The Yahoo view: Bank of America is a good addition to your short-list of lenders for several reasons, including closing costs and down payment assistance available to eligible home buyers.
Bank of America is known for its commercial, industrial, and investment banking prowess. But what about getting a home loan from such a financial giant?
Whether you’re looking for a or a way to unlock the value of your home with a , BofA offers a big-bank menu of mortgages. However, its digital preapproval process may disappoint you because it’s not as smooth or quick as you might expect.
Key benefits
Bank of America offers grants of up to $7,500 toward closing costs and up to $10,000 toward down payment assistance for qualified buyers in many, but not all, states. This financial assistance makes BofA one of the .
A home buyer program for medical professionals allows borrowers to make lower down payments and exclude student loans from debt limits. Residents and fellows can also close on a loan 90 days before starting a new position.
Existing customers may qualify for an origination fee or interest rate deduction. You’ll likely have to sign up to draft your mortgage payments from a BofA bank account to qualify.
Need to know
In an unusual Zillow-esque move, Bank of America’s features home listings, including existing and new construction properties — as well as bank-owned houses.
Bank of America said their “Digital Mortgage Experience” accounted for a majority of home loan applications.
Dig deeper:
Loan types offered
Bank of America for first-time home buyers
An expansive section on BofA’s website offers educational articles about the mortgage process, tips, tools, FAQs, and a breakdown of loan options.
Bank of America offers the standard first-time buyer loan programs such as , , and a 3% down payment loan for income-qualifying borrowers.
Contact information is easy to find, and you can schedule an appointment, call, locate a banking center near you, or launch a chat. And it’s all conveniently placed just under the “Get started” or “Learn more” buttons for a digital loan application to prequalify.
Bank of America for home equity lending
Drawing cash from your home’s value is easy with a . On the day of our visit to the website, Bank of America was promoting a discounted introductory rate on a HELOC of $100,000, with no application fees, no closing costs, and no annual fee. The bank also offers a fixed-rate option. HELOCs are often variable-rate loans.
BofA says a HELOC application takes “about 15 minutes” to complete — but you have to visit a bank location to close on the loan.
Bank of America mortgage rates
Mortgage rates are easy enough to find on the Bank of America website. They are on the main Home Mortgage Loans page. On the day we checked, the default featured rates were built on assumptions of a 740 or higher credit score, a 20% , and just under one discount point.
You can update these generic rates by entering a purchase price, down payment, and ZIP Code in the calculator just above the interest rate table. Interestingly, the calculator defaults to a down payment of 5% or more — even though BofA offers 3% down mortgages.
Learn more:
As you browse the website, you may hear an occasional toy piano riff sound. I kept looking around the office, trying to figure out what unknown device was causing it. Then I started checking the 30 or so tabs and multiple windows I had open on my Mac. Turns out it was a small chat icon on the bottom right of the BofA site trying to get some attention. A little annoying.
Applying for a mortgage with Bank of America
At the top of the home loans page is a box with a big “Apply now” button. And while BofA touts a “Digital Mortgage Experience” (with a trademark, no less), this is no instant-approval process.
The bank says getting the results from a prequalifying application may take about an hour. applications, since they require more information, will take even longer to complete — and a preapproval letter will arrive within 10 business days. A letter. In the mail, apparently.
So much for a “digital experience.”
Bank of America home buyer tools and calculators
When it comes to resources to help you think through the home-buying process, things are pretty streamlined. Under “Resources and tools,” you’ll find three calculators listed: , mortgage payments, and closing costs.
Other tools are listed in the bottom menu.
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