Mr. Cooper Offers Mortgages and Guidance to Make Homebuying Easier and More Accessible

In a Nutshell: The most important investment most people will ever make is in owning their home. But in today’s market, purchasing a home is out of reach for many, especially those with lower credit scores. As the nation’s largest non-bank mortgage servicer, Mr. Cooper offers consultation with trusted local agents and resources to make the home loan process as frictionless as possible, even for first-time buyers.

Common sense says owning a home is a great financial move. Instead of paying rent to someone else, homeowners pay themselves by accumulating equity.

Even though home prices may ebb and flow with the housing market and the economy, in theory, the best bet for most people is to stay the course and let their money grow over time. But in today’s post-pandemic economy, the demand for homes far outstrips supply, locking folks with fewer assets and lower credit scores out of opportunity.

Homebuying is also highly complex. The financial variables and administrative details associated with a home purchase can intimidate and discourage folks who may not be as familiar with the process as they should be.

Fortunately, Mr. Cooper exists to put people at ease with homebuying and help them get into homes. With more than 4.1 million mortgage customers and counting, it offers competitive rates, savings, and transparent loan servicing with full digital and mobile access.

It also offers personalized consultation, insights, and guidance to help prospective buyers better understand the process and explore alternatives to traditional financing.

As the largest US non-bank mortgage servicer, Mr. Cooper can make homebuying more accessible, said EVP of Servicing Jay Jones.

“Our focus is on the customer, and our goal is keeping the dream of homeownership alive,” Jones said.

Mr. Cooper is part of Mr. Cooper Group, which includes Xome, a home search engine, and RightPath Servicing, a specialty mortgage servicer. As a unit, Mr. Cooper Group is a leader in customer-centric servicing, origination, and transaction-based mortgage services.

“We not only educate borrowers on what they need, but we also explain why and assure them we’re putting them in the best loan possible,” Jones said.

From the beginning of a potential homebuyer’s relationship with Mr. Cooper, it’s personal. Getting started on buying a home is as simple as making a phone call or filling out a form to receive a callback. From there, Mr. Cooper targets the right resources and strategies to match the buyer’s needs and experience.

Mr. Cooper’s Agent Assurance connects buyers to trusted local agents who know the lay of the land. StreetSmarts by Mr. Cooper offers browsable listings, real-time market insights, and alerts aligned with customizable buying preferences.

For folks just starting a home search, Mr. Cooper offers preapproval services that require submitting some basic information in return for a soft check that won’t impact a credit score. Preapproval gives the prospect a general idea of how much home they can buy so they can focus their search on what they can afford.

Verified approvals require a more comprehensive verification process that includes confirming a potential buyer’s income and assets for those ready to bid. And the Close On Time Guarantee assures Mr. Cooper customers that the loan will close on or before the contract closing date. If that doesn’t happen, the customer receives a check equal to their first month’s payment.

All along the road to homeownership, Mr. Cooper is there to provide general customer service via phone or live chat with targeted support to buyers, sellers, and those refinancing a home loan.

“Our idea of providing friction-free service is understanding who our customers are and how they want to interact with us,” Jones said.

Mr. Cooper goes to great lengths to provide educational information, insights, and guidance tailored to many use cases because homebuying confers the same financial advantages on consumers no matter where they come from or how much money they have.

“The information will differ for first-time homebuyers versus seasoned pros,” Jones said. “But our goal always is to provide an end-to-end experience.”

Mr. Cooper takes prospective homeowners through the basics like determining how much home they can afford, how to save for a down payment, and what monthly house payments actually pay for. Mr. Cooper also helps consumers explore homebuying criteria such as neighborhoods and school districts, and evaluate the skills real estate agents need to be successful.

Info on loan types analyzes fixed- versus adjustable-rate mortgages and dives beyond conventional 30-year fixed-rate loans into more accessible government-backed options. Mr. Cooper offers insights on why credit scores are important and advice on improving them, why mortgage rates rise and fall, and why the closing process can seem overly complex and intimidating.

“The biggest pain point we see is the process itself,” Jones said. “Many prospects think they know it all because they’ve applied for a car loan or a credit card, only to find the information they need to do a home loan is on another level.”

A hard lesson many people learn belatedly is that it pays to organize. Mortgage calculators on the site can help. But scrambling for pay stubs or other proof of income, bank account numbers, gift letters, and rental history documentation can interrupt real-life responsibilities such as jobs and children. To assist, Mr. Cooper offers a mobile app that tracks the loan application process from start to finish.

“Users not only learn what documents they need, they understand why they’re needed, how to submit them, and how to check their status,” Jones said.

On the origination and servicing side, Mr. Cooper assists by removing some of the mystery from mortgages and presenting borrowers with as many options as possible — even for folks who don’t qualify for a conventional home loan.

“Consumers may not be aware of the many loan products that could help them,” Jones said. “We discuss those options so they can choose what they want to do for themselves.”

Obtaining a mortgage for a single-family residence makes consumers part of a real estate ecosystem. Homebuyers work with real estate professionals, and homebuying interacts with property management, property appraisal, the homebuilding industry, and the investor community.

Likewise, Mr. Cooper Group is an ecosystem of home services. The other components of Mr. Cooper Group, Xome and RightPath Servicing, claim distinct roles and provide additional flexibility within that whole.

A search engine and auction site for homebuying, Xome engages consumers but also reaches professional communities associated with real estate. More than 2.3 million unique users visit Xome every month.

RightPath Servicing fills a niche for a specialized mortgage servicing product. It gives homeowners who may be struggling to make mortgage payments personalized service to meet their needs and keep them in their homes.

Together, the components of Mr. Cooper Group offer homebuyers more of what they need to find, finance, live, and build wealth as homeowners. As the market changes, Mr. Cooper and the rest of the group prepare for change too.

“Our goal is to put every consumer in a home,” Jones said. “We’re always evolving, just like the world is.”