The Yahoo view: With a wealth of resources for first-time buyers and top customer service scores, CrossCountry Mortgage could be a wise choice for those new to the mortgage game. However, we found its website challenging to navigate, and its interest rates and loan costs were higher than those of other lenders.

CrossCountry Mortgage is one of the largest mortgage lenders in the nation, offering loans to borrowers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Founded in 2003, this lender scores top marks in customer service -- likely thanks to a high-touch approach that includes a dedicated loan officer to guide borrowers to the closing table.

Our bone to pick? CrossCountry doesn't publish its rates or fees online. However, that might be a moot point for novice borrowers who prefer to connect with a lending professional early in the rate-shopping process.

Learn more: How long it takes to close on a mortgage -- and how to speed up the process

While finding information on CrossCountry's FHA loan options isn't easy, they offer all the most popular FHA purchase and refinance loans.

To qualify for an FHA purchase loan with CrossCountry, you'll need to meet these requirements:

If you meet these requirements for an FHA loan and qualify with CrossCountry's underwriting team, you can buy various home types: a one-to-four-unit family home, a condo, or a manufactured home on a permanent foundation. You could also be eligible for one of the lender's down payment assistance programs worth up to $6,500.

Have your eye on a fixer-upper? CrossCountry offers two versions of the popular FHA 203(k) home renovation loan. With the limited option, you can finance up to $35,000 in eligible home renovations. The standard option allows for a minimum of $5,000 in repairs with no upper limit, letting you make more in-depth renovations to a home needing some TLC.

CrossCountry also offers FHA refinancing options, including the FHA cash-out refinance and FHA Streamline Refinance programs. While the Streamline Refinance option is only available to those with an existing FHA-backed mortgage, the cash-out refi option is open to those with other types of mortgages who want to refinance into an FHA loan.

Learn more: The best FHA loan lenders

If you want to tap your home's equity without doing a cash-out refinance, CrossCountry offers two home equity line of credit (HELOC) options: the CCM Equity Express Flex and the Equity Expressed Fixed.

With both CCM Equity Express HELOCs, loan amounts range from $25,000 to $400,000. You'll need a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of up to 80% for Express Flex and 85% for Express Fixed. The Express Flex HELOC rates are variable, with a five-year interest-only payment term followed by a 25-year repayment period. Its Express Fixed HELOCs have fixed interest rates and loan terms ranging from five to 30 years.

CrossCountry offers HELOCs in most states, but there are exceptions. You cannot get an Equity Express Fixed HELOC if you're a resident of Kentucky, New York, Puerto Rico, or West Virginia. Homeowners in New York, Oregon, and Puerto Rico are not eligible for the Equity Express Flex HELOC.

The application and closing process for all HELOCs with this lender is 100% digital. The company boasts application approvals in as little as five minutes and funding in as few as five days. Actual approval and funding timelines can vary.

Boy, we wish we could tell you about the fees on CrossCountry's HELOCs, but the lender's website doesn't offer any information. You'll need to speak with a loan officer for details.

Dig deeper: Comparing HELOCs and home equity loans

We wish we could offer more insight on CrossCountry Mortgage's loan rates, but this lender doesn't publish rates on its website. Yes, we find this mind-boggling, but here's some comfort: According to the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study, CrossCountry has ridiculously high customer satisfaction rates.

We know that the last thing you might want to do is talk to a real, live human before you know what kind of rates a company offers on its mortgages. But if you're looking for a lender with a strong track record for keeping its customers happy, connecting with a loan officer at CrossCountry could be a call that pays off. We dive a bit deeper into this lender's interest rates and loan costs below, which can be food for thought before you pick up the phone and dial.

Learn more: How to get the lowest mortgage rates

Yahoo Finance uses 2023 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data comprising 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 instance, 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 indicates that a lender granted borrowers lower-than-median home loan interest rates 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: CrossCountry Mortgage offered borrowers in 2023 a higher-than-median mortgage rate of 6.75% and a higher-than-median loan cost of $8,416.

You have a few options when applying for a mortgage with CrossCountry. You can start the application online and connect with a loan officer to complete the process. You can also apply in person at one of CrossCountry's 800+ branches in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Finally, you can choose to do everything over the phone.

For buyers still in the shopping phase, you can also request a rate quote online. The easiest way to make this happen is to scroll down to the bottom of any webpage and click on "Get A Rate Quote" in the footer under Popular Pages.

To get preapproved for a mortgage with CrossCountry, you can start with its online prequalification form. Once you hit submit, a loan officer will reach out to review your finances and loan options. For full pre-approval, you'll need to submit additional information and allow a hard credit check. Once the lender has all the information necessary to make a lending decision, your loan officer can provide a preapproval amount and interest rate estimate.

Dig deeper: Does a mortgage preapproval hurt your credit score?

Here's the long and short of it: We love CrossCountry's calculators and online resources for home buyers but mostly loathe its website.

Buying a home is among life's most stressful events, so we value lenders that offer resources to soothe the nerves. In this department, CrossCountry delivers to a tee. One click on "Resource Center" from the main navigation cracks open an educational oyster. Here, you'll find everything from an article and video library to nine calculators and a glossary of home-buying terms. There's even a "First-Time Homebuyer Hub" available under the "Buy a Home" tab. Indeed, this collection of resources is a salve for curious souls.

But that's where our praise stops. We'd love a word (or several) with this lender's web development team.

Finding even the most basic information on this site is way more complicated than it needs to be. Curious if CrossCountry offers FHA or VA loans? Good luck. Neither are mentioned in the site's main navigation. Grab a snack to sustain you because you'll have to click "Buy a Home" in the main navigation, scroll down to the bottom of the next page, click on "selection of loan programs," and then scroll down to the bottom of the next page to learn about the types of loans they offer. C'mon.

The site design is even worse if (heaven forbid) you want information on this lender's HELOCs -- which aren't mentioned anywhere in the site's main or footer navigation. To get the scoop, you'll have to do a Google search for "HELOC CrossCountry" to find those buried web pages. In short, it's infuriating -- especially since there's not even a search box on the site to help even the most self-sufficient home buyer.

With the fees buyers pay during the mortgage process, the least lenders can do is deliver a streamlined, easy-to-navigate website experience. CrossCountry falls incredibly short in this department, especially since we found its loan costs to be higher than average.

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

Rocket Mortgage comes out ahead of CrossCountry in multiple departments. In addition to publishing its rates and fees online, Rocket comes in second in J.D. Power customer satisfaction rankings compared to CrossCountry's eighth-place ranking. Rocket also offers powerful resources that CrossCountry doesn't. Its 1% down option is a major benefit for first-time home buyers, plus its down payment assistance program tops out at $7,500 for qualified buyers compared to $6,500 with CrossCountry.

On the other hand, CrossCountry offers several types of home loans you won't find with Rocket Mortgage, such as USDA loans, renovation loans, and investment property mortgages.

Rocket Mortgage review

First-time buyers and those without much money for a down payment will probably be better off with CrossCountry versus Better Mortgage. While both lenders offer fast approvals and closing processes, only CrossCountry offers multiple options with low down payments and flexible credit guidelines, including VA and USDA loans -- neither of which are offered by Better. And while Better publishes rates, they come with lofty assumptions, including 20% down and a credit score of 760 or higher.

That said, we do have a love-hate relationship with CrossCountry's digital features. If you want a smooth digital process, Better Mortgage is the safer bet.

Better Mortgage review

Yes, CrossCountry Mortgage is a direct mortgage lender. It's licensed to originate mortgages in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.

CrossCountry Mortgage has more than 3,000 loan originators. In 2023, they closed roughly $14 billion in loans.

Yes, CrossCountry Mortgage is nationwide. It's licensed to lend in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, and it has more than 800 branch offices to service its customers.

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.