Coincidentally enough, Costco Wholesale offers you more than your typical bulk foods, living amenities, and free samples. Yes, Costco’s services venture to yet an unexpected realm of mortgages and mortgage originations through Berkshire Bank and subsidiary First Choice Loan Services Inc.
Their services are extended nationwide to all 50 states with your various loan types including conventional, FHA, VA, USDA, HELOC, refinancing and even Jumbos! One aspect I truly appreciate about Costco Mortgage is that they cap loan origination fees at $350 for Costco Executive members; $650 for Gold Star and Business members.
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Costco Mortgage In-Depth:
The mortgage services that Costco offers works a little more unorthodox from their competitors and it’s because their a multi-lender marketplace where customers will have the ability to choose from participating lenders and their loan options online. First Choice Loan Service (Berkshire Bank Subsidiary) handles the all initialization and mortgage leads. You can learn more about participating Costco lenders below. One thing I must note is that Costco’s mortgage division is online-based, so you shouldn’t expect to grab mortgage loans in-stores, however, you can start off with Costco’s pre-qualification survey and get further rates and approval.
Participating Costco lenders (as of April 2017):
- Bank of Internet USA
- CapWest Home Loans
- eRates Mortgage
- First Choice Loan Services
- HomeBridge Financial Services
- J.G. Wentworth
- NBKC Bank
- PennyMac
Loan Options:
- Conventional Mortgages
- Adjustable Rate Mortgages
- Fixed Rate Mortgages
- FHA Home Loans
- USDA Rural Home Loans
- VA Home Loans
- Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs)
- JUMBO
Costco Mortgage Summary:
- Apply Now
- Account Type: Conventional, jumbo, FHA, VA, USDA, Home Equity loans
- Availability: Nationwide
- Expiration Date: None
- Additional Advise: Have the necessary documents and validation information ready to make your process as smooth as possible.
- Closing Loan: Standard lock period is 21 days or less
Costco Mortgage Features:
- Multi-Lender Marketplace
- Vast Array of Mortgage Options
- Tech-savvy mortgage-application process
- Costco membership origination fee cap
- Registered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lenders (they can offer rates lower than 3%)
- Licensed in all 50 states
Costco Mortgage Basic Requirements:
Below are examples of supporting documents which may be included in a loan file:
Income Documents:
- Pay Stubs covering the customer’s most recent two pay periods for each applicant.
- W-2 Forms for the previous two years.
- Two most recent years’ federal tax returns (e.g. for a loan in 2015, the customer need to submit the customer’s 2014 and 2013 federal tax returns). All the pages and all schedules.
- If the customer is self-employed, the two most recent years’ business tax returns are also needed.
- For self–employed or investment income, the two most recent years’ 1099’s and K-1 forms are also needed
- For self–employed business income,year-to-date profit and loss statement and balance sheet.
- For retired customers, copy of Social Security and/or Pension “award letters” detailing the amount of retirement income.
Asset Documents:
- Two most recent months’ bank statements. All of the pages.
Other Documents:
- Homeowner’s Insurance statement(s) for all properties owned showing the customer’s coverage and the annual premium.
- Mortgage statements for all properties owned that have liens.
- Copy of driver’s license or State I.D.card for all customers.
- If divorced, the customer’s fully executed divorce decree.
Conclusion:
Costco Mortgage is a multi-lender marketplace platform with tons of more mortgage lending options than a majority of online mortgage-centric lenders. If you’re a Costco Executive, Gold, or Business member, then getting a mortgage with them at $350-$650 origination fee attached is a nice tack-on feature, although, there’s a lot of mortgage lenders out there that have origination fees for half that.
Now, you should expect your mortgage process to be more tech-orientated, so if you don’t feel comfortable in doing a mortgage by your lonesome, then it’d probably be a good idea to look elsewhere. Note that Costco membership has attached fees as well ( $55 annually for Business and Gold Star, $110 annually for Executive). If you have any comments you’d like to make about Costco Mortgage, we’d really appreciate a comment in the comment section below and as always, be sure to check out our Best Mortgage Rates!