Pennymac Review
See how often this lender beats the typical offer on 2025 loans.
How Bankrate scores Pennymac
- Price competitiveness
How often this lender's borrowers pay at or below the typical price for a comparable loan.
4 out of 5 - Amount of overpayment
How much extra borrowers ended up paying with this lender compared to the best price for a comparable loan. A higher percentile score is always better.
4 out of 5 - Customer complaints
How often consumers complain about this lender, and whether they get relief.
5%4 out of 5 - Where and what they lend
How many states and loan types this lender serves.
100%5 out of 5
No lender can pay for a higher Bankrate Rating. Every score comes from the same data and criteria.
2025 ratings, across all four measures
A few more details worth knowing
Though these don't affect the star rating, we show them so you have the full picture.
For applicants age 62 and older, we measure two things: whether this lender denies them more often than its own lending patterns would predict after accounting for loan size, income, debt-to-income ratio, and loan type; and whether it lends to them at rates similar to comparable lenders. One of those two measures fell outside the expected range. Credit scores are not available in this dataset, so they are not included in the analysis. Because that variable is held constant across all lenders, it should reduce the extent to which missing credit-score data affects comparisons between them.
We looked at how often a lender's applications end up as closed loans, not counting any that were denied or the applicant withdrew. At this lender, fewer than 90% did, which might mean quoted terms changed before closing, applicants stepped away, or both.
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What Bankrate's editors think
Pennymac has built a reputation in VA lending: It financed $7.61 billion in VA loans in the first quarter of 2026 alone and services nearly 430,000 VA loans. Preapproved borrowers can get $1,000 off closing costs (but that doesn’t apply to jumbo loans or refinances), plus a one-percentage-point rate cut for the first 12 payments. On top of that, most purchase borrowers (VA loans excluded) can get a temporary rate buydown: one percentage point off for the first year, or two points off the first year and one point off the second, depending on the option. Borrowers who buy with Pennymac and refinance within three years get a separate $2,000 credit.
The numbers mostly back up the pitch: about 61% of the mortgages Pennymac originated in 2025 were priced below comparable loans, and its CFPB origination-related complaint volume is low enough, with a strong enough relief rate, to land one of the better complaint scores in the pack. Plus, JD Power gave Pennymac an above-average rating for loan servicing after closing in its 2026 mortgage servicer study.
But Bankrate’s analysis of HMDA data found that approximately 1 in 3 borrowers approved for a Pennymac loan don’t end up closing on it, a poorer rate than what we see with most of the lenders we track. A closing can fall through for reasons beyond a lender’s control, such as an applicant’s decision to walk away, but ask about Pennymac’s closing process before you sign any paperwork.
At a glance
Pennymac is good for borrowers who want a government-backed loan and plan to get preapproved with the lender, since that unlocks its biggest discounts. Other Pennymac discounts may be less useful — for example, it’s hard to predict whether you’d ever use the refinance credit.
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Get today's rates for youCompare Pennymac with any of our rated 1,962+ lenders. We start by stacking it up against a lender of similar reach and scale — but you can swap in any lender you’d like.
Figures are drawn from public lending and complaint data and weighted by loan volume.
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