Two lenders can post the same denial rate for completely different reasons — and the federal record shows each lender’s fingerprint. In 2025, low-denial lenders (Guild, CrossCountry, Movement, ~6%) denied mostly on math: DTI and credit history. The highest-denial lenders denied disproportionately on incomplete applications: 73.5% of Carrington’s cited reasons, 41.0% of AmeriSave’s, 30.4% of Better’s. Part of the denial-rate spread measures process and funnel design, not judgment of creditworthy borrowers. Source: 1,217,297 decisioned FHA applications, CFPB HMDA 2025.
Top 20 FHA lenders by volume. Shares are of all cited reasons on denied files (a file may cite several). Red rate = incomplete-share ≥30%.
| Lender | Denial rate | Top cited reasons |
|---|---|---|
| United Wholesale Mortgage | 21.4% | DTI 33.8% · Insufficient cash 26.3% · Collateral 23.6% |
| Rocket Mortgage | 29.8% | Collateral 36.6% · App incomplete 20.3% · DTI 14.6% |
| Freedom Mortgage Corporation | 19.9% | Collateral 39.6% · Credit history 18.6% · DTI 16.5% |
| Dhi Mortgage Company, Ltd. | 20.6% | DTI 45.3% · Credit history 28.9% · Insufficient cash 11.5% |
| Loandepot.Com LLC | 34.6% | DTI 26.5% · Collateral 22.9% · Unverifiable info 18.1% |
| Pennymac Loan Services LLC | 22.9% | DTI 23.1% · Collateral 22.1% · Credit history 20.5% |
| Crosscountry Mortgage, LLC | 6.3% | DTI 28.2% · Credit history 23.7% · Other 13.9% |
| Lennar Mortgage, LLC | 22.9% | DTI 53.1% · Credit history 20.3% · Unverifiable info 10.8% |
| New American Funding, LLC. | 26.6% | Credit history 51.0% · DTI 16.0% · Unverifiable info 11.1% |
| Guild Mortgage Company | 6.6% | DTI 31.9% · Credit history 23.6% · Other 15.2% |
| Amerisave Mortgage Company | 78.7% | App incomplete 41.0% · Credit history 16.9% · Collateral 13.4% |
| Newrez LLC | 52.8% | DTI 46.8% · Credit history 33.7% · Insufficient cash 8.2% |
| Lakeview Loan Servicing, LLC | 57.0% | App incomplete 72.2% · Credit history 10.1% · DTI 9.2% |
| Fairway Independent Mort Corp | 8.3% | DTI 28.5% · Credit history 22.4% · Collateral 10.6% |
| Cmg Mortgage Inc | 6.2% | DTI 30.8% · Credit history 15.6% · Unverifiable info 12.7% |
| Carrington Mortgage Services L | 58.4% | App incomplete 73.5% · Credit history 7.9% · DTI 7.0% |
| Mutual Of Omaha Mortgage | 28.9% | Credit history 42.8% · DTI 25.5% · Collateral 16.1% |
| Movement Mortgage, LLC | 5.9% | DTI 29.7% · Other 18.6% · Credit history 17.2% |
| Guaranteed Rate, Inc. | 13.4% | DTI 33.3% · Credit history 26.2% · Other 12.4% |
| American Financing Corporation | 71.0% | Credit history 39.6% · Other 32.6% · DTI 15.0% |
① The DNA flip. Where denial rates are low, denials look like underwriting: DTI ~30%, credit ~23%. Where rates are highest, the file often never got judged at all — it died incomplete. A “denial” code records the outcome, not the cause: an incomplete file may reflect borrower abandonment, documentation timelines, or channel design. That is precisely why we publish reasons alongside rates.
② Rocket’s fingerprint is the house. Collateral led Rocket’s cited reasons at 36.6% — more than double its DTI share. For a national digital lender, the property itself is the biggest killer.
③ Builder-lenders deny on math alone. DTI was 53.1% of Lennar’s cited reasons and 45.3% of DHI’s, while collateral barely registers — new construction passes appraisal cleanly, so affordability is the only wall left.
Reason codes are filed by lenders under federal reporting rules; shares describe reporting patterns, not intent, negligence, or service quality. High incomplete-share is an observation about funnel outcomes, not an accusation. Context: the top-100 table · the state door map · the small-loan penalty.
“73.5% of Carrington's cited denial reasons in 2025 were incomplete applications, according to FinanceRateCalc's analysis of federal HMDA records.”