FHA Denial Rates by Lender (2025) — all 11, ranked

Most articles tell you the national FHA denial average and stop. Almost almost nobody publishes free the lender-by-lender table free and current — because most publishers are paid by the lenders in it. We aren’t. Below: 2025 FHA denial rates for the 100 largest FHA lenders, computed from federal HMDA records (1,187,606 FHA applications, 2018–2025), with the 2018 figure for trend.

The headline is the spread: from 1.8% to 78.7% — roughly an 8× difference between doors, on the same federal program. A file is not approved or denied by “FHA”; it is approved or denied by a specific lender’s overlay stack. That is why the national average (≈13–14% for purchases) tells you almost nothing about your odds at a door.

Why the panel average differs from the national average

This panel tracks 11 of the largest FHA originators — heavy in nonbank servicers and refi-era books — so its blended average runs above the all-lender national purchase figure. The ranking and the spread, not the blended level, are the signal. Full method: methodology.

Looking for a direct answer instead of a table? Every common denial question, answered in one sourced sentence →

Comparing two specific lenders? See where each denial wall actually sits →

We asked four AI assistants for this table. None had it. The receipt →

Looking for a lender not in these 11? The complete top-100 FHA table →

What to do with this table

Rates are history, not destiny — and they partly reflect who applies, not only how strictly files are judged. The practical use is routing: knowing which doors historically clear files like yours.