Caliber Home Loans Review 2024

Caliber Home Loans overview

Texas-based Caliber Home Loans, Inc., now operating as Newrez, is a mortgage originator and servicer that offers a variety of conventional, government-backed and specialty home loans and refinancing, with branches across the country. The lender was founded in 2008 when Caliber Funding and Vericrest Financial merged. It was the nation’s 12th-largest mortgage originator in 2022, according to federal data.

Pros and cons of Caliber Home Loans

How Bankrate scored Caliber Home Loans

To determine Caliber Home Loans’s Bankrate Score, Bankrate’s editorial team rated it and other lenders on a scale of one to five stars based on a variety of factors relating to the lender’s products and services. (Bankrate’s partners compensate us, but our opinions are our own, and partner relationships do not influence our reviews.) We derived its overall score by considering three basic factors:

• Affordability: You won’t find the latest mortgage rates from Caliber Home Loans on the Newrez website; you’ll need to request a quote in order to compare offers.

• Availability: Newrez (Caliber Home Loans) is a national lender with a big lineup of mortgage products for various needs, including construction loans and investment property financing.

• Borrower experience: The lender ranked above average in J.D. Power’s report on mortgage origination customer satisfaction, and it offers many ways to get in touch with a loan officer should you have questions.

Affordability: 6.8/10

Newrez (Caliber Home Loans) doesn’t advertise mortgage rates on its website, but you can get a quote after submitting some basic personal information through an online form. The lender’s fees include an origination fee and other closing costs, which can include title services, recording, appraisal and credit report fees.

Availability: 10/10

Newrez (Caliber Home Loans) offers the full suite of home loan products, including conventional, jumbo, FHA, VA and USDA mortgages. The lender also offers rate-and-term, cash-out and streamline refinancing, as well as home equity solutions. It works with borrowers across the U.S.

Borrower experience: 4.6/10

Both Caliber Home Loans and Newrez are accredited with the Better Business Bureau and have A+ ratings from the organization. J.D. Power rated the lender above average for mortgage origination customer satisfaction in 2023. When you’re ready to get a mortgage, the lender accepts loan applications online and offers both prequalification and preapprovals. You can reach customer service by email, text, over the phone and at branch locations.The Newrez website features educational tools to help you better understand the mortgage process, and with its app, you can check your application status, upload documents, connect with representatives, manage your payments, view escrow, request changes to your private mortgage insurance (PMI) status and update your user profile.

How to apply for a mortgage with Caliber Home Loans

You can apply for a mortgage with Newrez (Caliber Home Loans) in person at a branch location, online or by phone at 888-673-5521. 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 Caliber Home Loans

Newrez (Caliber Home Loans) offers both rate-and-term and cash-out refinancing options.

• 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.