Top 5 Bankrate 15-year mortgage lenders

• Better.com
• AmeriSave Mortgage Corporation
• Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation
• Interfirst Mortgage Company
• Rocket Mortgage

Methodology

Bankrate helps thousands of borrowers find mortgage and refinance lenders every day. To determine the top mortgage lenders, we analyzed proprietary data across more than 150 lenders to assess which on our platform received the most inquiries within a three-month period. We then assigned superlatives based on factors such as fees, products offered, convenience and other criteria. These top lenders are updated regularly.

• Better.com

  Better.com, also known as Better Mortgage, is an online mortgage lender available in the majority of states in the U.S.

  Strengths: With Better.com, you can get rate quotes in seconds and preapproved for a 15-year or other type of mortgage in as little as three minutes. Its proprietary technology speeds up the process for borrowers and automatically applies discounts, if available, to maximize your savings on a 15-year loan. The lender doesn’t charge any fees, either.

  Weaknesses: Better.com doesn’t offer VA or USDA loans, and doesn’t have branch locations, which can be a downside if you’d rather meet with a loan officer in-person.

  Read Bankrate's Better.com mortgage review

• AmeriSave Mortgage Corporation

  AmeriSave Mortgage Corporation is an online lender, licensed in almost every state, that offers 15-year fixed-rate mortgages and several other loan types.

  Strengths: Among the perks of its website, AmeriSave Mortgage Corporation offers a historical look at its 30- and 15-year fixed (and seven-year adjustable) rate trends.

  Weaknesses: The lender charges a $500 non-refundable application fee.

  Read Bankrate's AmeriSave Mortgage Corporation review

• Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation

  Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation is one of the top mortgage lenders in the U.S. The lender’s loan products are available to borrowers nationwide, and it has branch locations in 48 states (not Alaska or West Virginia) and Washington, D.C. Its loan options include conventional and government loans, refinancing and physician loans for doctors and other medical professionals.

  Strengths: Strong app, streamlined process and wide geographic coverage

  Weaknesses: Doesn’t offer home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), and specific rates are not posted online

  Read Bankrate's Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation review

• Interfirst Mortgage Company

  Interfirst Mortgage Company is a lender licensed in the majority of states and Washington, D.C.

  Strengths: You can begin the process of obtaining refinance rates through Interfirst Mortgage Company online — and, if you need more time to gather information, you can save your application easily to come back to pending tasks.

  Weaknesses: Interfirst Mortgage Company doesn’t operate in every state, and you’ll need to wait for the lender to contact you after you provide preliminary info online.

  Read Bankrate's Interfirst Mortgage Company review

• Rocket Mortgage

  The nation’s largest lender does business everywhere.

  Strengths: Rocket Mortgage offers a broad selection of purchase and refinance options, including a flexible-term product called “YOURgage,” which allows borrowers to set the terms of their loan from eight to 29 years, and cash-out refinancing.

  Weaknesses: No brick-and-mortar locations

  Read Bankrate's Rocket Mortgage review

Pros and cons of a 15-year mortgage

Here we’ll look at both the positive and negative aspects of a 15-year mortgage so you can see how it fits into your financial goals.

Pros:

• The interest rates are lower.
  

  Historically, interest rates on 15-year mortgages fall below other mortgage options. A quick check of the current mortgage rate table will show you how much you can save by getting a 15-year home loan versus other loan types.

• You’ll make fewer payments (180) than you would with a conventional 30-year mortgage (360).
  

  Fewer payments mean less overall interest. Even if you got the same rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage as you did on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, you would still pay less in interest because your payments would end 15 years sooner.

• You’ll pay off your mortgage faster.
  

  Paying off a mortgage is often a cause for celebration. It’s one less bill to worry about, and now you own your house free and clear, which can be a mental relief as much as a financial one.

• You'll build equity more quickly.
  

  Because you’re paying down your principal in half the time you would for a 30-year mortgage, you speed up the equity-building process. Equity is basically how much of the home you own. For example, if you owe $150,000 on a home that cost you $300,000 and today that home is worth $360,000, you have $210,000 of equity in that house.

Cons:

• You'll pay more each month.
  

  For many people, the larger monthly payment is the main reason to avoid 15-year mortgages. You repay a larger portion of the principal each month than with a 30-year loan. That ultimately means you’ll have less money available in your budget each month for other expenses and investments, which can make for a tight financial situation for some people.

• You’ll qualify for a lower mortgage amount.
  

  Lenders want to make sure you can comfortably afford to pay them back, so if you max out your budget with the monthly payments on a 15-year mortgage, they probably won’t be willing to lend you as much money as they would with a longer-term loan.

• You might sacrifice saving for retirement.
  

  Don’t be so eager to pay down your mortgage that you neglect retirement savings. Over time, the stock market has grown faster than home values, so it can make sense to use the extra cash freed up with the smaller payment of a 30-year loan and invest the difference in your retirement account. With mortgage rates near historic lows, it can make sense to delay paying off the house and saving for retirement instead.

15-year mortgage FAQs

• What is a 15-year fixed mortgage?

  A 15-year fixed-rate mortgage offers borrowers the same (fixed) interest rate and monthly payments throughout the life of the loan.

  The long-term advantage of a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is that it’s cheaper than other mortgage options; however, monthly payments are higher than loans with a longer repayment term, like a traditional 30-year mortgage.

• Who is a 15-year mortgage best for?

  Borrowers who don’t mind a higher monthly payment might find a 15-year mortgage to be a more attractive option than a longer-term loan. That’s because 15-year mortgages come with a lower interest rate and less interest paid overall.

  If you’re looking to refinance, it’s smart to consider refinancing into a 15-year mortgage, especially if you’re more than halfway through repaying your current 30-year loan. If you refinance into another 30-year loan, you’d extend your repayment period, which costs more in the long run.

  Another reason to consider a 15-year mortgage is if you want to retire mortgage-free. Locking in the shorter duration of a 15-year mortgage now, especially if you’re in your 40s or 50s, allows you to pay it off in time for when you stop working.

• Why compare 15-year mortgage rates?

  Shopping around can help you save thousands over the life of the loan. Bankrate allows you to compare offers from a variety of lenders.

• What you need to qualify for a 15-year mortgage

  The primary difference between qualifying for a 15-year versus a 30-year mortgage is that for the former, your lender has to make sure you can afford larger monthly payments, and usually that means having a higher income and a lower debt-to-income (DTI) ratio.

  If your DTI ratio is on the higher side, you can work to increase your income or pay down your debt. Some ways you can pay down debt include:

  • Pay down your most expensive balance first.Concentrate on paying down debt with the highest interest rate first, such as your credit card bills. Since the interest is a percentage of your outstanding balance, a smaller outstanding balance means the less interest you’ll need to pay.
  • Utilize the snowball method.With the snowball method, you pay off your debt starting with the smallest balance and working up to the largest. The idea is that if you wipe out smaller debt quickly, you’ll have more motivation to tackle larger debt.
  • Consider a zero-percent balance transfer card. A zero-percent balance transfer card allows you to transfer your current balance to a new credit card with zero-percent APR, usually for 12 to 21 months. During this period, you might be able to pay down the debt more easily.

• Comparing 15-year fixed and 30-year fixed mortgages

  The key differences between the 15-year and 30-year fixed mortgages are:

  • Length of mortgage
  • Interest rate
  • Total amount of interest paid

  The interest rate and total amount of interest paid on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages is less, but the monthly payments are more.

  Depending on your financial situation, it’s easier to qualify for a bigger loan with a 30-year mortgage because the monthly payments are more affordable. A lender won’t back a loan that you can’t afford, so even if the total amount is the same, the difference in monthly payments can change what’s financially feasible for some borrowers.

  "If there are concerns about a borrower's future ability to repay their mortgage, the borrower may be better off taking a 30-year mortgage now and making additional payments along the way to pay it off early," Bechtel says. "Borrowers should discuss their options with their loan officer."

  >>To compare your monthly payments, check out Bankrate's 30-year vs. 15-year mortgage calculator

• Tax deductions and 15-year fixed mortgage rates

  A 15-year mortgage means you pay less interest - and you also have less opportunity to take advantage of the mortgage interest deduction.

  There’s a caveat: The mortgage interest deduction no longer is of much use to most homeowners, no matter the length of the loan. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which is in effect from 2018 to 2025, allows most homeowners to deduct all of their mortgage interest payments for the year on home loans up to $750,000 -- but that deduction won’t do much for you unless you have other deductions to push you above the standard deduction. That’s because the standard deduction rose while mortgage rates have fallen. For 2021, a married couple filing jointly gets a standard deduction of $25,100. At that level, even a large mortgage with a long term and a rate above today’s record lows wouldn’t generate enough interest to take the tax break.

  The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which is in effect from 2018 to 2025, allows most homeowners to deduct all of their mortgage interest payments for the year on home loans up to $750,000. But that deduction won’t do much for you unless you have other deductions to push you above the standard deduction.

• Differences between a fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgage

  Fixed-rate mortgages are a little more straightforward than their adjustable-rate counterparts, because a fixed-rate loan keeps the same interest rate throughout its term. That means over the course of a fixed-rate mortgage, whether it’s 15 or 30 years, your payment will be the same every month, and the interest will accrue predictably over the life of the loan.

  An adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM, on the other hand, can periodically see changes in its interest rate. That means your monthly payment can change, and the total cost of the loan will go up or down along with it. Usually, an adjustable-rate mortgage starts at a lower interest rate, and then gets more expensive as the loan matures. The most common kind of adjustable-rate mortgage is a 5/1. Those loans keep the same, initial interest rate for the first five years, and then readjust annually after that.

  Fixed-rate mortgages are generally best for people who plan to stay in their house for a long time, whereas adjustable-rate mortgages can allow someone to live somewhere relatively cheaply for a shorter period.

  ARMs also can be cheaper if they’re paid off at a time when interest rates across the board are low, but there’s no guarantee that will happen.

Refinancing into a 15-year mortgage

If you have a 30-year mortgage and are more than halfway through your loan term, refinancing into a 15-year loan with a lower rate can save you thousands in interest. In general, 15-year mortgages have higher monthly payments due to the shorter term — but, depending on how much lower you can cut your rate and the balance of your current loan, your monthly payment might not increase as much as you think it will, or at all.

Whichever type of refinance you pursue, be sure to shop around for rates and compare offers, including lender fees.