Freedom Mortgage is a family-owned mortgage lender with licenses in all 50 states plus DC, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Freedom offers conventional and government-backed loans for purchase or refinance. It is best known for being the largest provider of VA loans and one of the largest providers of FHA loans in the United States.
Unlike other online lenders, Freedom Mortgage makes you speak to an agent over the phone to kick off the application process. You can call Freedom Mortgage directly or fill out the short contact form (name, email, phone number, and purchase state) on its website and wait for an agent to call you.
This approach has its pros and cons. It does involve having to wait for a call to get your pre-qualified rate (although, if you fill out the contact form during business hours, you should receive a call within a few minutes). On the flipside, Freedom Mortgage offers a highly personalized service. By assigning an actual mortgage expert to connect with you, Freedom Mortgage gives you the best possible understanding of your loan options.
During that initial call, your loan agent will talk through your options – including loan types, loan terms, and loan amounts – and reveal your pre-qualified rate offer. The next stages are pre-approval and then a formal loan application. The rest of the application process works more or less the same as with any other lender, and includes steps like providing documentation and getting an appraisal.
Pros
Family owned and operated
Personalized service
Largest VA lender in country by volume
Cons
Rates not advertised on website
No home equity products
Freedom Mortgage has been family-owned and operated since its establishment in 1990. This is reflected in the fact that it offers a highly personalized service, specializing in everything from conventional loans to government-backed products like VA and FHA loans. Freedom is by far the largest VA lender in the United States. It underwrote 146,129 VA loans in 2020, accounting for almost one in every eight VA loans issued by the entire lending industry.
One complaint we have about Freedom Mortgage is that it doesn’t advertise any rates on its website. Given that Freedom Mortgage specializes in offering a personalized service, we can understand why it chooses not to show rates on its website. However, we think it would be useful for Freedom to show its lowest rates on its website (like many of its competitors do).
Freedom Mortgage is the top VA lender in the United States by volume, but that’s not all it offers. Freedom is licensed to underwrite virtually every type of mortgage product, including:
- Conventional loans (minimum down payment of 20% on primary homes or 10% on second homes)
- Jumbo loans
- Refinancing (including cash-out refinance)
- VA loans (for eligible borrowers only, with zero down payment)
- VA streamline refinance
- FHA loans (with benefit of 3.5% down payment)
- FHA streamline refinance
- USDA loans
One of the reasons Freedom Mortgage Corporation is so popular when it comes to VA and other loans is that it offers strong, personalized customer service.
Here are top features of a Freedom Mortgage loan:
Certificate of Eligibility. – If you apply for a VA loan, Freedom Mortgage can obtain your COE for you from the Department of Veteran Affairs at the start of the loan process.
Flexible credit requirements. – The VA doesn’t require a minimum credit score for a VA loan. While most VA-authorized lenders require at least 620 credit, Freedom Mortgage says it provides loans to service men and women with lower credit scores. While it doesn’t say exactly what the minimum is, we interpret this to mean around 560 (depending, of course, on your overall financial picture).
Eagle Eye Pledge. – On its website, Freedom Mortgage states that it will contact you if: a) rates drop and it is able to lower your monthly payment; b) the value of your home increases and it can help give you access to more cash; or c) it has a special program or opportunity that may be of interest to you.
Team Freedom Cares program. – Freedom Mortgage supports a variety of causes in four categories: Military communities – donations to the USO and Homes for our Troops organizations; Housing initiatives – donations to Habitat for Humanity and the MBA Open Doors Foundation; Basic Human Needs – donations to Feeding America, American Red Cross, and The Salvation Army; Youth and education – supporting children’s needs at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Toys for Tots program.
The Freedom Mortgage website doesn’t display any rates, but based on our research it seems that its rates are more or less on par with those of its main competitors. To get a personalized rate, you’ll need to get on the phone with a Freedom loan agent. Fees are also a big unknown, and again the best way of finding out how much you’ll pay is to speak with an agent over the phone. Repayment terms vary from 15-30 years.
Based on a small number of customer reviews, Freedom Mortgage’s customer service is decent but could do with some improvement. Some borrowers really appreciate the personalized service while others say the company puts on too much of a hard-sell.
To find out your pre-qualified rate, call Freedom Mortgage on 877-220-5533 (Mon-Fri 8am – 10pm, Sat 9am – 6pm) or fill out the short contact form on the home page. There’s also a search tool on the Freedom website where you can find a loan officer in your area.
Freedom Mortgage has its headquarters at 951 Yamato Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431.
Freedom Mortgage is a leading provider of conventional and government-backed loans, but the product where it most stands out is VA loans. Freedom Mortgage underwrote 12% of all VA loans issued by the entire lending industry in 2020, and 50,000 more VA loans than its nearest competitor. It is also a top ten lender of FHA loans. For this reason, Freedom Mortgage is worth considering for your VA or FHA loan.