FinanceRateCalc · IL · 2025 federal record
FHA denial rates by lender in Chicago, IL
Which door an applicant knocks on changes the odds more than almost anything else visible in the public record. Here is what the 5 highest-volume FHA lenders in this metro actually did in 2025.
Spread between the softest and strictest door
26.2
percentage points · 9.0% vs 35.2%
The doors
Crosscountry Mortgage
692 decisioned applications here
9.0%
Guaranteed Rate.
954 decisioned applications here
13.8%
Loandepot.Com
1,191 decisioned applications here
25.0%
United Wholesale Mortgage
1,785 decisioned applications here
26.0%
Rocket Mortgage
1,412 decisioned applications here
35.2%
Metro FHA denial rate: 30.0% across 17,591 decisioned applications (national: 22.1%). Smaller loans in this metro were denied at 50.9% versus 25.2% for larger loans — a 2.02× gap.
What this does not say: HMDA contains no credit scores. These are observed aggregates and partly reflect applicant mix, channel and documentation practices — not proof of misconduct, and not a prediction for any individual application. We never recommend lenders and no lender pays us.
Does it stay this way?
Nationally, yes. Across 2018–2025, 80.8% of the variance in large-lender denial rates sits between lenders rather than within them, and the most lenient large lender was the same institution in seven of eight years. Persistent Doors (SSRN)
For agents: a client-ready one-page card for this metro — observed rates, volumes, the small-loan penalty and each lender's 8-year pattern, updated quarterly.
Report Cards → · the data on this page is free forever.
Receipt for these figures: machine-readable claim passport · all 184 metros: metro table · method: The Door Effect