Newrez mortgage review 2026

The Yahoo Finance View: Newrez’s strongest features are its rate lock programs that last for 45 to 75 days, a close-on-time guarantee, and a 0.50% closing cost discount if you use a real estate agent through the company.

Newrez is a national mortgage company that originates loans in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The lender offers various types of mortgage loans, including conventional, FHA, VA, and USDA loans, as well as purchase, refinance, home equity, and investment property mortgages.

Unfortunately, Newrez isn’t known for its customer service. According to 2025 J.D. Power surveys, the company ranks well below average in customer satisfaction for both mortgage origination and mortgage servicing.

Key benefits

Newrez offers a wide range of loan products, including conventional, FHA, and VA loans, as well as home equity loans and investment property loans.
Buyers can get a closing cost credit worth 0.50% of their home’s purchase price by using a Newrez partner real estate agent.
The lender allows for a baseline 45-day rate lock, and if rates drop, you can re-lock at the lower rate for no extra cost. Some buyers can qualify for mortgage rate locks for up to 75 days.
A close-on-time guarantee will pay eligible borrowers $5,000 if your loan doesn’t close on time.

Need to know

The lender has no physical branches. You can apply online or call a loan officer over the phone to start your application.
The company ranks below average in customer satisfaction, both in mortgage servicing and origination.
According to government data, conventional loans account for the bulk of Newrez’s loan volume, followed by FHA loans.
The lender recently acquired Caliber Home Loans. Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing is also a part of the Newrez organization.

Visit the Newrez mortgage website to get started.

Newrez offers the following types of home loans:

Newrez does not offer:

What is a mortgage interest rate buydown program?

Newrez offers FHA loans for both purchasing a home and refinancing an existing mortgage. In fact, FHA loans account for nearly 25% of the company’s total mortgage origination volume, according to 2024 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. FHA loans are Newrez’s second-most popular mortgage product behind conventional loans.

For veterans, military members, and their families, Newrez also offers VA loans — a type of mortgage insured by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Newrez offers both VA purchase loans and VA refinances, including IRRRLs, or Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans. These are also known as VA streamline refinance loans, and they allow you to refinance easily from one VA loan to another (and with less paperwork). In total, VA loans account for about 13% of all Newrez’s mortgage volume.

For homeowners looking to take cash out of their houses, Newrez offers cash-out refinancing. With this type of mortgage refinance, you replace your current mortgage loan with a larger one and get the difference back in cash. (Keep in mind: It also replaces your loan’s term and interest rate, so this might not be wise if you have an ultra-low, pandemic-era interest rate on your current loan.)

For those who don’t want to replace their existing mortgage, Newrez also offers second mortgages, including home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) and home equity loans.

A home equity line of credit (HELOC) works like a credit card. You borrow from a revolving line of credit, and if you repay the amount borrowed, you can take out that money again. You only pay interest on the amount of money withdrawn.

You may qualify for a HELOC of $50,000 to $350,000 with Newrez. You’ll receive 75% of your limit on closing day, then have the option to withdraw more later. Interest rates are variable. The draw period is only three years, and you can make interest-only payments during this time. Newrez requires a 660 credit score for borrowers.

Newrez provides home equity loans, which allow you to borrow from the equity you’ve built in your house and get a lump-sum payment in return. These are a type of second mortgage and come with a second monthly payment in addition to the payment on your first mortgage.

Newrez allows you to borrow up to $400,000 with a HEL, depending on how much equity you have in your home. You’ll need at least a 660 credit score to qualify.

Newrez HELOC and home equity loan fees

Various fees may come with Newrez second mortgages. For example, there may be a subordination fee of up to $300 (since the loan will be “subordinate” to your main mortgage loan) or appraisal or property valuation fees to determine the value and equity of your property. These range from $80 to $1,000.

Newrez is not very up-front with its interest rates. Its website has no advertised or sample rates available, and to get a rate quote, you’ll need to fill out an online application with the lender or talk to a loan officer over the phone. This is the case for all Newrez loan types and programs.

Yahoo Finance uses 2024 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data from almost 5 thousand companies to score mortgage lenders on issued mortgage rates and total loan costs. We score each lender on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).

For example, regarding mortgage rates, a lender with a lower score charged a higher-than-median mortgage interest rate for loans issued in 2024. A higher score indicates that a lender granted borrowers lower-than-median home loan interest rates in 2024.

With total home loan costs, a lower score would indicate that a lender charged higher-than-median total home loan costs in 2024. A high rating would mean that a mortgage lender offered lower-than-median all-in home loan costs in 2024.

Newrez home loan rates score: 2 out of 5 stars

Newrez total loan costs score: 1 out of 5 stars

What this means: Newrez offered a higher-than-median mortgage rate of 6.625% and a relatively high total loan cost of $7,468.99.17 to borrowers in 2024.

You can apply for a Newrez mortgage online using the lender’s digital application or by calling 888-556-9979. This goes for purchase loans, refinances, and home equity loans. When applying, you’ll need to provide personal information, details about the home you’re purchasing, your down payment amount, and other financial details.

Newrez offers up-front preapproval for its loans. This requires submitting various financial documents, which the lender will then verify. Once processed, you’ll receive a letter that details how much you can borrow. You can use this when submitting offers on properties.

Preapprovals are fee-free. You can get started on yours by calling 888-556-9979.

Newrez offers a wide variety of online tools and resources for borrowers.

You’ll find the following types of mortgage calculators:

Monthly mortgage payment calculator
Refinance calculator that shows how much you could save by refinancing
Loan amount calculator to reveal how much house you can afford
Rent vs. buy comparison
Loan term comparison
Budget calculator

Newrez also has a deep library of resources, FAQs, and blog posts.

Lots of online resources: Newrez offers six handy calculators, a deep database of recently updated blogs and articles, various guides, FAQs, and more. It gets 4 stars in this category.
Plenty of affordable loan options: The lender has government-backed loans, low-down conventional loans, refinancing, and home equity products, giving it 4 stars in our Affordability category.
Wide availability: Newrez offers loans in all 50 states, making its products highly accessible to many types of borrowers.

Poor rate transparency: Newrez does not have any sample or advertised rates you can use to gauge pricing. It receives 1 star in the Rate Transparency category.
High loan costs: According to government data, its rates and fees are higher than industry averages. It gets 1 star in this area.
Lower-than-average customer satisfaction: Newrez rates lower than the industry average for satisfaction in both mortgage servicing and mortgage origination.

Read the Yahoo Finance guide to closing costs.

Newrez and Freedom Mortgage are both national mortgage lenders, but Newrez offers more types of home loans. While Newrez offers home equity loans, HELOCs, and interest-only options, Freedom does not.

However, Freedom Mortgage ranks higher in mortgage servicing customer satisfaction, according to J.D. Power. You can apply online with both mortgage lenders, as neither has physical branch locations.

Freedom Mortgage review

Pennymac and Newrez offer many of the same mortgage products. Pennymac rates higher in customer satisfaction on mortgage servicing. Pennymac is also more up-front about its mortgage rates, offering sample rates right on its homepage.

If you’re interested in a type of mortgage loan both lenders offer, try applying for preapproval with both to see which offers the better deal.

Pennymac mortgage review

Yes, Newrez is a legitimate mortgage company that originates and services mortgage loans throughout the U.S. The Better Business Bureau has accredited the company, giving it an A+ rating.

Newrez has mixed customer reviews and rating scores. It ranks below average for customer satisfaction in mortgage origination and mortgage servicing in J.D. Power surveys. However, it has a 4.4-star rating on Trustpilot, with 73% of reviewers giving their experience with the company five stars.

In 2024, Newrez faced a class action lawsuit in Maryland stemming from claims that Newrez charged illegal inspection fees to homebuyers in the state. The suit was technically filed against Shellpoint Mortgage, a subsidiary of Newrez, and it was settled for $152,000.

Prior to 2019, Newrez used to be known as New Penn Financial. The company also acquired Caliber Home Loans in 2021; its loans have since been rolled into the Newrez business.

Methodology:

Yahoo Finance reviews and scores mortgage lenders with quintile scoring in five primary categories: 1) Interest rates. Using 2024 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data from nearly 5 thousand companies, we score mortgage lenders on issued mortgage rates below or above the annual median of reporting lenders. 2) Affordability. A measure of loan product availability and the willingness of a lender to offer government-backed loans, low down payments, down payment assistance, and consideration of nontraditional credit. 3) Loan costs. HMDA data is again analyzed, and lenders are rated based on total loan costs compared to the annual median. 4) Rate transparency. The ability of a website user to obtain a mortgage interest rate estimate. We score lenders based on whether rates are enhanced with discount points or high credit score requirements, disclaimers revealing rate assumptions, sample advertised rates, and whether adjustable or no discount point rate estimates are available. 5) Online features. An analysis of the educational material, calculators, and additional resources available to users.

Review of Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) data on regulatory actions can trigger a penalty to the score of any lender with a consumer mortgage-related administrative or enforcement action within the past five years.

Advertisers or sponsorships do not influence ratings.

Editorial disclosure for mortgages:

The information in this article has not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The details on financial products, including interest rates and fees, are accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the lender’s website for the most current information. This site doesn’t include all currently available offers.

Laura Grace Tarpley edited this article.