Loan Programs at a Glance

Most mortgage sites list loan programs the way a menu lists entrees — names and adjectives, no guidance. This page is the whole board in one place: what each program actually is, who it tends to serve, and where to go deeper. As a broker with access to 70+ wholesale lenders, we work in all of these every week, so the goal here is orientation, not persuasion. When you want the underlying mechanics, each section links to a full page.

Conventional (conforming)

The workhorse. A conventional loan follows the guidelines set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which makes it purchasable by them — that liquidity is why conventional pricing is the benchmark everything else is measured against. Down payments can be modest, and putting 20% down generally avoids conventional mortgage insurance entirely. Loan amounts have to stay under the conforming limit, which the FHFA adjusts annually and which varies by county. Conventional fits the widest range of clients: strong-credit buyers, move-up buyers, second-home buyers, and many investors. For where the conforming line sits and what happens near it, see Conforming vs. Jumbo.

Jumbo

Any loan above the conforming limit is a jumbo. There's no government agency behind it, so each lender sets its own guidelines — which means documentation runs deeper, reserve expectations are higher, and pricing varies more from lender to lender than almost any other product. That variability is exactly where a broker earns their keep: shopping one jumbo scenario across dozens of lenders routinely surfaces meaningful differences. In coastal South Carolina, jumbo territory arrives faster than most buyers expect. This is our flagship subject — the full treatment is at Jumbo Loans.

VA

For veterans, active-duty service members, and certain surviving spouses. VA loans allow no down payment in most cases and carry no monthly mortgage insurance — a combination no other mainstream program matches. There's a one-time funding fee (waived entirely for clients with a service-connected disability rating), and a streamlined refinance path called the IRRRL. In a military-heavy area like Beaufort County, VA is home-turf territory for us. The deep dive is at VA Loans.

FHA

Government-insured, built to lower the barrier to entry: flexible credit standards and a small down payment. The trade-off is mortgage insurance — an upfront premium plus a monthly one. FHA is a genuinely good tool for the right file and an expensive one for clients who could qualify conventionally. The honest comparison is at FHA Loans.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) and interest-only

Modern ARMs are fixed for an initial period — commonly five, seven, or ten years — then adjust on a published index, with caps limiting every move. For a client who is confident their horizon is shorter than the fixed period, an ARM can be a deliberate, sophisticated choice rather than a gamble. Interest-only options exist too, mostly in the jumbo and non-QM world, and they deserve an honest explanation rather than a sales pitch. Both get one at ARMs and Interest-Only.

Second mortgages and HELOCs

Sometimes the smartest way to reach your equity is to leave your first mortgage alone. A home equity line of credit (HELOC) or a fixed-rate second mortgage sits behind your existing loan, so you keep the rate you already have. Whether a second beats a cash-out refinance depends heavily on the rate you'd be giving up — a comparison worth doing carefully. We walk through it at Second Mortgages and HELOCs.

Non-QM: DSCR, bank-statement, and asset-based

"Non-QM" covers loans documented outside the standard tax-return playbook. DSCR loans qualify an investment property on its own rent rather than the client's personal income. Bank-statement loans let self-employed clients document income from deposits instead of tax returns. Asset-based (asset-depletion) programs qualify retirees and high-net-worth clients on what they own rather than what they earn. There are also ITIN and foreign-national programs. These are real, fully underwritten mortgages — just documented differently, and priced scenario by scenario. Details at Non-QM Loans.

Matching the program to the person

A quick sketch of how these tend to line up:

• Strong credit, standard income, price under the county limit: conventional, almost always.
• Coastal or higher-priced purchase: jumbo — or a structure that keeps you conforming; see Conforming vs. Jumbo.
• Military service: VA first, nearly every time it's available.
• Thin credit or limited savings: FHA, with a plan to graduate out of it.
• Short ownership horizon: an ARM deserves a real look.
• Equity access without touching your first mortgage: HELOC or fixed second.
• Self-employed, investor, or retired with assets: the non-QM shelf may document your strength better than tax returns do.

The purpose of your loan matters as much as the program — purchase, rate/term refinance, and cash-out each carry their own rules, covered at Purchase, Refinance, and Cash-Out. And if any of this raises the "which one am I?" question, that's precisely what a conversation is for. You can also see live pricing and run your own numbers with the tools on our homepage, or start with how the whole process works.