Zillow Group, Inc. provides consumers with a free and transparent marketplace through its subsidiary Zillow Group Marketplace, Inc. for borrowers to connect with participating banks, lenders, originators, loan brokers, and their employees (each a “Lender”) and facilitate home loans. To keep this service useful for everyone, we ask both borrowers and Lenders to follow these guiding principles:
Overall Principles
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Be Accurate
- Ensure all data provided to the other party is accurate and current.
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Be transparent
- Disclose all relevant information upfront.
- Be professional and law-abiding
- Loans are business transactions that depend on a lot of personal information. All parties should maintain a high-level of professionalism and abide by applicable federal and state laws.
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Provide feedback and report questionable behavior
- We rely on your experience and proactive feedback to strengthen the quality of this service.
Principles for Lenders
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Stand behind your quotes
- Don’t provide lowball loan quotes and teaser rates to intentionally draw in a borrower and then “readjust” your quote. We alert borrowers that the anonymous nature of Loan Quotes prevents an initial quote from being a binding Loan Estimate as defined in the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act; however, we expect you to stand by your quote if the information provided by the borrower is accurate.
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Disclose all terms of the deal
- Be upfront and transparent with various rates and fees. Do not hide details of the loan in fine print; our loan quote form is designed to easily identify these costs. Be ready to answer questions and walk borrowers through each step of the process. Helpful Lenders are more likely to get good customer ratings and reviews, leading to more business down the road.
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Obey the law – Discrimination in mortgage lending is prohibited by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Fair Housing Act and the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity actively enforces those provisions of the law. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to engage in the following practices based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap (disability):
- Refuse to make a mortgage loan
- Refuse to provide information regarding loans
- Impose different terms or conditions on a loan, such as different interest rates, points, or fees
- Discriminate in appraising property
- Refuse to purchase a loan or set different terms or conditions for purchasing a loan
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No spamming
- If you have made contact with a borrower and things didn’t work out, please be professional and end your contact with that person. Do not add their contact information to your promotional lists or provide their contact information to others unless you specifically ask for the borrower’s permission first.
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Respectfully request and respond to customer reviews
- Request reviews only from borrowers that you have a professional relationship with. We reserve the right to withhold review submissions where suspicious activity, fraud, or potential conflicts of interest could be present. Offering customers compensation of any kind in return for a review is prohibited. When responding to customer reviews, please do so in a professional and respectful way.
Principles for Borrowers
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Accuracy, accuracy, accuracy
- Be accurate when filling out mortgage loan requests, particularly when you estimate your credit score. Lenders will prepare quotes based on the information you provide. If you submit information that is not accurate, you will get loan quotes based on inaccurate information and the quote will likely need to be readjusted.
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Rate/review mindfully You may rate and review any Lender you’ve contacted through Zillow Group’s brands. However, your rating for a Lender with whom you’ve closed a loan carries more weight because you experienced the full extent of the Lender’s service. So, please rate and review thoughtfully so that others can benefit from your feedback.
- If you contacted a Lender, but did not close — Your rating should be based on how responsive a Lender was in providing a quote and follow-through during the process; it should not be based on the quote received.
- If you contacted a Lender and closed a loan with them — Your rating should be based on how responsive a lender was in providing a quote, finding the right loan for you, the rate and terms for the quote, and follow-through during the closing process.
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Report questionable or unscrupulous behavior
- While reviewing a lender is one of the most valuable tools you can use to rate the quality of a Lender, we also want to know if you encounter any questionable practices by any lender. Contact Zillow Group Customer Support by e-mail at lendersupport AT zillow.com so that we can quickly respond if necessary. Also, if you feel you have been subject to discrimination, file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The Last Word
Most people who participate in our service play by the rules. And those who don’t simply aren’t welcome here. We reserve the right to restrict access and deactivate accounts for those who do not abide by the Code of Conduct. We also reserve the right to contact brokerage licensing and enforcement authorities if we suspect inappropriate or fraudulent and/or illegal activity.