Best Rate USA Mortgage Review 2024

How Bankrate scored Best Rate USA

• Affordability: Best Rate USA makes claims of low rates, but you’ll need to get in touch with the lender directly to learn what you might qualify for.
• Availability: Although it’s a stamp of CrossCountry Mortgage, Best Rate isn’t available everywhere like its parent. Be sure to check whether this lender is licensed in your state before you make contact.
• Borrower experience: Best Rate USA has earned high marks from customers on Bankrate. It can be tough to get ahold of a loan representative, however.

Affordability: 6.8/10

You can’t view mortgage rates on the Best Rate USA website. Instead, you’ll need to request a rate quote, which involves providing your contact information, credit score and information about the loan you’re applying for. One of the lender’s loan officers will then contact you to discuss available rates. Best Rate USA’s lender fees can include an origination fee, rate-lock fee and other closing costs.

Availability: 7.6/10

Best Rate USA offers the basic slate of conventional and government-insured loans (FHA, VA and USDA), some of which have low down payment minimums. You can also refinance through this lender (more on that below). At the time of this review, it was only available to borrowers in about 20 states.

Borrower experience: 6.7/10

CrossCountry Mortgage, which operates Best Rate USA, has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, although it isn’t accredited by the organization. It has highly favorable reviews from customers on Bankrate. Best Rate is an online lender, so you can start the loan process by requesting a rate quote through its website, but you’ll need to await contact from a loan officer to proceed. You can fill out all of the paperwork online to get preapproved for a loan, but there’s no app or chat function to get help if you need it, and a call from Bankrate during business hours to the phone number listed on the lender’s website went unanswered. When you’re ready to apply, you can browse a directory of loan officers and submit your application directly online through CrossCountry’s portal.

How to apply for a mortgage with Best Rate USA

You can apply for a mortgage with Best Rate USA online. Here are some tips to prepare for the process:

1. Check your credit report. It’s important to check your credit report before your lender does, in case there are errors that could impact not only whether you get preapproved but also your ability to get the best mortgage rate. Knowing your credit score also helps you decide what type of loan to apply for. If your score is in the very low 600s, for instance, an FHA mortgage might be best for you, as its standards are more lenient than those for conventional loans.
2. Gather personal and financial documents. With any lender, you must supply documentation about your income, assets and debts. This includes pay stubs and W-2s and account and loan statements.
3. Provide details about the property. You’ll need to provide the address of the home and submit to an appraisal. (If you’re refinancing, you might or might not need an appraisal.)

Refinancing with Best Rate USA

Best Rate USA both rate-and-term and cash-out refinancing options. The lender doesn’t display its refinance rates and fees on its website, but you can get the process started by requesting a rate quote.

• Methodology

  To determine a mortgage lender's Bankrate Score, Bankrate rates lenders on a scale of one (1) to five (5) stars — with five (5) the highest rating — based on a variety of factors relating to the lender's products and services. To assign our ratings, we assessed each mortgage lender across three core areas:

  • Affordability. Annual percentage rate (APR) - 80%; assistance for first-time homebuyers - 10%; down payment - 10%

  • Availability. Loan products - 50%; licensing - 40%; credit score - 10%

  • Borrower experience. Rate transparency - 45%; customer service - 25%; convenience - 10%; days to close - 10%; rate locks - 10%; reputation (bonus)

  Learn more about our methodology.

  How we suggest lenders to compare

  To help you make the most informed decisions, our editorial team suggests two (2) alternative mortgage lenders for each lender reviewed in our comparison table. In most cases, these alternatives 1.) share the same strength (affordability, availability or borrower experience) as the lender reviewed; and 2.) rate highly for Bankrate Score. In the event more than two lenders meet these standards, we suggest the ones with the lowest APRs.