One SoCal-based mortgage lender I’ve seen advertising a lot lately goes by the name “Home Loan Enterprise,” or HLE for short.
The company sports a sleek, modern website with a really cool loan pricing engine that lets you see the latest mortgage rates without having to sign up or reveal your personal details.
That’s rare these days in the mortgage business, so I give them bonus points right off the bat for transparency.
On top of that, they offer a fully-digital home loan process and appear to be very well-organized and informative, something that hopefully extends from start to finish.
Let’s discover more about them.
Home Loan Enterprise Fast Facts
- Direct mortgage lender that also acts as a mortgage broker
- Provides home purchase loans and mortgage refinancing
- Founded in 2004, headquartered in Irvine, CA
- Licensed to do business in five states (mostly on the West Coast)
Home Loan Enterprise a direct mortgage lender (and mortgage broker) that offers home purchase loans and mortgage refinances.
They act as both in order to provide flexibility and help you obtain extremely competitive mortgage rates that you might not find otherwise with a big bank.
This means they can shop around with third-party wholesale lenders on your behalf to find you a better rate or place a tricky loan scenario.
The company was founded in 2004 by Thysy Trinh, the company’s current CEO, and originally began as a family business in San Diego, California before its corporate headquarters were moved to Irvine, CA in 2010.
Today, they’re licensed to do business in five states, including California, Colorado, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. It’s unclear if they plan to expand in the near future.
How to Apply with Home Loan Enterprise
- First price your loan anonymously using their nifty online rate engine
- Alternatively you can fill out a short form on their website or simply call them directly
- They offer a completely digital mortgage process from end to end
- Once submitted you’ll be able to track loan progress via the online borrower portal
Aside from being super transparent on the pricing front, Home Loan Enterprise has one of the nicer websites I’ve seen from a lender.
It looks super modern and includes lots of tutorials, a mortgage glossary, and FAQs to keep borrowers well-informed throughout the process.
Even better, they offer a completely digital mortgage process to improve efficiency and fund loans fast, typically within 2-4 weeks.
They say the faster you provide the paperwork, the quicker they can fund, and that they don’t let loans linger.
Once your price a loan, an originator will reach out to help you set up an account so you can submit an electronic application via their secure website.
You’ll be able to complete most tasks electronically, whether it’s eSigning disclosures or linking your bank account and employment information.
After your loan is submitted, you’ll be able to manage everything from the online borrower portal. You’ll also receive important status updates and a to-do list for any outstanding conditions.
All in all, they make it really simple to submit a loan and get it to the finish line thanks to their modern tools and clean website.
Loan Programs Offered by Home Loan Enterprise
- Home purchase loans
- Refinance loans: Rate & term and cash out
- Conforming loans backed by Fannie/Freddie
- Super conforming loans
- Jumbo loans
- FHA loans
- VA loans
- HELOCs and home equity loans
- Interest only loans
- Non-QM and hard money
- Down payment assistance programs
Home Loan Enterprise offers a ton of different loan programs because they’re both a direct lender and a mortgage broker.
This means they have access to loan programs from lots of different banks and lenders.
They offer home purchase financing and refinance loans, including rate and term, cash out, and streamline refis.
You can get pretty much any type of loan, including conforming, super conforming, jumbo, conventional, government, and non-QM or hard money.
The only question mark seems to be USDA loans, which aren’t mentioned on their website.
But they do seem to offer interest only loans, HELOCs, and fixed home equity loans, along with down payment assistance programs for first-time home buyers.
Both fixed-rate and adjustable-rate options are available in a variety of loan terms, whether you need to a 10-year fixed loan or a 7/1 ARM, or anything in between.
They lend on all property types, including single family homes, condos/townhomes, multi-unit investment properties, and even commercial properties.
In other words, they should be able to help most borrowers, no matter what their scenario is, and hopefully provide a low interest rate at the same time.
Home Loan Enterprise Rates
One area where Home Loan Enterprise really excels is in its mortgage rates.
The company makes it super easy to see today’s rates simply clicking on “Rates” from the top menu on their website.
From there, just enter your loan scenario and you’ll see a huge list of rates for a variety of popular loan programs, along with accompanying costs or lender credits.
And their rates are real and connected directly to the mortgage market (they also update them multiple times per day if needed to ensure accuracy).
They are big on transparency when it comes to rates and lender fees, and even let you track rates live so you can lock on the best day.
Additionally, they’ll let you re-lock your rate if the market improves, which is likely subject to a small fee or pricing adjustment.
From what I saw, their mortgage rates were very competitive relative to what other lenders offer, and they only charge a $995 lender fee.
Home Loan Enterprise Reviews
One area where information seems to be a tad light is customer reviews. I wasn’t able to find a ton on the web.
However, they do have some reviews. For example, on Yelp the company has a solid 4.5-star rating out of 5 from about 50 customer reviews.
They also have perfect 5-star ratings on both Google and Facebook, though from just a small handful of reviews.
And while the company doesn’t have any reviews on Zillow, their individual loan officers have some feedback.
So once you find the loan officer’s name, you can do some digging on your own, or simply ask them for referrals.
While they aren’t an accredited company, they do have a perfect ‘A+’ rating on the Better Business Bureau website based on complaint history.
Home Loan Enterprise Pros and Cons
The Good
- Offer a fully digital mortgage loan process
- You can see their daily mortgage rates without signing in
- Allow you to re-lock if rates get better
- Tons of different loan programs available
- Excellent customer reviews albeit from a small sample size
- A+ BBB rating based on customer complaint history
- Mortgage glossary and learning center on their website
The Maybe Not
- Only licensed in California, Colorado, Oregon, Texas, and Washington
- Do not offer USDA loans
- May not service your loan
(photo: snow0810)
