Ruoff Home Mortgage Review: Overview, Facts, Features, Plans, Pros and Cons

Ruoff Home Mortgage Review: Overview, Facts, Features, Plans, Pros and Cons

Ruoff Home Mortgage started off small in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and has now expanded to include physical sites in Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan. The lender offers a variety of residential mortgage options to its customers, including conventional home loans, government-backed financing through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Health Administration (VHA) loans, jumbo loans, and special financing options for new home construction and renovation.

Ruoff Mortgage Table of Contents

  • Ruoff's Background
  • Rates of Ruoff
  • Options for Ruoff Loans
  • Qualifications for a Ruoff Mortgage
  • Ruoff Mortgage's Background
David Ruoff created Ruoff Home Mortgage in 1984, and it was originally known as the Dave Ruoff Mortgage Co. Ruoff opted to go it alone after working in the industry for several decades for a variety of companies, believing that he could provide a more community-focused approach to the residential mortgage industry More than 30 years later, the company has grown significantly. Still, despite a few name changes (first to Ruoff Mortgage Company, Inc., then to Ruoff Home Mortgage), it remains a family-owned business, with David's son-in-law, president, and CEO Mark Music in charge. Both The Scotsman Guide (at no. 68) and Mortgage Executive Magazine put Ruoff among the top 100 mortgage providers (no. 65). Those interested in dealing with Ruoff mortgage brokers in person can do so at one of the company's 28 locations in Indiana, Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan. With the exception of New York, Alaska, and Hawaii, homebuyers can do their business online in practically every state in the United States. Its online subsidiary was previously known as Expedite Home Loans, but since 2017 it has been part of the Ruoff Home Mortgage family. Ruoff is open to a wide range of potential homebuyers because they offer a wide range of conventional, jumbo, and government-backed house loans. Anyone seeking FHA, VA, or other government-backed residential property mortgages must meet different criteria as required by federal or state law. Ruoff has a 5-star rating on Zillow, with some bad criticism directed at single Ruoff agents (rather than the lender's operations as a whole).

Rates on Ruoff Home Mortgages Right Now

Specifications of the Ruoff Home Mortgage Loan

Prospective homebuyers, whether buying for the first time or for the fourth time, have a wide range of financing alternatives to select from when working with Ruoff, so they aren't tailored to one type of buyer over another. However, because of the lender's low credit score and down payment requirements for some items, Ruoff products may be more appealing to first-time purchasers or those with less cash on hand.

Mortgages with a fixed rate

These mortgages have fixed interest rates that do not change over the life of the loan, regardless of what is going on with interest rates in general or with specific lenders. This sort of loan may be preferable to others for homebuyers seeking the steadiness that comes with a fixed rate and, as a result, a regular monthly payment. Fixed-rate mortgages with lengths of 15, 20, and 30 years are available through Ruoff Home Mortgage.

Mortgages with adjustable rates

ARMs have interest rates that fluctuate on a regular basis, depending on market conditions and the lending standards of the lender. After the first year of the loan, some of these mortgages' rates adjust annually, while others have a fixed rate for a set of time (5, 7, or 10 years) and then adjust annually after that. ARMs are inherently risky, but they can be beneficial for buyers who don't plan to stay in a property for a long time.

Jumbo loans 

Mortgages in this category are for amounts greater than the Federal Housing Finance Agency's restrictions. As a result, they cannot be backed by Freddie Mac or another government program. Ruoff provides jumbo financing up to $3 million in fixed-rate or adjustable-rate mortgages.

Loans from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

These loans, which the Federal Housing Administration backs, are especially favorable for first-time homebuyers because of their low down payment and credit score requirements: at Ruoff Home Mortgage, the down payment is as low as 3.5 percent, with a FICO score of 600. In addition, the seller may be responsible for up to 6% of the expenditures. There are requirements that must be met before an FHA loan can be used to purchase a home: They must, for example, be principal residences, and appraisers recognized by the FHA must inspect them.

Loans from the Veterans Administration (VA)

For eligible servicemembers and veterans of the United States armed forces and their wives, children, and other beneficiaries, Ruoff Home Mortgage offers VA-guaranteed loans. Those who are eligible for this funding and who can verify it with a valid Certificate of Eligibility from the VA should take advantage of it: There may be no need for a down payment, and credit-score criteria and interest rates are also beneficial.

Loans from the US Department of Agriculture

The Department of Agriculture backs loans made by lenders like Ruoff to homeowners who want to develop land outside of cities for residential or commercial farming purposes. Individual or family buyers can borrow up to 102 percent of a property's appraised value through USDA loans, which can be found on the agency's website.

Loans are available through the "Doctors Only" scheme

This special Ruoff scheme allows doctors and those studying to be doctors to finance properties with loan-to-value ratios up to 100% and no mortgage insurance. These are adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) with fixed maturities of 3, 5, 7, or 10 years before interest rates begin to fluctuate annually. Loans from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority: These special programmes for Indiana homebuyers provide up to $2,000 in federal tax credits per year after you close a mortgage with a participating lender (like Ruoff) or make it easier to get FHA-backed and conventional loans without the usual purchase-price limits.

Customer Service at Ruoff Home Mortgage

On the lender's website, you can apply for home finance without having to provide particularly sensitive personal information like your Social Security number up front, albeit you won't be able to get a free estimate without starting the application process, as some mortgage firms do. Ruoff's site does provide a lot of easily accessible materials for potential homebuyers, such as a loan calculator, instructional videos, and a range of checklists and data sheets to examine before beginning your loan application and during the process. External linkages to MLS databases and the World Wide Web are also available and the free credit reporting services are provided by the Federal Trade Commission. On its website, Ruoff claims that the time between application and closing can be as short as 15 days, but this is not guaranteed. According to data from Zillow and Yelp, customers have a generally positive opinion of the lender, while some borrowers report problems with certain loan officers. In addition, several evaluations allege that their new lender has been less than satisfactory in circumstances where the lender marketed the mortgages it had originated to other companies.

The reputation of Ruoff Home Mortgage Lenders

Ruoff Home Mortgage (NMLS ID: 141868) is a mortgage originator that started in David Ruoff's Fort Wayne office in 1984. It doesn't have the national profile of lenders with decades of experience or companies that climbed to popularity quickly. However, its simple family-run operations, the number of good reviews related to mortgages it has provided, and its high rankings in industry journals all point to a respectable market position. Furthermore, while Ruoff Home Mortgage has received six BBB complaints in the last three years (and one in the last 12 months), all of them have been responded to and resolved. The lender has no pending (or recent) enforcement actions with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Qualifications for a Ruoff Home Mortgage Loan

Each person whose name appears on a Ruoff mortgage application must provide the following information:
  • a driver's license or other forms of state-issued identification,
  • Regarding tax returns and W-2s from the previous two years,
  • pay stubs from the previous 30 days,
  • bank statements for two months in a row,
and the name and phone number of a homeowner's insurance agent who can work with the lender on various closing-related issues.

The following are the credit score requirements:

Loan type Minimum credit score
Conventional 620
FHA 600 (620 preferred)
VA 620
USDA 640

Ruoff Home Mortgage Contact Information & Phone Number

(As mentioned above, each loan category has its own set of standards that must be completed by all borrowers.) www.ruoff.com is the website's URL. 266-999-6200 or 1-800-627-8633 is the company's phone number. 1700 Magnavox Way, Suite 220, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46804 is the headquarters address.

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