If you live in California, you may have seen or heard commercials for Intelliloan, a mortgage company that boldly advertises its mortgage rates every chance they get.
Unlike many other mortgage lenders out there, who don’t even mention their interest rates or lender fees, Intelliloan puts it out there for everyone to see.
Of course, leading with your mortgage rates isn’t so easy, since they can change daily and quite significantly from month-to-month.
This might explain why Intelliloan is constantly updating the mortgage rates in its commercials – fortunately, they’ve been moving in the right direction lately, lower.
Intelliloan Fast Facts
- Direct-to-consumer mortgage lender located in Costa Mesa, CA
- Founded in 1993 by Darryl Preedge
- Licensed to do business in 33 states nationwide
- Specialize in low mortgage rates with no lender fees
- Seem to do much of their business in their home state of California
First a little brief history on Intelliloan, which opened its doors back in 1993 in Downey, California.
It was founded by Darryl Preedge, who had worked for a lender for three years before venturing out to open his own mortgage shop.
The company started with just three employees, but has since grown into a national mortgage lender licensed to do business in 33 states.
At the moment, they don’t appear to lend in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia, or Wyoming.
They seem to do most of their home loan lending on the West Coast, particularly in California.
Applying for a Mortgage with Intelliloan
Intelliloan is a direct-to-consumer mortgage lender, meaning you work with them online or by phone remotely.
They say it takes about 15 minutes to get your mortgage approval started. And that process begins by filling out a short lead form on their website.
From there, they’ll ask you to create an Intelliloan account and you’ll need to provide some basic contact information.
Then you’ll proceed to fill out a loan application with the help of a loan specialist.
Alternatively, you can use the chat/text feature on their website to begin, which allows you to speak to a specialist right away if you have questions.
Or you can simply call them up on the phone to get started.
It’s unclear if they offer a digital loan application after that point, but it appears to be pretty no-frills and direct.
They say they’re big on customer service and satisfaction, so hopefully that’s demonstrated in the loan process from start to finish.
Loan Types Offered by Intelliloan
- Home purchase and mortgage refinance loans
- Conforming loans backed by Fannie/Freddie
- Government home loans including FHA loans and VA loans
- Jumbo home loans up to $3 million loan amounts
- Reverse mortgages for those 62 and older
- Fixed-rate options: 30-year fixed and 15-year fixed
- ARM options: 5/1, 7/1, and 10/1 ARMs
Intelliloan offers all the typical stuff you’d expect from a mortgage lender, including home purchase financing and mortgage refinancing.
Their bread and butter is probably refinance loans since they offer super low mortgage rates, a key decider for those looking to refinance an existing home loan.
But they also offer home purchase financing on primary residences, second homes, and investment properties. And they’ll get you pre-approved so you can shop with confidence.
In terms of loan type, they offer conventional conforming loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with government home loans including FHA loans and VA loans.
They don’t appear to offer USDA loans, and it’s unclear if they offer construction or renovation loans.
It seems they are focused on straightforward vanilla stuff that isn’t too complicated, which allows them to close loans fast and offer low rates.
In fact, they mention in their fine print that they’re not currently accepting applications from self-employed borrowers, nor will they accept conforming loan amounts below $200,000.
However, they do offer jumbo loan financing with loan amounts as high as $3 million, and cash out as high as $500,000.
Additionally, aside from fixed-rate options, they offer adjustable-rate mortgages that are fixed for the first 5, 7, or 10 years.
And they’ve got ARM options for both FHA loans and VA loans.
Homeowners aged 62 and older can take advantage of their reverse mortgage offering as well.
Intelliloan Mortgage Rates
As noted, Intelliloan isn’t shy about advertising its mortgage rates. In fact, just about every advertisement I’ve seen from them features a mortgage rate and/or mortgage APR.
So they lead with their pricing, which is a good sign if the lowest price/rate is what you’re after when purchasing a home or refinancing an existing mortgage.
Right on their homepage you’ll see “today’s rates,” which at last glance looked pretty darn good.
For example, on the day of this post they were offering a 30-year fixed at 2.325% (2.49% APR) and 15-year fixed at 1.75% (1.99% APR). Yes, that low.
The assumptions were a $300,000 loan amount a single family, owner-occupied property in the state of California. Minimum 740 FICO and 60% loan to value (LTV).
If you don’t fit all those criteria, expect a higher mortgage rate. But still, those advertised rates look pretty enticing.
They advertised similarly low rates for high-cost conforming loans and FHA/VA loans.
Intelliloan Rate Protection Promise
Intelliloan also offers a Rate Protection Promise that provides up to three years of so-called mortgage rate protection.
Simply put, if fixed interest rates fall below your current fixed rate on a previously closed Intelliloan mortgage, you can refinance to that lower fixed rate on a 15- or 30-year mortgage.
This can be exercised at any time after the first 100 days from loan closing up until the third anniversary of the loan closing.
You won’t have to pay any non-recurring closing costs (e.g. lender fees, appraisal fee, credit report fee, escrow, title, recording, notary, courier, etc.), but you will be responsible for any recurring closing costs such as prepaid interest, property taxes, insurance premiums, HOA dues, and so on.
Basically, it’s a no cost refinance if fixed mortgage rates happen to fall significantly in the three years that follow your original transaction with Intelliloan.
Of course, you can always shop around with other lenders, and may find that another can beat them on rate and offer it without closing costs.
Either way, you need to re-qualify for the loan, so it’s not totally automatic, it’s just a discounted refinance.
Intelliloan Reviews
On LendingTree, they have a 4.9-star rating out 5 based on more than 500 reviews, with a 98% recommendation rating.
On Google, they’ve got nearly 200 reviews and a 4.5-star rating out of 5, which is obviously very good. Most former customers seem to be very happy with their service and rates.
On Yelp, they’ve got a 4.5-star rating based on about 200 reviews as well. It appears most of their customers refinanced an existing mortgage, which seems to be their top offering.
Similarly, they have an excellent 4.93-star rating out of 5 on the Better Business Bureau website based on over 200 reviews, which is pretty unheard of.
Usually, customers head over to the BBB to complain about a company, but that doesn’t appear to be the case here.
They are an accredited business with the BBB since 1999, but only have a B+ rating at the moment thanks to 13 complaints filed against the business.
All in all, they appear to be a mortgage lender focused on offering the lowest rates possible to borrowers who have fairly straightforward loan scenarios. If that’s you, they might be able to offer you an excellent rate.
But if you’re self-employed or have a complicated loan scenario, they may not be the best fit.
Intelliloan Pros and Cons
The Good
- Appear to offer very low mortgage rates with limited or no lender fees
- Excellent reviews on several ratings sites
- BBB accredited company since 1999
- Offer most major home loan types
- Can apply for a mortgage directly from their website
- Intelliloan Rate Protection Promise allows you to refinance without lender fees
The Maybe Not Good
- Not licensed in all 50 states
- Do not offer USDA loans
- May not offer construction/renovation financing or home equity loans/lines
- May not be a good fit for those with complex loan scenarios
