Today let’s talk about PrimeLending, a PlainsCapital Company, which is a top-10 mortgage lender that does business in all 50 states.
Perhaps their biggest claim to fame is their 96% customer satisfaction rating given to their fleet of 1,500 loan officers.
They certainly seem to pride themselves on making their customers happy, with the slogan “Home Loans Made Simple.”
They also have a mascot named “Mo,” short for momentum, that is a real live buffalo living near Fort Worth, TX.
Let’s learn more about who they, what types of loans they offer, and why you might use them on your next purchase or refinance transaction.
Who Is PrimeLending?
- A direct-to-consumer mortgage lender owned by the PlainsCapital Company that has been around since 1986
- A wholly owned subsidiary of PlainsCapital Bank (that is also a wholly owned subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings Inc.)
- Publicly traded under the symbol (NYSE: HTH)
- Funded more than $22 billion in home loans during 2021
- Most active in the states of California and Texas but licensed nationwide
First a little bit about their history – PrimeLending started out back in 1986, which if you’re good at math, is just over 35 years. Back then, they had just 20 employees.
Today, they’ve got more than 3,000 employees throughout the nation. And since that time, they’ve apparently helped more than 500,000 Americans purchase a home, fix up a property, or refinance an existing mortgage.
They seem to excel in home purchase lending, as evidenced by the fact that they’ve been a top-10 purchase lender from 2012 to 2017, per data from Marketrac, a CoreLogic company.
They’re also ranked 6th for retail home loan volume by Scotsman Guide, and 11th in volume overall. It’s unclear if that’s overall or a specific category of lender.
If you’re curious who owns them, they’re a PlainsCapital Company that is also a wholly owned subsidiary of PlainsCapital Bank, which is owned by Hilltop Holdings Inc.
Confused yet? Yeah, there’s a lot of corporate structuring going on, but basically their a billion-dollar financial holdings company based out of Dallas, Texas with thousands of employees.
Hilltop actually acquired PlainsCapital and PrimeLending as recently as November 2012.
In late 2022, PrimeLending launched a joint venture with Texas home builder Kindred Homes called Kindred Home Loans.
PrimeLending will provide financing to home buyers in Kindred Homes’ communities in the state of Texas.
Applying for a Mortgage with PrimeLending
- They are a consumer direct lender with no middlemen
- You get connected with one of their loan officers nearby
- And can apply online, by phone, or in-person
- Their digital, mostly paperless home loan process is known as Loanplicity
The company relies on a network of mortgage loan officers throughout all 50 states to help borrowers apply for a mortgage.
If you’ve already made contact with a loan officer, you enter their name on the PrimeLending website and it’ll populate a list. Once selected, they become your point of contact.
If you don’t yet have an assigned loan officer, you can enter your zip code or city and choose one near you.
The website will list a variety of locations near you (assuming you live next to a lot of PrimeLending offices). Then you can then see all the loan officers at that branch and choose one based really on name only.
While the loan officers have their own mini websites, they don’t seem to feature any unique qualities, other than contact information, which I feel would make them stand out more.
They could show their strengths and specialties, but at the moment they seem to have boilerplate content that doesn’t differ from one loan officer to the next.
Anyway, from there you’d just hit the “apply now” button or you could call their direct phone line to get the home loan process underway.
You can also apply in person if that’s your thing, though most folks these days like to do things remotely.
Loanplicity Is Their Digital Home Loan Process
- They just launched their digital mortgage offering known as Loanplicity
- Allows you to apply online or get pre-qualified using their award-winning application process
- You can connect financial accounts or upload documents using your smartphone
- Also lets you pay fees using PayPal or connect to a loan officer at any time if you need help
In February 2020, PrimeLending launched its version of a digital mortgage known as Loanplicity.
It allows you to apply online with their “award winning application process,” or get pre-qualified to determine how much home you can afford.
Once you submit your loan, you can securely connect financial accounts or take photographs of documents with your smartphone for upload.
They also let you pay fees along the way via PayPal, perhaps for things like an appraisal or application fee (deposit).
At any point during the process, you can also call, text, or email your loan officer for assistance.
And you can see loan status in real-time to determine where you’re at in the loan process.
The one negative at the moment is there doesn’t seem to be a mobile app available.
If you’re a prospective home buyer, their PrimeLending Approval AdvantEDGE will allow you to see how much home you can afford.
What PrimeLending Offers to Its Customers
- Home purchase loans and refinance loans
- Home improvement and renovation loans
- New construction loans
- Conforming and jumbo loan amounts
- Government loans including VA, FHA, and USDA loans
- Fixed-rate and adjustable-rate options available
- Reverse mortgages
In the fixed-rate department, they advertise both the 30-year and 15-year fixed, which are by far the most popular. It’s unclear if they offer other terms in between and beyond.
For ARMs, they discuss the 3/1, 5/1, 7/1, 10/1, which happen to be the most popular ARM offerings available. All are hybrids with a fixed period followed by an adjustable period.
They’ve got the usual conforming stuff backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with a variety of government loans like FHA, VA, and USDA.
PrimeLending also advertises an FHA cash-out refinance, which is a little less usual.
When it comes to jumbos, they offer LTVs as high as 95% with both fixed-rate and adjustable-rate options.
The company seems to have the new construction and renovation market well covered, with lots of offerings including an FHA 203k loan, lot loans, HUD REO and USDA with repair escrow, Fannie Mae HomeStyle, and jumbo renovation loans.
In April 2023, they announced the availability of reverse mortgages via the FHA’s home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) program.
PrimeLending Mortgage Rates
- They don’t advertise their interest rates online
- Nor can I find a ratesheet to get more information on their pricing
- So if/when you get a quote from PrimeLending
- You may also want to comparison shop with other lenders to see where they stand
Sadly, the company doesn’t openly advertise their mortgage rates, so it’s impossible to know if they’re good, bad, or just plain average.
I prefer companies that advertise their rates, though you can argue that they aren’t all that meaningful because rates can vary tremendously from borrower to borrower at the same company.
However, it does mean that if you apply with PrimeLending, you may want to shop your rate with other lenders to see where you stand.
And to determine if you can do better elsewhere, assuming you are interest rate-sensitive, which you generally should be.
Of course, many mortgage borrowers choose lenders for things other than the lowest rate, so it may not be super important to you.
The ability to actually close your loan on time can be just as important, if not more so.
PrimeLending Reviews
Now let’s talk about customer reviews, for which PrimeLending has a ton.
On Zillow, the company has a 4.99/5 rating from over 21,000 customer reviews. That’s near perfection and doubly amazing given the sample size.
Over at LendingTree, they’ve got a slightly less good 4.3/5 from about 1,000 reviews, along with a 93% recommended rating.
They are an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and currently hold an ‘A+’ rating based on complaint history.
If you search individual brick-and-mortar locations near you, they also tend to have very good Google reviews.
Why Choose PrimeLending for Your Mortgage Needs?
- They are big on customer satisfaction and survey every customer after their loan closes
- Some 40% of customers actually complete the surveys vs. the industry average 10-15%
- Their 96% approval rating outperforms the usual 89% average seen with other lenders
- The company also seems to keep things simple and stress-free
- Have a digital loan process known as Loanplicity
- Licensed to do business in all 50 states
While they used to lack some of the eye-catching technology other companies offer, such as Rocket Mortgage from Quicken Loans, their digital mortgage solution known as Loanplicity is now live.
And they seem to excel in customer satisfaction as well, meaning PrimeLending could be a good fit no matter how you apply.
For those who might favor a personal touch, as opposed to speaking to no one and just using a smartphone app to get through it, they could be the right choice.
Perhaps you need more guidance to make your loan decision, or simply like having someone on call to help you along the way.
As noted, their slogan is “Home Loans Made Simple,” meaning the process should be an easy one despite any obvious technology claims.
They also have a wide range of lending products to choose from to suit most borrowers in lots of different situations.
Now a couple of negatives. PrimeLending doesn’t offer a mobile app, nor do they make applying for a home loan as easy as I’d like.
Something as simple as an “Apply Now” button on their homepage could change that, as opposed to only their “Connect with a Loan Expert” button.
They also kind of lack that special quality that differentiates themselves from other lenders, so it’s unclear why a consumer would seek them out versus another bank for their mortgage needs unless pricing is unbeatable.