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Best-Of Awards 2025 Methodologies
Best Mortgage Lender for First-Time Home Buyers
Methodology:
All reviewed mortgage lenders are evaluated against the criteria below. The lender with the highest raw score is our Best Mortgage Lender for First-Time Home Buyers. 1. FHA loan volume.
2. VA loan volume.
3. Conventional loan minimum down payment.
4. Origination fees.
5. Serves first-time home buyers with proprietary loans or assistance.
6. Ease of browsing loans or assistance for first-time buyers.
7. Rate transparency for consumers.
8. Customer experience.

Tiebreaker:
1. Lender with the lowest origination fees.
How we picked the lenders to evaluate:

NerdWallet reviewed more than 50 mortgage lenders, including the majority of the largest U.S. mortgage lenders by annual loan volume (measured among lenders with at least a 1% market share), lenders with significant online search volume and those that specialize in serving various audiences across the country. We rated them on criteria including rate transparency, loan types offered, ease of application and more.

Some of the providers are NerdWallet partners, but this did not influence our selection of the winner.

How we chose the winner:
The winner is the mortgage lender that had the highest raw score when evaluated against NerdWallet's first-time home buyer mortgage lender star-rating rubric: FHA loan volume (10%), VA loan volume (10%), conventional loan minimum down payment (15%), origination fees (15%), serves first-time home buyers with proprietary loans or assistance (15%), ease of browsing loans or assistance for first-time buyers (15%), rate transparency for consumers (10%) and customer experience (10%). Points may be deducted for any recent regulatory action pertaining to the company’s mortgage lending business. In the event of a tie, the winner must charge the lowest fees.
How we verified our data:
NerdWallet solicits information from reviewed lenders on a recurring basis throughout the year. All lender-provided information is verified through lender websites and interviews. We also used 2023 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data for origination volume, origination fee, interest rate and share-of-product data.
See all methodologies
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