LoanDepot Review

LOANDEPOT OVERVIEW

LoanDepot is one of the foremost emerging lenders in the private loan market. They were founded in 2000 and have quickly become one of the fastest growing private lender by gobbling up market share wherever they can. While they specialize in home loans, which include home mortgages, refinancing, & home builder loans, they also offer joint venture loans and personal loans. This makes for a very robust selection of loans so no matter why you need money, you can get it from LoanDepot.

SERVICES PROVIDED

LoanDepot offers home mortgage loans, home loan refinancing, joint venture loans, personal loans, and home builder loan services.

Home Mortgages

LoanDepot primarily offers lending services for borrowers looking to buy or build a new home. Home mortgages are ideal for this because you’re able to finance hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars over 10 - 30 years. This allows you to have a manageable monthly payment despite having a loan for $100,000+.

Home Loan Refinancing

Even if you don’t have your mortgage through LoanDepot, you can still apply to refinance your loan through them to get a lower interest rate. This can save tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of your home loan. They also offer VA, FHA, and HARP loans rather than just standard mortgages. You can even consolidate your debt or take out a home equity loan during your refinance.

Personal Loans

These loans are some of the most versatile and easiest to qualify on the market today. They’re also called signature loans because all you really need to apply is a signature. These loans don’t require collateral down nor do they require a traditional credit check so your credit score & history aren’t as important lending criteria as your ability to repay the loan. LoanDepot offers personal loans from $5,000 to $35,000 so you can use your personal loan for nearly anything.

LOAN REQUIREMENTS

• Government Issued ID
• Social Security Card
• Proof of Residence
• Proof of Income (Most recent pay stubs)

LOAN DETAILS

• Loan Amount: $5,000 - $100,000+
• Loan Duration: 24 - 60 months
• Collateral Needed: No
• Interest Rates: Determined by Application
• Minimum Credit Score: Not Listed
• Approval Time: ~1 Business Day
• Loan Deposit Time: 2 - 3 Business Days
• Late Fees: Yes
• Insufficient Funds Fees: Yes

HOW TO APPLY FOR A LOANDEPOT LOAN

Their loan application process is rather standard by industry standards with the only exception being that you have to designate what you’re going to use the loan for. They have a few restrictions so be sure to review those before applying because they can, and will, close your account if they feel like you’ve violated their terms of service.

When you apply for one of their loans, you designate how much you want to borrow, what you plan on using it for, input your personal & financial information, and you’re given a number of free loan offers to review. Once you find the one that’s right for you, select it and apply to get a decision from LoanDepot within 1 - 3 business days.

LOANDEPOT REVIEW

I’m sure you’re probably asking yourself, “Who?” I thought the same thing when I first heard about them, but they’ve been making waves over the last ~5 years. They’re becoming a major player in the private lending space and people are starting to take notice.

LoanDepot is a newer private lender that specializes in home mortgages and offers additional lending services like joint venture loans and personal loans. We can’t comment about the rates for each of these loan types since we weren’t able to find it on their site, more on that in a minute. However, they do offer large amounts for their personal loans which shows strong confidence in their product and services.

One of the negative things about LoanDepot is that they’ve been known to sell loans to other lenders. So you may take out a loan or refinance a loan with them, but it’s very possible that the “ownership” of the loan will trade hands. We’ve seen multiple reports of them selling loans to Wells Fargo.

The other negative thing we found is that it’s difficult to find information about their loan terms and interest rates. Even their actual “rates” pages don’t have any actual information on their respective loans. We understand not wanting to divulge all the information because they’re running a business, but borrowers shouldn’t have to apply for a loan to get an idea of what interest rate they’ll get.

There’s zero reason for a lender to require credit inquiry when you can just say something along the lines of “we offer loans with interest rates from x - y%, though rates may be higher depending on your credit score”. There. See? Is that so hard? (Spoiler alert, it isn’t.)

LOAN DEPOT BBB REVIEWS

LoanDepot has one of the better BBB ratings we've seen for lenders, who typically have negative rating since most people that post reviews have had bad experiences. LoanDepot is accredited with the BBB and has been since 2014. They have an A+ BBB rating and a 4 star rating from 836 customer reviews. This bodes rather well for getting a loan from them as high BBB ratings are rather rare in the finance industry. They do have 391 BBB complaints, but LoanDepot has answered or resolved each and every one of them.

IS LOANDEPOT GOOD FOR YOU?

By all appearances, LoanDepot is a good lender. They have positive reviews, they specialize in a narrow range of loans, and their website makes applying very easy.

However, at the end of the day, we don’t like companies, much less lenders, that make it a point to hide or not share important information about their business. LoanDepot is no different. In our eyes, this is a major red flag and if we were shopping for a loan we probably wouldn’t bother submitting an application to LoanDepot. We’re the customer, you need our business, there are tons of other lenders out there who are more transparent and willing to give us ballpark information about the loans they offer.

It’s because of this that we give LoanDepot a “pass”, but if you find that you’re having trouble getting approved for a loan elsewhere, you might as well give them a look. Exhaust your other options first, however.