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Cardinal Financial mortgage review 2024

Aly J. Yale
·Freelance writer
Updated 7 min read

The Yahoo view: Cardinal Financial is a good mortgage lender if you’re considering various loan options or need down payment assistance — we even chose it as one of the best USDA mortgage lenders. Its total loan costs rank higher than competitors, though, and you’ll need to work with a home loan specialist to get the process started.

Cardinal Financial is a national mortgage lender headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. It offers mortgages in all 50 U.S. states and has a wide variety of loan products to choose from, including government-backed loans, conventional loans, construction and renovation loans, and more. It also offers several forms of down payment and closing cost assistance for borrowers in need.

Cardinal Financial logo 3.2/5 stars

Key benefits

  • Cardinal Financial offers many home loan programs.

  • The mortgage company offers down payment assistance and help with appraisal and other closing costs.

  • Borrowers have lots of online tools and resources at their disposal.

Need to know

  • The company is licensed to lend in all 50 states.

  • There are no home equity loans or HELOCs.

  • No rates are available online. You’ll need to get a rate quote directly from a Cardinal home loan specialist.

Cardinal Financial offers the following types of home loans:

  • Conventional loans

  • FHA loans

  • USDA loans

  • VA loans

  • Jumbo loans

  • Purchase

  • Refinance

  • Cash-out refinance

  • Renovation loans

  • Construction loans

  • Second home loans

  • Manufactured home loans

  • Accessible dwelling unit (ADU) loans

  • Fixed-rate loans

  • Adjustable-rate loans

  • Investment property loans

Cardinal Financial does not offer the following types of home loans:

  • Lot loans

  • Non-qualified mortgages

  • Energy-efficient mortgages

  • 1% down loans

  • Bridge loans

  • ITIN mortgages

  • Medical professional loans

  • Interest-only loans

  • HELOCs

  • Home equity loans

Learn more: Want to build an accessible dwelling unit (ADU)? Here’s how to finance it.

Cardinal Financial is well-versed in FHA lending. In fact, according to 2023 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, just over 44% of the lender’s total origination volume came from FHA loans last year.

Cardinal offers FHA loans for purchasing and refinancing (including FHA Streamline Refis), and its FHA Rate Protect program lets you lock your interest rate for up to 90 days. You’ll need just a 580 credit score to qualify.

Read more: Best FHA mortgage lenders

Cardinal Financial doesn’t offer home equity loans or home equity lines of credit (HELOC). However, it offers cash-out refinancing, which is another strategy you might use to borrow from your home’s equity.

With this tool, you’ll take out a loan larger than your current one, pay off the old balance, and get the difference back in cash. You can then use that money however you’d like (many put it toward home renovations or repairs).

Dig deeper: Cash-out refinance vs. HELOC

Cardinal Financial doesn’t advertise its rates anywhere. Instead, you must apply for a personalized quote on the lender’s website. To do this, you’ll need to provide information about the home you’re purchasing, what you’ll use it for, your down payment amount, and your estimated credit score. Then, a Cardinal Financial loan specialist will reach out directly with your rate quote.

Yahoo Finance looks at 2023 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data comprising 10 million home loan applications to score mortgage lenders on issued mortgage interest 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 2023. A higher score would indicate a lender granted lower than median home loan interest rates to borrowers in 2023.

With total home loan costs, a lower score would indicate that a lender charged higher-than-median total home loan costs in 2023. A high rating would mean a mortgage lender offered lower-than-median all-in home loan costs in 2023.

What this means: Cardinal Financial offered a decent mortgage rate of 6.625% but a high total loan cost of $10,503.60 to borrowers in 2023.

To apply for a mortgage loan, you’ll first need to find the loan specialist you’d like to use. You can do this online by filtering by the name of the originator you want to use or by inputting your address to find options near you.

You’ll then navigate to the specialist’s website, where you can reach out or apply for your loan securely online through the Octane portal.

Cardinal Financial isn’t very clear about how its preapproval process works. It encourages consumers to fill out the online free rate quote form and wait for a loan specialist to contact them.

Cardinal’s online tools are pretty robust. The lender offers seven handy calculators, including the following:

  • Mortgage calculator

  • Refinance calculator

  • VA loan calculator

  • Home affordability calculator

  • Rent versus buy calculator

  • Adjustable-rate versus fixed-rate mortgage calculator

  • Rate buydown calculator

The lender also provides tons of informative blog posts, guides, and FAQs, and its glossary helps break down the more complex terms you might encounter on your home-buying journey. If you’re new to real estate, there’s also a first-time homebuyer’s guide you might find helpful.

Dig deeper: How much house can I afford? Use Yahoo’s home affordability calculator.

  • Strong in affordability. The lender offers several government loan options, down payment assistance, and various zero- or low-down loan products — we give it 4 stars in this category.

  • Great online features. Cardinal offers a wide variety of online tools and resources for buyers, earning 5 stars in this area.

  • Middle-of-the-road interest rates. Our analysis shows Cardinal Financial’s interest rates are about average compared to competitors, giving 3 stars.

  • Not very transparent. Cardinal Financial has no sample or advertised rates, but you can contact the lender for personalized rates. It scores 3 out of 5 stars in the Rate Transparency category.

  • High loan costs. Our analysis shows Cardinal Financial’s loan costs are higher than those of its competitors, giving it 1 star in this category.

At the product level, Cardinal Financial’s offerings are much more robust than what you’ll find with Better Mortgage. The lender offers USDA loans, adjustable-rate mortgages, construction loans, and loans for manufactured and second homes, whereas Better does not. On the other hand, Better offers a HELOC if you want to tap your home equity.

Better also offers a fully online process and fast closing times (17 days faster than the industry average, the lender claims), while Cardinal requires you to go through a loan specialist just to get preapproved.

Better Mortgage review

Cardinal Financial offers more home loan options than Pennymac, including construction and renovation loans. Pennymac does, however, offer a home equity loan, whereas Cardinal does not.

Cardinal Financial also rates better in customer satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power 2023 Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study, and it has a “great” rating on Trustpilot based on roughly 600 customer reviews.

Pennymac mortgage review

Cardinal Financial is a mortgage lender based in Charlotte, N.C. It offers loans in all 50 states.

In 2023, Cardinal Financial settled a lawsuit regarding its telemarketing practices for $7.2 million. It’s currently being sued for allegedly misleading customers in a potential class action suit in Dallas, too, though this case is ongoing.

Cardinal Financial does not have a mobile app. However, you can make payments or check the status of your loan application online.

You can contact Cardinal Financial via phone, emailing customercare@cardinalfinancial.com, or submitting the lender’s contact form.

Methodology:

Yahoo Finance reviews and scores mortgage lenders with quintile scoring in five primary categories: 1) Interest rates. Using 2023 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data comprised of 10 million home loan applications, 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, home equity lending, 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.

This article was edited by Laura Grace Tarpley.