Garden State Home Loans Mortgage Review 2024

How Bankrate scored Garden State Home Loans

Affordability: 6.6/10

Garden State Home Loans boasts attractively low rate offers on different kinds of mortgages. The lender charges fees, but you won’t receive all-in cost details specific to your situation unless you share your contact information. Because of Garden State’s lack of transparency on rates and fees, it scored 6.6/10.

Availability: 6.6/10

Garden State Home Loans is based in New Jersey and works with borrowers in several East Coast states and Michigan. The lender offers both conventional loans and government-backed loans (FHA, VA and USDA), as well as jumbo loans for higher-priced properties. In addition, it offers some specialty products for investors like debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) loans and other non-qualified (non-QM) loans. Generally, you’ll need a credit score of at least 640 to be eligible for a conventional loan, but there are also loan options for those with scores as low as 580. Because of Garden State’s somewhat limited geographic footprint, it scored 6.6/10.

Borrower experience: 8.6/10

Since being established in 2011, Garden State Home Loans has funded $5.6 billion in mortgages for tens of thousands of borrowers. The lender is accredited by the Better Business Bureau and has an A+ rating from the organization. You can apply for a preapproval (and your loan) online through the Garden State Home Loans website. You can also track your loan's progress through the lender’s online portal, and ask questions via chat. The lender is available seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET. You can also make an appointment with a loan officer outside those hours, if needed. Based on solid customer service, Garden State received an 8.6/10.

Refinancing with Garden State Home Loans

Garden State Home Loans offers both rate-and-term and cash-out refinancing options for a variety of loan types. 

Learn more: Choose the right kind of refinance

How to apply for a mortgage with Garden State Home Loans

You can apply for a mortgage with Garden State Home Loans online or by phone at 877-830-0943. Here are some tips:

1. Check your credit report. It’s important to check your credit report before your lender does, in case there are errors that could impact not only whether you get preapproved but also your ability to get the best mortgage rate. Knowing your credit score also helps you decide what type of loan to apply for. If your score is in the very low 600s, for instance, an FHA mortgage might be best for you, as its standards are more lenient than those for conventional loans.

2. Gather personal and financial documents. With any lender, you must supply documentation about your income, assets and debts. This includes pay stubs and W-2s and account and loan statements.

3. Provide details about the property. You’ll need to provide the address of the home and submit to an appraisal. (If you’re refinancing, you might or might not need an appraisal.)

Learn more: How to get a mortgage

• Methodology

  To determine a mortgage lender's Bankrate Score, Bankrate rates lenders on a scale of one (1) to five (5) stars — with five (5) the highest rating — based on a variety of factors relating to the lender's products and services. To assign our ratings, we assessed each mortgage lender across three core areas:

  • Affordability: Annual percentage rate (APR) - 80%; assistance for first-time homebuyers - 10%; down payment - 10%
  • Availability: Loan products - 50%; licensing - 40%; credit score - 10%
  • Borrower experience: Rate transparency - 45%; customer service - 25%; convenience - 10%; days to close - 10%; rate locks - 10%; reputation (bonus)

  Learn more about our methodology.

  How we suggest lenders to compare

  To help you make the most informed decisions, our editorial team suggests two (2) alternative mortgage lenders for each lender reviewed in our comparison table. In most cases, these alternatives 1.) share the same strength (affordability, availability or borrower experience) as the lender reviewed; and 2.) rate highly for Bankrate Score. In the event more than two lenders meet these standards, we suggest the ones with the lowest APRs.