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Movement Mortgage review 2024

E. Napoletano
·Contributor
Updated 8 min read

The Yahoo view: Movement Mortgage promotes itself as an “impact lender,” allocating 40% to 50% of its profit to improving the communities where it lends. It's also one of Yahoo's top picks for mortgage lenders for bad credit. While they offer a wide range of purchase and refinance products, they’re big on message but short on information buyers need — like rates, fees, and more.

Founded in 2007 and now offering mortgage loans in all 50 U.S. states, Movement Mortgage has a lot going for it. Aside from being a $30 billion mortgage lender (that’s a lot of loans), the company earns a top 10 customer satisfaction rating from J.D. Power — a definite plus since mortgage loans can come with their fair share of hassle. As a bonus, this mortgage company just might be a first-time buyer’s paradise. Offering a solid selection of low-down-payment products with flexible qualification criteria like VA loans, FHA loans, and Fannie Mae HomeReady?, Movement may be able to help you get into a home for less than you would think.

But we’ll put this thought out front: We always have a bit of a problem with lenders who don’t publish sample rates on their websites. Movement Mortgage falls into this category. With such a high customer satisfaction score, however, it seems customers don’t mind as much as we do.

Dig deeper: First-time home buyer in 2024 — What you need to know

Movement Mortgage

In this article:

Key benefits

  • Movement Mortgage offers multiple purchases and refinance products designed for lower-income borrowers, including FHA and USDA loans.

  • Purchase loans like the Fannie Mae HomeReady? option can give those in high minority census tracts and designated disaster areas an attractive, low down payment path to homeownership.

  • Its Movement Boost program can help qualified FHA buyers cover up to the full amount of the required 3.5% down payment.

  • The company invests 40% to 50% of its annual profits into communities through schools and educational initiatives.

  • Movement can originate mortgages in all 50 states.

Need to know

  • Movement doesn’t publish sample rates online. Only a loan officer or its online application process can get you sample rates.

  • Movement Mortgage settled a claim in 2023, agreeing to pay the U.S. a hefty $23.75 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act related to several government-backed loan products.

Dig deeper: Types of mortgage loans

If you’re a first-time homebuyer or haven’t taken out a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan in at least three years, Movement Mortgage can help. Movement offers both purchase and refinance FHA mortgage products; purchase loans require a mere 3.5% down payment, and those who currently have an FHA mortgage can use an FHA Streamline Refinance to lower their rate.

If that 3.5% down payment still seems out of reach, Movement could help you with that too. Their Movement Boost program gives qualified buyers downpayment assistance that may cover the entire 3.5% figure. You’ll need a 620 FICO score to qualify for Boost, but the program doesn’t have income limits (yay). Unfortunately, borrowers in New York don’t qualify, and you’ll need to use the funds toward your primary residence.

The website lacks information about Movement’s minimum credit score for FHA loans, but you can always speak with a loan officer in your area for more information.

Learn more: Best FHA lenders

If you have a VA Certificate of Eligibility (COE)) or qualify to receive one, you may be eligible for a VA loan through Movement Mortgage. Offering both 15-year and 30-year fixed-rate VA loans, Movement sets its minimum borrower FICO score at a very liberal 580 for loans up to $1 million. They’ll lend up to $2 million, but loans that large require a FICO score of 680.

If you’re currently in a VA mortgage and want to refinance, Movement also offers VA mortgage refinancing to lower your interest rate. You can do either a rate-and-term refinance to lower your interest rate or use the VA’s cash-out refinance option to tap your equity. Some borrowers may qualify to cash out 100% of their home equity. Be sure to ask your loan officer for details.

Read more: Best VA loan lenders

Need a home equity line of credit (HELOC)? Movement Mortgage has you covered. Applications are 100% online and have generous credit line limits — up to $400,000, which naturally depends on your home equity. Your credit line is also renewable, meaning you can redraw up to 100% of your credit line once you repay your initial draw in full.

While they don’t publish rates and fees on their website, we can tell you that rates are fixed, and Movement does charge an origination fee on HELOCs. The company also boasts approval times as fast as five minutes and funding in as few as five days. Naturally, your experience may differ since approvals and funding depend on your unique financial circumstances.

Movement Mortgage does not offer home equity loans, which give money in one lump sum rather than as a line of credit.

Dig deeper: The differences between HELOCs and home equity loans

Ah, yes. Interest rates. The upshot? Your guess is as good as ours.

Movement Mortgage doesn’t publish sample interest rates on their websites. That means we can’t tell you whether their mortgage rates are competitive with other lenders. We also can’t find any information on loan origination or lender fees, which makes comparison shopping tough.

To get sample rates, you’ll need to connect with a loan officer or start the online application process. And yes, the online option requires you to provide a decent amount of personal information (assets, veteran status, income, etc.). Apologies to those who prefer a less intense path to rates and fees.

Read more: 5 strategies to get the lowest mortgage rates

You have two options for applying for a mortgage with Movement: Go through a local loan officer or use their online application.

If you go through a local loan officer, you can click the “Find a Loan Officer” button that pops up on nearly every page of their website. From there, you’ll land on a search page. Just type in your address, and you’ll get a list of loan officers in your area, including the addresses of local Movement Mortgage branch offices.

To apply online, you can click the “Apply Now” button. That will take you to a secure application website where you can input various financial and demographic criteria. Then, Movement will show you sample rates and mortgage products based on your finances and interest.

One area where we find Movement Mortgage lacking is its homebuyer tools. While it offers some helpful calculators — mortgage, affordability, and refinance — it doesn’t have a resource library at all. What’s more, to get to their calculators is a bit of a hassle. You’ll need to go to the main navigation, hover over “Home Loans,” and carefully float your mouse to the calculator you want to reach in the flyout menu. There’s no easy way to find these tools other than that path.

And speaking of web design, Movement’s website is more reminiscent of a hip ad agency than a mortgage lender. The user experience could use an overhaul, especially with its overbearing flyout menus. One false hover and the flyouts take over the page, and you’re stuck trying to get rid of them when all you want is to read the page.

Movement Mortgage and Fairway Independent Mortgage each offer down payment assistance for qualified first-time homebuyers. Movement does this through Movement Boost, whereas Fairway uses its Fairway Community Access? program. Neither program has income limits, but their assistance limits vary. Movement offers up to the full 3.5% down payment for FHA loans, Fairway caps its assistance at $7,000; Movement offers up to the full 3.5% down payment for FHA loans, but this program is limited to FHA loans.

In the customer service realm, Fairway comes in at the No. 1 spot on J.D. Power’s 2023 Mortgage Originator Satisfaction Survey, compared to Movement Mortgage’s No. 6 ranking.

Fairway Independent Mortgage review

Rocket Mortgage also offers down payment assistance to first-time home buyers. Its One+ program allows borrowers to get conventional loans with only 1% down.

Movement Mortgage will cover your total 3.5% down payment on an FHA loan, so the choice may come down to whether an FHA loan versus a conventional loan is better for you. Each comes with its own requirements, interest rates, and fees.

Movement offers more loan options than Rocket Mortgage, including USDA loans and HELOCs. But unlike Movement, Rocket Mortgage has home equity loans.

Rocket Mortgage review

Movement Mortgage is an FHA lender with extra perks available to qualified borrowers, like down payment assistance through Movement Boost. Movement also has hundreds of branches nationwide, making it easy to have a personal touch during your application process.

Pennymac is the nation’s largest FHA lender, with some buyer perks that Movement just can’t touch. Pennymac offers a 1% discount on your FHA mortgage rate for one full year. If you go through Pennymac’s mortgage preapproval process, you can get $1,000 off your closing costs. And finally, if you use an affiliated real estate agent, you could earn $350 to $9,500 cash back at closing.

Pennymac mortgage review

Movement Mortgage was established in 2007 and co-founded by former Super Bowl champion Casey Crawford.

Movement Mortgage identifies as an impact lender that invests 40% to 50% of its annual profit in community-based programs.

Movement Mortgage currently has more than 4,500 employees across 775 locations in the U.S.

This article was edited by Laura Grace Tarpley