Mortgage lenders in Northeast Florida

Read this first

The comparison method, in five steps

Most buyers apply with the first lender who returns a call and never find out what the second one would have said. The tool that fixes this is free and standardised, and hardly anyone asks for it.

1. Ask each lender for a Loan Estimate. It is a federally standardised three-page form. Every lender's is laid out identically, which is the entire point of it.
2. Gather them within a few days of each other. Rates move daily and quotes from different weeks are not comparable.
3. Compare page two. Origination charges and discount points, not the headline rate. A rate bought down with points is not a cheaper loan.
4. Ask which programs they actually close. Not which they offer — which they closed this year. VA, USDA and Florida Housing files reward experience heavily.
5. Verify both NMLS IDs, the company's and your individual loan officer's, at NMLS Consumer Access.

For public-service buyers

Lenders publishing first-responder and employee programs

The people I work with mostly work shifts. Some lenders publish products aimed specifically at that — first responders, medical staff, city employees. These are the ones I could verify publish such a program on their own website, with the terms as they state them.

A published program is not automatically the best deal. One of the two above states a 720 minimum credit score on its first-responder product, which puts it out of reach for plenty of people it is named after. Compare it against a plain FHA or conventional Loan Estimate before assuming the special product wins.

Credit unions

Jacksonville-headquartered credit unions

Membership eligibility applies, and it is generally easier to meet than people assume — one of these states eligibility for anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau or Baker counties.

Banks

Banks lending in Northeast Florida

Brokers and mortgage bankers

Local brokers and mortgage bankers

A broker places your file with a wholesale lender rather than lending its own money. That can widen the range of programs available to you, and it means the individual loan officer matters more than the company name.

Down payment assistance

If you want Hometown Heroes, ask on the first call

Florida Housing assistance can only be originated by an approved participating lender, or by a broker who can place the file with one. A lender who is not approved will often tell you the program is slow or not worth it. That may be an honest opinion, or it may mean they cannot do it — and you cannot tell which from the outside.

The program administrator, eHousingPlus, publishes the current participating-lender list at ehpuniversity.com/fhfc-lenders. Check it yourself. Of the companies on this page, two publish NMLS IDs that also appear on that list, and one broker markets the program directly on its own website.

Being straight with you

What is missing, stated plainly

Eleven companies is a short list for a metropolitan area of this size, and I would rather explain why than pretend otherwise. Every entry had to be verified by loading that company's own website and reading the fact off the page. Several very obvious local names serve pages that could not be read at all.

• Community First Credit Union of Florida and 121 Financial Credit Union are both major Jacksonville institutions and both are conspicuously absent for that reason alone. If you are shopping, call them anyway.
• Ameris Bank, EverBank and Jet HomeLoans are absent for the same reason.
• National retail and online-only lenders are outside the scope of this page.
• Programs shown are only what each company publishes on its own site. A company not showing FHA here may well offer it.
• Absence is not a judgement of anybody.