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Freedom Mortgage

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4.4

Overall Score

Author: Kaitlyn Short

LAST UPDATED: April 9th, 2024

Freedom Mortgage is a full-service mortgage lender that is licensed in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. 

The company's goal is to help customers achieve the American dream of home ownership with a particular focus on helping veterans receive affordable home financing. Veterans should make sure to look into the specialty loan products, such as the VA interest rate reduction refinance loan (IRRRL) which makes refinancing easy, simple and affordable compared to industry standards.

Satisfied customers are quick to mention the company's outstanding customer service. But, 60 percent of Freedom Mortgage reviews are 1-star.

Jump down to read Freedom Mortgage reviews from real customers.

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Highlight: Freedom Mortgage awards and accolades*

  • #1 VA lender in the nation
  • #1 FHA lender lender in the nation
  • Top residential lender in the nation

*Awarded by Inside Mortgage Finance, Jan-Sept 2020.

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The Good

Variety of Loan Types

Freedom Mortgage makes it easy for nearly any kind of homebuyer to find the right loan product. It offers a variety of home loan options:

  • Fixed Rate Loan
  • Adjustable Rate Mortgage Loan (ARM)
  • VA Loan
  • FHA Loan
  • USDA Loan

These options are typically offered by most mortgage lenders, but it is worth noting that Freedom Mortgage offers USDA loans, an option not made available with many other lenders. However, Freedom Mortgage doesn't offer jumbo loans, an option that you will typically see with other lenders to meet the needs of borrowers purchasing a home beyond the conforming home loan limit.

VA Loan Benefits

Freedom Mortgage is titled as the #1 VA loan lender in the nation.

Backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA loans help service men and women achieve homeownership with a 0 percent down payment. With VA loans, there is no private mortgage insurance, no minimum credit score, and rates are low. The company's VA affordability and refinance calculators assist prospective borrowers as they compare loan amounts and details. Plus, veterans can re-use this benefit multiple times.

In addition to veteran home purchasing services, Freedom Mortgage provides VA refinancing options:

  • VA Cash-Out Refinance
  • VA IRRRL Refinance

FHA-Insured Loans

It is typical for many mortgage lenders to offer FHA insurance home loans as one of its services. Freedom Mortgage has FHA loans available which are widely popular among first time homebuyers and other low income potential homebuyers. Below is a list of the qualifications for its FHA insurance loans:

  • Minimum credit score of 540
  • Minimum down payment of 3.5%
  • Low PMI rates
  • Debt-to-income ratio must be below 43%
  • Steady employment history

Freedom Mortgage also offers a FHA Refinance loan option for qualified borrowers.

USDA Loans Available

Freedom mortgage offers USDA loans, an option that isn't widely available with other mortgage companies. USDA loans are a government-backed loan type, backed by the United States Department of Agriculture. 

A USDA loan is a zero down payment loan option, only available to borrowers purchasing eligible rural properties; metropolitan areas typically aren't eligible property locations.

Refinancing Options

Freedom Mortgage offers refinancing services to help homeowners pay off their loan sooner, reduce their loan term and monthly payment, or get a lower interest rate. 

Freedom Mortgage offers the following mortgage refinancing options:

  • Conventional Refinance
  • FHA Refinance
  • VA Cash-Out Refinance
  • VA IRRRL Refinance

The company's site has a helpful chart showing the difference between a conventional refinance, VA loan refinance, and FHA loan refinance.

Both the VA loan refinance process and FHA loan refinance process involve less documentation and no appraisal. In addition, the VA loan refinance actually has a special program, unique to Freedom Mortgage, called a VA interest rate reduction refinance loan or a VA IRRRL. This specialty refinance loan guarantees less documentation, quicker closing times, lower rates, low funding fees, better rates, and more. It is a great deal for veterans that are looking to refinance their home loan.

In addition, Cash-out refinancing, is available to qualifying borrowers who want to get cash out from their home's equity to pay off high-interest debt, consolidate bills, make home improvements, or pay for a major expense. This does take more time and additional paperwork. Private mortgage insurance, loan-to-value ratio limits, and loan restrictions may apply.

Eagle Eye Pledge

The company has a unique program, called the Eagle Eye Pledge, that works actively to save you money. This monitoring program contacts you about interest rate, home equity, and promotional changes that you may be able to take advantage of.

For example, Freedom Mortgage will contact you if interest rates drop and you can benefit from a lower your monthly payment. It will also let you know if the value of your home increases, giving you access to more cash through a larger home equity loan or home equity line of credit (HELOC).

In comparison to other mortgage lenders, a very small percentage of them actively update you on ways to reduce your mortgage rate and mortgage payment, making Freedom Mortgage stand apart from the competition. If you are buying a house at a time when the market has uncharacteristically high interest rates, then you can feel peace of mind knowing that Freedom Mortgage will contact you in the future if you qualify for a lower mortgage rate.

Mortgage Calculators

Freedom Mortgage provides two helpful calculators to see how much you can afford on a new loan or how much you can save through refinancing a loan:

  • Mortgage Affordability calculator
  • Refinance calculator

These are helpful features because Freedom Mortgage does not provide a specific interest rate range or loan terms, since both are reliant upon your personal circumstances.

Mortgage Payment Assistance

If you are unable to make your mortgage payment, it is your responsibility to contact Freedom Mortgage as soon as possible and work with your loan officer to find the best solution for you.

Through your Freedom Mortgage account you can easily download and submit a Hardship request online. Based on your individual circumstances, and provided information and documentation, there may be programs and solutions available to you for either a temporary period or long-term.

It is unclear exactly what programs and solutions Freedom Mortgage provides, such as forbearance, but there is assistance available.

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The Bad

Website Transparency

More information is needed to see how Freedom Mortgage stacks up against other mortgage companies regarding eligibility, closing costs, and interest rates.

For example, we can't make an estimate for an interest rate with our control scenario because the monthly payments calculators on the company's website have you enter in your own interest rate. However, the default interest rate is listed as 4.6 percent, so we assume that is the rate borrowers with excellent credit can expect. 

No Home Equity Loans or Lines of Credit (HELOCs)

Freedom Mortgage does offer a cash-out refinance option for those wishing to access funds from their home equity. However, the company doesn't offer home equity loans or lines of credit (HELOCs). If you are looking for either of those specific loan types you'll need to look into other mortgage lender options.

Freedom Mortgage Reviews

Upon comparing 100+ customer reviews for Freedom Mortgage, over half of the reviews were one-star reviews. Much of the negative feedback points to similar issues. Some of the most common complaints from these one-star reviews include:

  • Poor customer service
  • Unclear guidelines and loan terms
  • A difficult mortgage process
  • A general lack of transparency
  • Issues with escrow accounts

However, it should be noted that the sample size of these customer reviews is fairly small so make sure to get both sides of the story before making a final decision.

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The Bottom Line

Freedom Mortgage is a well-known mortgage company that has a particular focus on providing mortgage solutions for military veterans and other members of the military community. Providing various VA home purchase and refinance loan options, Freedom mortgage is a good fit for members of the military.

The company's conventional loan options can meet the needs of various types of homebuyers. But what really sets Freedom Mortgage apart is its Eagle Eye Pledge. This program demonstrates the company's commitment to its customers by alerting them of any changes in interest rates, home equity, and other promotions, helping them save the most money they can on their mortgage loan.

Freedom Mortgage reviews are somewhat limited, but more than half of customers have awarded the company only 1 star, and most of these reviews do not speak highly of Freedom Mortgage's customer service. Based on these reviews alone, we would recommend looking into other mortgage lender options. But, it can always be helpful to speak with a company representative if you have any specific questions or concerns.

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Star Rating

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2.0

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210 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

18%

4 grade

8%

3 grade

2%

2 grade

4%

1 grade

69%

Sentiment Criteria

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Randomperson Charleston, WV

Never enter loss mitigation, the whole thing will end up being a huge mess when you’re working on getting out. They finally accepted our payments but it took forever and at one point they quit taking monthly payments so I had to pay one lump sum. They attempted to make us refinance for a much higher interest rate. We declined. We were trying to wait for the homeowner rescue since Covid was the reason we fell behind. We are caught up now but they are not worth the hassle. We didn’t go through them to get the mortgage, we were bought out from the company we liked that we originally went through, then they bought the company that bought ours out.

2 years ago Edited June 10, 2022

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Ross Quincy, MA

Freedom Mortgage brought to my attention that I could refinance to save money as rates have dropped (this is how they earned the second star). All other aspects of this process have significant room for improvement. Biggest issue - Communication: This is likely the biggest, or one of the largest purchases of anyone's life, having sub-par communication is not acceptable. During the the refinance process Freedom Mortgage told me not to make payment for X & Y months as I was signing my loan during X month, yet it was already the 2nd day of X month and Freedom Mortgage's automatic payment processing runs on the 1st, so my payment had already been processed, by Freedom Mortgage. I then had to spend several days chasing Freedom Mortgage to get an answer as to what was going on happen with my money and was told it was going to possibly take another month to get my money back to me. Additionally, there was an issue with documents getting cut off and Freedom Mortgage failed to highlight the actual issue that the documents were getting cut off during printing and that the documents needed to be printed with a certain feature enabled (fit to page). I had to get help from a 3rd party on this. Second Biggest Issue - Ownership: As has already been established, this is a huge purchase, and Freedom Mortgage made a huge mistake when they failed to communicate. They then pointed their finger at me, and said I shouldn't have processed the October payment. Really?!? I shouldn't have done what?!? Freedom Mortgage needs to learn how to own their mistakes, and should never be accusing their customer of making a mistake. Correct, even when the customer makes a mistake, it is Freedom Mortgage's fault for not ensuring the instructions were clear. That is a huge portion of your job (hence why section one is "communication"). Last but not least least, security... This is becoming more and more important with each and every company/business across all sectors, but it should be in the he front of everyone's heads when talking about huge purchases like this. I as the end user have no guarantee that phone calls received from any phone number are who the person on the other end of the call say they claim to be, Freedom Mortgage should either register all of their employees phone numbers as "Freedom Mortgage" to give their customers peace of mind and help them identify who is calling, or Freedom Mortgage should not be trying to rely on phone calls as heavily as they do. Email & secure message centers offer many features which phone calls do not, first and foremost being emails contain history & all your employees emails are constant (@freedommortgage.com). Additionally, it allows everyone to respond in a timely manner and is transparent (because of history). (I will admit, I have no idea what I am speaking of in terms of registering phone lines to show up with text, but I know it can be done as lots of companies call me and show up with "Company Name" instead of the phone number).

5 years ago

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Paul Konschnik Mountain Top, PA

Original fha loan 2017, refinanced in may 2021 never was told about conventional loan( so they could keep the $93 a month) original loan had both my house and back parcel. Told refinance agent numerous times about both they even looked it up themselves to verify. Well received a new payment of additional 400 a month guess they didn’t put it in; now every time I try and get help and answers it’s just transfer after transfer between escrow taxes and customer care. Would not recommend this company to anyone

2 years ago

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Roger

Freedom Mortgage bought out my mortgage from my original mortgage company. In the beginning they could not get one single thing right. I would always pay extra each month to help pay down the principal. Freedom would not apply it to the principal. For like 6 months I had to keep calling them so that they would apply the money to the principal which was very inconvenient. I finally was able to talk to someone that knew what they were doing and set it up correctly so I would not have to call in every month.

5 years ago

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Nancy York, PA

It’s frustrating. On hold for almost thirty minutes and still no answer. They cashed my $800 check after two weeks still not on my statement. It’s been extremely frustrating. Answered review questions and it doesn’t allow you to submit them. Need I say more?

4 years ago

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Cheri l Gilbert, AZ

We were contacted by our lender to refi... sglhat a nightmare from start to finish there is absolutely no communication between departments and customers I felt I did most of the work. Never again with this company

5 years ago

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Review Source

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Mr Patterson Atlanta, GA

What I liked about Freedom Mortgage is that they financed my 1st home. Unfortunately when I had enough equity in my home they didn't offer a cash out refinance.

2 years ago

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Andrew Flaugher

had a nice call on the phone he was nice to talk to

4 years ago