needing to borrow more than the maximum conforming loan amount (currently $548,250 for a single-family home in all states, except Hawaii and Alaska and a few high-cost markets such as the greater Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. areas, where the limits are higher).
We’ve already discussed many of Credible’s features, but it’s worth highlighting some of them again.
Credible taps into its four partnering lenders to find the best rates for each user. Its partners are: Caliber Home Loans, loanDepot, Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans, and Stearns Wholesale.
As a broker, Credible has professional loan agents on hand to help with every aspect of your application. If you have a question, you can call Credible during daytime hours (Mon-Thu, 6am – 6pm PT, Fri-Sun, 7am – 4pm PT) or fill out a contact form on the Credible website and wait for an agent to get back to you. You’ll also have the option of speaking with an agent at any time during the application process.
Online mortgage brokers have been around since the dawn of the internet, but Credible is the next phase in this story. Not only does Credible help users compare the best purchase and refinance rates from four top, nationwide lenders; it also facilitates the entire application process, from pre-approval through to closure.
This company is as much as a fintech company as it is a mortgage broker, employing advanced technology to streamline the mortgage process and help you get into that new home (or refinance an existing loan) more cheaply and quickly than ever before.