Mortgage Brokers: directory of firms

A loan officer at a bank sells that bank's loans. A broker submits your file to a wholesale lender that underwrites and funds it. A correspondent lender sits in between: it underwrites and closes in its own name, then sells the loan on, often to the same investors a broker would have reached. The CFPB notes that some firms act as lender and broker at once, so it is fair to ask which hat yours is wearing on your file.

The real difference is options versus control. A broker can move a stalled file to a second lender when the first one balks at your bonus income or your condo's reserve study, but has no authority over the underwriting queue. A bank owns the queue and has exactly one rulebook. Neither is automatically cheaper. The Loan Estimate is where that argument gets settled.

Once the broker holds enough information to count as an application under Regulation Z, the clock starts. The Loan Estimate is a three-page form and must reach you within three business days. Page one carries the rate, the monthly payment and whether either can change; page two itemises the closing costs; page three shows the annual percentage rate and the total interest percentage, so two offers can be compared on the same basis.

Underwriting, the appraisal and title work fill the middle. At the end, the Closing Disclosure — five pages, the same items in the same order — must be in your hands at least three business days before consummation. Only three changes restart that wait: the disclosed annual percentage rate becomes inaccurate, the loan product itself changes, or a prepayment penalty is added. Anything else gets a corrected form at or before closing with no delay.

For 2026 the Federal Housing Finance Agency set the conforming loan limit for one-unit properties at 832,750 US dollars across most of the country, an increase of 26,250 from 2025. The high-cost ceiling for one-unit properties is 1,249,125, and in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the US Virgin Islands the baseline is 1,249,125 with a ceiling of 1,873,675. Limits rose in all but 32 counties or county equivalents.

FHA publishes its own schedule. For case numbers assigned on or after 1 January 2026, the nationwide one-unit floor is 541,287 US dollars and the ceiling is 1,249,125. Both sets of limits are county-based, which is why a house two miles the other side of a county line can qualify for a conforming loan while its neighbour needs a jumbo.

Compensation is either lender-paid or borrower-paid, and the CFPB is direct about it: the money is paid by you or by the lender you use. The rule underneath matters more than the label. Federal law prohibits commissions from varying based on the terms of the mortgage, so an originator cannot earn more by placing you at a higher rate.

Ask for the same loan priced two ways, with discount points and without, then read the origination charges block on page two of each Loan Estimate. Judging brokers on the fee line alone misleads, because the rate, the points and any lender credit all move together. The comparison that means something is total cost over the years you actually expect to keep the loan.