Men, Women, and Mortgage Basics

While prior reports by LendingTree have found single women own homes at higher rates than men, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) reports that women have less knowledge on mortgages than men, possibly leading to higher costs.

LendingTree reports that 21% of first-time buyers that were female were familiar with the types of mortgages available, compared to 27% of men. 

Data was compiled from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s National Survey on Mortgage Originations, which details borrower’s experiences in getting a residential mortgage. The CFPB has conducted this survey in each quarter since 2014 to borrowers who recently obtained a mortgage to gather information on their experience on the process.

The report also found 47% of women that are repeat borrowers were familiar with different types of mortgages, with 56% of men being familiar with different mortgage types.

LendingTree stated that women were less familiar with the mortgage process for both first-time and repeat borrowers. The biggest disparity for first-time buyers was those familiar with “mortgage rates available at the time,” with just 28% of women saying they were familiar. Thirty-seven percent of men said they were familiar with this topic.

Repeat borrowers had a large gap in knowledge about “different types of mortgages available,” as 47% of women, compared to 56% of men, saying they were familiar with this topic.

The report found that 55% of women and 45% of men considered one lender/broker before applying for their mortgage. Just 1% of both men and women considered five or more lenders/brokers.  Also, 79% of women and 77% of men applied to just one broker/lender for their mortgage.

Those that applied to more than one lender/broker—19% of men and 16% of women—were looking for better loans.

The report added that there 6 million total home sales in 2018, with 22% from single women, and extra costs accrued from not shopping around have come to more than $1 billion. 

According to the survey, 79% of both male and female repeat borrowers had extensive knowledge of their credit score and credit history.