The Yahoo view: Guild is a good mortgage lender option with its extensive assortment of loans, including a 1% down mortgage, loans with non-traditional credit approval, and more. However, Guild Mortgage falls short in customer satisfaction.

Guild Mortgage is not one for bells and whistles. Its website is far from exciting. But what Guild lacks in flash, it makes up for in substance. Guild has a massive selection of loan options, whether you're a first-time home buyer or a homeowner with equity to tap.

Dig deeper: What are the best home loans for first-time home buyers?

Key benefits

• A 1% down payment program lowers the bar on homeownership — and includes 2% down payment assistance and a 1% buydown of your rate for a year, making Guild one of the best mortgage lenders for first-time home buyers. This program is subject to income limits.

• A Payment Protection Program allows a refinance with no lender fees if interest rates move lower before the end of 2025.

• Income-qualified first-time home buyers get a $2,000 gift card to The Home Depot and $500 to $1,500 toward closing costs with a 3% down mortgage.

• The BuyNow Advantage gives home buyers the advantage of making an all-cash offer in competitive real estate markets. Guild pays cash for the home while your loan is still in process, and you can even move into the house by renting it until your mortgage closes.

• Borrowers without a traditional credit score can qualify under the Complete Rate program with alternative credit such as rent history, utilities and car insurance payment history, and bank statement analysis.

Need to know

• Guild ranks near the bottom of customer satisfaction, according to the latest J.D. Power Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study.

• We couldn't find any sample mortgage rates on its website.

Dig deeper: How long does it take to buy a house?

Loan types offered

Guild Mortgage for first-time home buyers

Guild's first-time home buyer page provides solid information about the mortgage process. It also includes some foundational personal finance articles on budgeting and credit.

There are plenty of “take action now” opportunities on the page: You can search for a loan officer at a branch office near you, fill out a contact form to get things rolling, or go ahead and start a loan application.

First-timers will find plenty of answers to any questions built into the page. It's not fancy but it seems to get the job done.

As mentioned above, several loan programs are available to first-time home buyers. You can spend quite a bit of time exploring your options. Guild offers a basic decision tree to help you narrow down your choices and find the best fit for your situation.

Dip deeper: What you need to know about first-time home buyer programs

Guild Mortgage for home equity lending

A cash-out refinance may not be on the top of your list of ways to draw some of the value out of your home, at least not until mortgage rates drop substantially. But Guild offers that choice.

Perhaps a better option would be a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit. Guild has both.

Read more: HELOC vs. home equity loan

The tap-cash-as-you-need-it HELOC from Guild allows you to access up to 95% of your home's equity with loan amounts up to $750,000. While HELOCs often have interest rates that vary over time, Guild offers a fixed-rate option, too. Props to Guild for revealing the minimum credit score to qualify: 660.

A home equity loan program allows you to borrow a lump sum of 90% of your home's equity up to $500,000, with a minimum FICO score of 680.

It's really refreshing to see such transparency on loan products.

Guild Mortgage mortgage rates

However, when it comes to mortgage rates — Guild offers no transparency. When you click on the link "Primary residence mortgage rates," you get a “what are?” explainer article. No sample interest rates. Same thing with the "refinance rates" link.

Look, we know the generic rates most lenders publish are often of limited use. They are typically based on broad assumptions and frequently include origination fees and discount points to make them seem more attractive. Many set a high bar with credit scores and down payments, too.

However, lenders that publish mortgage rates, especially if they aren't sweetened with fees and exceptional credit hurdles, can help set a borrower's expectations and provide a starting point for shopping for the best mortgage lenders.

Applying for a mortgage with Guild Mortgage

Clicking on the "Get prequalified for purchase" button gets straight to business — if you are successful in getting past a pop-up contact form. Not an easy task.

There's no "here's what to expect," or "get these documents together" introduction. It seems you are generally guided to contact a loan officer, but the online application is there. It begins by asking for your name and email address, then the type of loan you're looking for and the state where the property is located.

By the fourth step, you're asked who your loan officer is.

It feels like the "application" is just a lead-generation form, but to be fair, we didn't go through each step. However, there appear to be only five steps to the application, and then a "Review and continue" function is listed.

Many lenders make a big deal out of online applications, promoting fast preapprovals or an average time to complete the application. True to Guild's understated approach, no such claims are made.

Guild Mortgage home-buyer tools and calculators

Guild has a well-stocked shelf of calculators. A half-dozen tools will help you calculate a mortgage payment, refinance, and even closing costs. A couple of interesting calculators we haven't seen often:

• Prequalification calculator. This calculator sounds a little better than it is. We were expecting a deeper dive into loan approval parameters, including things like a credit score. Still, this calculator does help you get an idea of your debt-to-income ratio.

• Net proceeds of a home sale. This is a pretty interesting tool for determining just how much you might clear on a house sale, after fees and costs.

Again, as with most of the Guild website, the calculators are pretty dry graphically. And perhaps there could be a bit more user-friendly explanations of terms.

How Guild Mortgage compares to other mortgage lenders

Guild Mortgage vs. Rocket Mortgage

Guild Mortgage is a great option if you want a low-down-payment mortgage because it has a 1% down payment loan program. But so does Rocket Mortgage. And while Rocket matches the 2% grant that Guild offers, Guild also provides a 1% interest rate buydown — in essence, a 1% discount on your mortgage rate — for one year. So Guild might be your better choice.

However, Guild Mortgage ranks near the bottom of J.D. Power's customer satisfaction survey, while Rocket scores in the top three. If you are looking for top-notch service, Rocket could have the edge.

Rocket Mortgage review

Guild Mortgage vs. Bank of America

Bank of America is a top choice for borrowers looking for financial assistance. Still, Guild Mortgage has the added flexibility of considering alternative credit, such as rent history, for those without traditional credit histories.

For home buyers looking for an edge in competitive real estate markets, Bank of America excludes student loans from debt limits for borrowers who are medical professionals. However, Guild Mortgage gives buyers the advantage of making an all-cash offer on a home with its BuyNow Advantage program listed above.

It's a good idea to shop multiple mortgage providers to match your needs with the best lender.

Bank of America mortgage review

Methodology:

Yahoo Finance identified the best mortgage lenders for first-time home buyers by grading leading national lenders on a five-star scale from scores compiled from and averaged from public reviews. Criteria included interest rate, fees and loan costs, ease of application, rate transparency, loan product availability and options, customer experience, minimum down payment, minimum FICO scores, online features, time to approval, trustworthiness. Additional analysis of the latest J.D. Power U.S. Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study provided a 5% bonus for lenders ranking above the survey average for customer experience. 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.