The journey to buying your first home begins with:

Starting in these key areas may help you qualify for a mortgage with a lower interest rate and monthly payment.

To learn more about saving, spending, and debt reduction goals, visit our Mortgage Learning Center for a helpful interactive guide.

You may also want to use Credit Close-Up® to regularly track your FICO® Credit Score and get personalized tips to help improve your score.¹

Our Mortgage Affordability Calculator can help you determine how much house you can afford.

By entering some basic details, we’ll give you an estimated home price and monthly mortgage payment based on your income, monthly debt, and down payment.

You’ll also see answers to common questions about home financing.

When you’re actively shopping for a home, you’ll want to demonstrate to sellers that you’re serious about buying a home.

We can help with a mortgage preapproval, which informs you and the seller of how much money you’re able to borrow. Preapprovals can better position you in the home buying process.

Once you find the perfect home, we’ll guide you through every step of the mortgage process.

Once you’re a homeowner, refinancing an existing mortgage may allow you to:

Remember that mortgage refinancing typically comes with some out-of-pocket costs.

You’ll want to carefully review any expenses associated with refinancing your mortgage — as well as the new interest rate of your loan — to determine if a home refinance might make sense for you.² Keep in mind that you’re starting over. Refinancing replaces your existing loan with a new one. If your new loan has the same term as your original mortgage, you may end up paying more interest over the long run.

To get started, use our Mortgage Refinance Calculator to get customized refinance rates and monthly mortgage payments.