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Navy Federal Credit Union mortgage review 2024
The Yahoo view: Navy Federal is an excellent mortgage lender to consider, especially if you are seeking interest rate protection on a VA-backed mortgage and are an active or former military member. It tops our list of the best VA loan lenders.
Navy Federal Credit Union is an impressive provider of VA-backed mortgages. Loaded with resources for the first-time home buyer (which many of its customers undoubtedly are) and providing top-notch tools, calculators, and loan products, NFCU is hard to beat when it comes to serving military-connected borrowers.
Just as important, Navy Federal really shines in customer service.
Key benefits
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The No-Refi Rate Drop offer allows you to snag a lower interest rate six months or later after closing — for a $250 fee, but without additional closing costs or changing your loan terms.
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A rate guarantee states that Navy Federal will match a better mortgage rate offered by a competing lender on the same loan or pay you $1,000 after you close with the other lender.
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The Special Freedom Lock allows an interest rate reduction of up to 0.50% if rates move lower before your loan closing, which is just one feature that makes Navy Federal one of the best mortgage lenders for first-time buyers.
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Military Choice loans allow benefits similar to VA mortgages to current and former service members without further entitlements.
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Buy your home through a Navy Federal real estate agent partner and receive $400 to $9,000 cash back.
Dig deeper: How a float-down option lowers your locked-in mortgage rate
Need to know
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Navy Federal Credit Union home loans are available to members only. Eligibility includes active duty or former members of the armed forces, Department of Defense, or National Guard, and family or household members or Department of Defense personnel.
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Ranks near the top of all the lenders considered in the latest J.D. Power Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study, which measures customer satisfaction with mortgage lenders.
Navy Federal home loan product offerings
Navy Federal Credit Union offers these home loans:
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Conventional loans
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VA loans
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Purchase mortgages
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Refinance loans
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Cash-out refinance loans
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Fixed-rate mortgages
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Adjustable-rate mortgages
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Jumbo loans
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Second home loans
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Investment property loans
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Renovation loans
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HELOCs
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Home equity loans
Navy Federal does not offer these home loans:
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FHA loans
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USDA loans
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Interest-only loans
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Lot loans
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Construction loans
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Guest house mortgages
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Non-qualified mortgages
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Energy efficient mortgages
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1% down loans
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Buydown loans
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Bridge loans
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Manufactured home loans
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Piggy-back loans
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Medical professional loans
Navy Federal for VA loan borrowers
A VA loan is one of the best mortgages for eligible first-time home buyers. With no down payment usually required, it is a valuable perk available to military members.
Navy Federal has an online resource that explains how VA loans differ from conventional loans and the requirements to qualify — it even debunks some VA loan myths along the way with some graphic "flip cards." (Such as the credit score needed to be eligible for a VA loan: "The VA doesn't set a minimum credit score for VA loan qualification.")
Navy Federal guides first-time VA borrowers through the home-buying journey with helpful guides, tips, informational articles, and checklists. The listicles, infographics, flashcards, guides, and just plain old articles provide a refreshing way to get up to speed on everything home loan-related.
Read more: Best VA mortgage lenders
Navy Federal for home equity lending
Whether you're looking to remodel, have a home improvement project in mind, or simply want to access some of the appreciation you've gained in your home's value, Navy Federal has two options available.
Navy Federal home equity line of credit
A home equity line of credit (HELOC) allows you to borrow only what you need up to your credit limit. A HELOC typically has a variable interest rate.
Navy Federal home equity loan
A home equity loan lends you a lump sum at a fixed interest rate.
Learn more: HELOC vs. home equity loan
Navy Federal HELOC and home equity loan fees
On the day of our website visit, Navy Federal was promoting no closing costs and no application or origination fees on home equity loans. And HEL and HELOC credit amounts were available up to a very healthy $500,000.
Of course, you'll need the home equity to get that maximum loan amount, but Navy Federal allows you to access 100% of your equity in a HEL and 95% with a HELOC.
Navy Federal home mortgage loan rates 2024
Mortgage rates are easy to find on Navy Federal's website. VA and conventional rates are shown on the mortgage home page. Click the "View All" button to see sample rates on others.
In the fine print, Navy Federal says the published rates are "as low as" a certain interest rate and have a built-in 1% mortgage origination fee. Then there's this: "Many of these programs carry discount points, which may impact your rate." That's a little too vague for us, and we couldn't find details in the disclaimers as to just how many discount points were included.
What all of this means: Take the "as low as" qualifier to mean "you're probably going to pay a higher rate than this."
Read more: USAA mortgage review
How Navy Federal scores on mortgage rates and loan costs
Yahoo Finance uses 2023 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data comprised of 10 million home loan applications to score mortgage lenders on issued mortgage 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 that 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 that a mortgage lender offered lower than median all-in home loan costs in 2023.
Navy Federal home loan rates score: 5 out of 5 stars
Navy Federal total loan costs score: 5 out of 5 stars
What this means: Navy Federal offered a much-lower-than-median mortgage rate of 5.875% and a much-lower-than-median total loan cost of $4,242.42 to borrowers in 2023.
Navy Federal mortgage application
As with any credit union, you must be a member to apply for a mortgage with Navy Federal. To qualify, you or a member of your family or household must be a service member, a veteran of any branch of the armed forces, or a Department of Defense employee. You can apply for membership online or by calling or visiting an NFCU branch location.
Navy Federal mortgage preapproval
Once you are signed up, click on the "Mortgage Preapproval" link and learn about the Navy Federal loan process. NFCU offers two levels of mortgage preapproval: a letter and a "verified" preapproval letter.
What's the difference?
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The preapproval letter is a nonbinding estimate of how much you are likely to be able to borrow. It's a quick answer to the question, "How much house can I afford?"
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The verified preapproval letter is the real home-buying deal. You'll submit the necessary paperwork and go through a full loan underwriting review. If approved, you're solid. You can make an offer on a house with complete confidence and lock in your interest rate for up to 60 days.
Learn more: Should you lock in your mortgage rate — and if so, when?
Navy Federal mortgage calculators and home-buyer tools
Nearly a dozen home-buying calculators are available on the NFCU website. They are intuitive, quick to load, and simple but complete. An adjustable-rate mortgage calculator is particularly useful and not something many lenders offer. You'll also find other rarely seen calculators, including:
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Mortgage tax deduction
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15-year vs. 30-year term comparison
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Mortgage payoff
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Rent vs. buy
Other resources include helpful articles explaining escrow accounts, how to make mortgage payments when to refinance, and other topics.
A chat box lingers on the page until you close it. Just to test it out, I asked if NFCU offered conventional loans.
In a few seconds, what seemed to be a real-life, actual breathing person came on, gave her name and Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System number as a mortgage loan originator, and answered my question ("We do!!"). She was so friendly and used a lot of exclamation points during the chat that I practically wanted to take out a loan on the spot. Curious, I looked up her NMLS number, and it checked out.
If that wasn't a real person, then AI has a solid future, for sure.
Dig deeper: How much house can I afford?
Navy Federal mortgage pros and cons
Pros
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Navy Federal offered well-below-median interest rates to borrowers in 2023.
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The credit union also charged well-below-median loan costs, according to HMDA data analyzed by Yahoo Finance.
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NFCU also scored our highest 5-star rating in the Online Features category for offering extensive online educational resources.
Cons
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Because it specializes in serving military borrowers, its loan options are slightly limited. For example, Navy Federal doesn't offer FHA or USDA loans — and probably doesn't need to.
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Navy Federal also doesn't place a priority on facilitating the shopping of mortgage rates with vague disclaimers that make advertised rates less useful.
How Navy Federal compares to other mortgage lenders
Navy Federal vs. Pentagon Federal Credit Union
PenFed offers a home loan option that Navy Federal doesn't — FHA-backed mortgages. Yet, most borrowers visiting either credit union are likely to be eligible for a VA loan, which is possibly the most valuable mortgage benefit on the market.
However, Navy Federal offers a home equity option that Pen Fed doesn't, and that's lump-sum-generating home equity loans.
Matching a lender to your needs requires a little homework, but it's well worth it.
Navy Federal vs. Veterans United
Veterans United is a home loan lender that also specializes in serving borrowers with military connections. While it has a sterling reputation for customer service, according to J.D. Power research, HMDA data shows Veterans United charged higher median interest rates than Navy Federal in 2023.
Still, Veterans United was the biggest VA loan originator in the nation in 2023, issuing more than three times the number of VA-backed mortgages than Navy Federal did. It must be doing something right.
Veterans United mortgage review
Navy Federal mortgage FAQs
Will Navy Federal pay people $9,000 to buy a house?
If you use an affiliated real estate agent through Navy Federal's RealtyPlus program, you can earn from $400 up to $9,000 cash back after loan closing. The amount you receive is based on the sale or purchase price.
What credit score is needed for a Navy Federal loan?
Navy Federal originates a high volume of VA-backed mortgages, which have no credit score requirement. Lenders may set their own credit score minimums, and Navy Federal may well have internal qualification guidelines that aren't revealed to the public. Even it's advertised "as low as" mortgage rates don't reveal the credit score necessary to qualify for them.
Do you have to pay closing costs with Navy Federal?
Some closing costs are charged by third parties, while others are strictly lender fees. Navy Federal's own closing costs calculator shows estimated closing costs of over $3,600 on a $250,000 mortgage with no down payment.
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, 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.
