Lender Rating MethodologyHow we score America’s mortgage lenders

Two ratings

Same rigor, two ratings: Overall and Bankrate

Every rated lender receives an Overall Rating. Lenders that participate in Bankrate’s auction also receive a separate Bankrate Rating because the auction nearly always produces a lower-cost mortgage than borrowers receive elsewhere in the U.S. market.

The Overall Rating shows how a lender has historically priced loans across its broader business. The Bankrate Rating focuses specifically on the bids that lender submits through Bankrate’s auction, giving borrowers a clearer view of the pricing they can expect when that lender is competing directly for their loan.

What the rating measures

Anatomy of an Overall star rating

Pricing (80%). The Overall Rating is the weighted average of four measures, each scored 1–5 stars, rounded to a whole star (an exact half rounds up). Pricing, which combines price competitiveness and amount of overpayment, carries the heaviest weight.

Complaints (10%). Only a spotless record of federal consumer complaints about mortgage originations earns 5 stars; a single complaint caps the score at 4. Ratings then adjust based on how often resolved complaints result in relief for the borrower. To keep a few isolated cases from distorting the score, this adjustment applies only after a lender has at least 10 resolved complaints. Mortgage servicing complaints are excluded.

Where and what they lend (10%). This measures how broadly a lender serves borrowers, including the states where it lends and the types of mortgages it offers. A lender’s footprint can only help or hold a rating steady. Regional and local lenders are never penalized for having a focused area of service.

Marketplace pricing

Anatomy of a Bankrate star rating

Like the Overall Rating, the Bankrate Rating combines four measures: price competitiveness (40%), amount of overpayment (40%), customer complaints (10%), and where and what they lend (10%).

The key difference is pricing. The Overall Rating looks at what borrowers actually paid across a lender’s broader business. The Bankrate Rating looks specifically at the bids a lender submits through Bankrate’s auction — because competition in the auction nearly always produces lower pricing than borrowers receive elsewhere in the market, often including from the same lender outside Bankrate.

In practice, that gives the Bankrate Rating two pricing questions: does this lender’s auction price beat the typical price for a comparable loan, and how far is it from the best price in the same auction?

Only lenders that participate in Bankrate’s auction receive a Bankrate Rating, and they must have enough verified data to be rated fairly. Participating lenders face the same standards as every other lender: Bankrate never partially scores a lender, changes the weights, or allows lenders to pay for a higher rating.

The only route to 1 star is a severity-4 CFPB enforcement action, which caps the rating at 1 star, regardless of pricing.

How the stars are set

Price competitiveness: How it’s graded

We grade price competitiveness by comparing a lender’s price with the typical price for a borrower and loan with a similar profile. The more often a lender beats that benchmark, the higher its score.

How the stars are set

Amount of overpayment: How it’s graded

This score shows the share of comparable lenders that charged borrowers more in added costs than this lender did.

For each loan, we calculate how much extra a borrower paid over eight years compared with the best available price for a similar borrower and loan — a price nearly always found through Bankrate’s auction. That includes extra interest, fees and discount points, minus lender credits.

We then compare lenders making similar loans. Higher is better: an 80% score means this lender charged less in added costs than 80% of comparable lenders.

Enforcement

CFPB enforcements act as a rating cap

Formal CFPB enforcement carries no weight in the average, but it can put a ceiling on a lender’s star rating. Each action is assigned a severity from 1 to 4. A severity-3 action limits a lender to 2 stars and a severity-4 action to 1 star. The cap remains on a lender’s rating for 10 years before dropping off.

Beyond the star

Two important metrics that carry no weight

Alongside each star rating, we display two supplemental metrics: older borrower outcomes and closing likelihood. Neither metric alters or caps a lender’s star score; we disclose them to give you a more holistic view of a lender.

Older borrower outcomes (good / average / unclear) looks at how a lender treats applicants aged 62 and older compared to its broader borrower pool. It checks for two specific red flags: denying older applicants more often than its own lending patterns would predict, and lending to older applicants at lower volumes than similar lenders do.

• Good: Neither red flag is present.
• Average: One red flag is present.
• Unclear: Both red flags are present.

Federal loan disclosures do not include applicant credit scores, so credit score is not part of this analysis. Because that variable is unavailable for every lender, the limitation is held constant across the comparison and should reduce the extent to which missing credit-score data affects relative results. An Unclear result therefore points to a potential disparity, not proof of improper treatment. A blank entry means there was not enough data on older borrowers to assess the lender. Where only one of the two tests could be run, a lender can receive a Good or Average result, but not Unclear.

Closing likelihood (high / medium / low) shows how often approved borrowers actually close their loan with this lender. We show it to help you understand the likelihood that an approval turns into a completed mortgage.

A lower closing rate can happen for several reasons: the final terms may differ from what the borrower expected, the lender may approve more borrowers who are still shopping around, or borrowers may simply choose not to complete the process. Because there is no single explanation, we disclose this measure but do not include it in the lender’s star rating.

• High: 95% or more close their loan.
• Medium: 90% to 95% close their loan.
• Low: Under 90% close their loan.

Coverage

Who gets rated: Mortgage lenders

Our star rating system covers lenders responsible for nearly 87% of all U.S. mortgages originated between 2022 and 2025.

To receive an Overall or Bankrate Rating, a lender must have enough verified pricing data for us to evaluate it fairly. For 2025, that means at least 32 weighted loans that Bankrate could reliably match to comparable pricing. Loans are weighted based on how completely we can price them across factors such as credit score, debt-to-income ratio, and loan-to-value ratio.

Mortgage brokers

Who gets rated: Mortgage brokers

Mortgage brokers work differently from lenders: they shop across lenders for your loan rather than funding it themselves. Because public mortgage records credit the lender that ultimately makes the loan, brokers do not have the same public track record we use for an Overall Rating.

However, brokers that participate in Bankrate’s auction can still receive a Broker Price Assessment based on the prices they offer in the auction. We score them on the same pricing standards used for lenders, split evenly between price competitiveness and amount of overpayment.

Because brokers do not have the same public complaint and geographic lending data as lenders, those measures are not included. Serious federal enforcement actions can still limit a broker’s score.

• Complaint volume: disclosed, not scored. We show the raw count of CFPB complaints, rather than a peer origination rate, because brokers do not publicly report their loan volume.
• Where and what they lend: disclosed, not scored. We display Bankrate’s state lead volume figures as an activity signal rather than a verified license footprint.
• Disclosure for new brokers. Brokers new to Bankrate’s marketplace display “Coming soon” until enough real-time pricing is collected to generate a star rating.

The distribution today

Star distributions and scoring methods

It is intentionally difficult to earn either a 5-star or 1-star rating.

A 5-star rating is rare because it takes strong scores on all four measures, and pricing carries 80% of the weight. Very few lenders clear that bar consistently.

A 1-star rating is rarer still. It comes from consistently weak scores across the measures, or from a severity-4 CFPB enforcement action, which caps a lender at 1 star.

Most lenders therefore fall in the middle. Roughly 38% earn 4 stars, about 35% earn 3 stars, around 18% earn 2 stars, about 9% reach 5 stars, and fewer than 1% receive 1 star.

Lenders that compete in Bankrate’s auction tend to score higher on the Bankrate Rating, since they’re bidding directly against each other on price.

Because Bankrate Ratings update more frequently as auction data changes, the distribution shown below reflects Overall Ratings only. The same underlying scoring principles apply to both Overall and Bankrate Ratings.