Bankrate, a leading consumer advocate for home lending information and financial services, today released new Bankrate Star Ratings – the largest, most comprehensive and data-driven review of the mortgage lending industry.

Bankrate Star Ratings cover nearly 2,000 lenders and span 23.5 million mortgages, originating between 2022-2025. This first-of-its-kind rating system is designed to help consumers compare and identify the best lenders across the home lending industry.

Bankrate research earlier this summer found that roughly 87% of Americans overpay for their mortgages, amounting to $65 billion annually in unnecessary costs for households that took out mortgages since 2022. These ratings are designed to help empower borrowers to make more informed decisions and avoid unnecessary costs.

“Americans have more information than ever to comparison shop for everything from coffee and clothes to cars. Yet when it comes to the single largest financial transaction most will ever make — their mortgage — they have remarkably little information to compare lenders,” said Matt Fellowes, Bankrate CEO. “That lack of transparency makes housing less affordable and obtainable. We created Bankrate Star Ratings to change that, giving consumers the independent information they need to find better lenders, make smarter decisions, and save tens of thousands of dollars.”

The new Bankrate Star Ratings can be found here: https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/star-ratings/

Bankrate Star Ratings awarded a 5-star rating, their highest award, to just 169 of the 1,962 mortgage lenders rated, or 8.6%. Using HMDA, CFPB, GSE, and proprietary Bankrate auction data, Bankrate Star Ratings offer consumers a comprehensive and independent review based on price, consumer satisfaction, complaints and real data. Bankrate Star Ratings provide searchable data tools that enable mortgage shoppers to compare rated lenders and explore the data that drives their ratings, with access to Bankrate’s cost saving real-time auction where lenders compete. Overall Ratings are updated annually, with Bankrate Ratings and Price Assessments updated more often as auction pricing changes.

Star Rating

Description

1/5 Stars

Lenders earning 1 of 5 stars consistently overcharge borrowers compared to the typical rate for a similar loan according to our research. These lenders also typically have more CFPB consumer complaints without relief on record. Lenders with the most serious CFPB enforcement actions also get 1 star.

3/5 Stars

Lenders earning 3 of 5 stars price about half of their loans at or below the typical rate for a similar loan. Most have no CFPB origination complaints on record.

5/5 Stars

Lenders earning 5 of 5 stars consistently offer the lowest-cost loans relative to other similar options. The typical 5-star lender has no CFPB complaints on record.

Methodology

Ratings are based on 2022-2025 public home lending records, the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database, CFPB Enforcement Actions (2022-2025) and Bankrate rate comparison data (advertised pricing from a rolling window of up to 90 days).

Every rated lender receives one score (Overall Rating), with the exception of marketplace lenders, who receive two scores (an Overall and a Bankrate Rating). Both ratings are a weighted average of four measures: price competitiveness (40%), amount of overpayment (40%), customer complaints (10%) and where and what they lend (10%). Lenders with serious CFPB enforcement actions are capped at 2 stars, or 1 star for the most serious.

A lender’s Overall Rating draws on pricing from public home lending records. A Bankrate Rating draws on live rates in Bankrate’s mortgage marketplace, where real-time auctions create competitive bidding and often result in lower rates. The Bankrate Rating reflects this distinct pricing environment. 1,962+ lenders with at least 32 weighted Bankrate-matched loans met the criteria to be rated. Every lender includes Older borrower outcomes and Closing Likelihood metric unless there is insufficient data, and neither factor affects a lender’s star rating.

Mortgage brokers receive a separate Broker Price Assessment rather than an Overall and/or Bankrate rating. Ratings are not a guarantee of future rate performance.

About Bankrate

Bankrate is where Americans go to get the best price on life’s most important financial decisions. By combining proprietary data, advanced technology, and deep market coverage, Bankrate helps consumers compare options and make confident financial choices across mortgages, credit cards, savings, and more. As a rate provider to the Federal Reserve and the benchmark relied upon by major publishers and policymakers nationwide, Bankrate’s rate data is the national standard. This commitment to precision is reflected across all its products. In mortgages, proprietary auction technology puts lenders in real-time competition on price alone, consistently delivering rates in the lowest 10% in the country. For deposits, the platform features exclusively top-tier rates in the top 10% nationally, while its credit card coverage encompasses more than 90% of the market by volume. Founded by a journalist, Bankrate remains dedicated to its founding mission of transparency, honest information, and real competition — helping to make the American dream more affordable for everyone.

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