Is LowerMortgageRates the same company as Movement Mortgage? No. LowerMortgageRates is the site operated by independent broker Duane Buziak (NMLS #1110647) through Coast2Coast Mortgage, LLC (NMLS #376205), while Movement Mortgage is a retail lender that prices and sells only its own loans. That structural difference, broker versus retail, is what actually determines how much rate shopping can save you. This article walks through how each model works, what a soft credit pull mortgage comparison looks like through NoTouch Credit Pull, a worked dollar example on rate spread, a side-by-side table, and answers to the questions buyers ask most before choosing between a broker and a retail lender in VA, FL, TN, GA, DC, NC, SC, or MD.
Is LowerMortgageRates the Same Company as Movement Mortgage?
No, LowerMortgageRates and Movement Mortgage are unrelated businesses with different licensing, different corporate ownership, and different loan models. LowerMortgageRates is operated by Duane Buziak, an independent mortgage broker licensed through Coast2Coast Mortgage, LLC, and it has no partnership, referral agreement, or corporate tie to Movement Mortgage.
The distinction matters because the two operate on opposite sides of the mortgage transaction. A broker like Duane Buziak takes your loan file and submits it to hundreds of wholesale lenders to find pricing, underwriting fit, and program availability. Movement Mortgage, as a retail lender, originates loans on its own balance sheet or sells them after closing, but either way it only quotes you its own rate sheet. You never see what another lender would have offered because there isn’t another lender in that transaction.
This same confusion comes up with a different name: some buyers assume LowerMortgageRates is connected to Lower.com because the names sound similar. It isn’t. LowerMortgageRates has no affiliation with Lower.com, just as it has none with Movement Mortgage. If you searched one of those names and landed here, it’s worth confirming which entity you’re actually working with before you submit an application, since the business model behind the name changes what kind of rate comparison you’re getting.
None of this means one model is inherently better for every borrower. It means the comparison isn’t apples to apples unless you understand that one path shops your file across a pool of lenders and the other prices a single institution’s product.
Broker vs. Retail: How Duane Buziak’s Model Differs From Movement Mortgage’s
A broker shops your loan across hundreds of wholesale lenders per file instead of quoting a single internal rate sheet, which is the mechanism that makes rate comparison possible in the first place. When Duane Buziak submits a borrower’s file, multiple wholesale lenders return pricing based on their own risk appetite, margin, and current market position. Movement Mortgage, operating as a retail lender, has one pricing engine tied to its own cost of funds and overhead, so every borrower who walks through that door gets quoted from the same source.
The pre-approval process reflects that same split. NoTouch Credit Pull is a soft credit pull mortgage process: it estimates your likely rate and loan eligibility using a soft inquiry that does not affect your credit score, in contrast to a standard hard pull that shows up on your credit report and can cause a small, temporary score dip. Movement Mortgage’s standard retail pre-approval, like most retail lender processes, typically requires a hard credit pull upfront before it can issue a pre-approval letter.
That gives you two real options at the front end of the process. Through the broker channel, you can get a no hard inquiry mortgage pre approval that gives you a working sense of your rate and buying power before any inquiry hits your credit file. If you want to go further and lock in terms, you can move to a mortgage pre approval without hard pull as your first step, then authorize a hard pull only once you’ve picked the lender and program that fits, rather than authorizing it upfront and hoping the number works out.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau notes that multiple mortgage inquiries within a short, focused shopping window are generally treated by credit scoring models as a single inquiry, which is useful context if you do eventually move to hard-pull rate locks with more than one source. But the soft-pull comparison step lets you narrow your options before any inquiry is on the table at all, which is the structural advantage a broker model offers over a single retail quote.
What a 0.375% Rate Difference Costs You Over 30 Years
On a $450,000, 30-year fixed loan, a 0.375-point rate spread between 6.5% and 6.875% changes your principal-and-interest payment by roughly $110 a month, which adds up to nearly $40,000 over the full loan term. This is an illustrative example; verify the exact figures with a current amortization calculator before making a decision, since actual rates and payments depend on your credit profile, loan program, and the day you lock.
Here’s the math. At 6.5% on $450,000 over 360 months, the principal-and-interest payment comes out to approximately $2,845. At 6.875%, the same loan amount and term produces a payment of approximately $2,955. That’s a difference of about $110 per month. Multiply that across 360 payments and the gap totals close to $39,600 over the life of the loan, before accounting for what that difference would be worth if invested or applied toward principal instead.
Neither of those rates is a quote, and actual pricing moves daily with the market and with each borrower’s file. The point of the exercise is showing what a spread that small does to a loan of ordinary size. A quarter or three-eighths of a point doesn’t sound like much until it’s translated into a monthly payment and a 30-year total.
That spread is exactly what a single retail quote can’t reveal, because there’s nothing to compare it against. Running a soft pull mortgage broker comparison across multiple wholesale lenders is how a spread like this gets found in the first place. Since NoTouch Credit Pull lets you see estimated pricing from more than one source without a hard inquiry, you can identify whether a meaningful spread exists before you commit to a lender, a rate, or a hard pull on your credit file.
LowerMortgageRates vs. Movement Mortgage: Side-by-Side Comparison
The core structural difference is broker access to hundreds of wholesale lenders versus a single retail pricing engine. Actual rates always depend on the individual borrower’s credit, income, and property, so the table below compares business model, pre-approval method, lender access, and licensed footprint rather than making any claim about which one prices lower for a given file.
| Feature | LowerMortgageRates (Duane Buziak, broker) | Movement Mortgage (retail lender) |
|---|---|---|
| Business model | Independent mortgage broker | Retail lender |
| Rate sourcing | Hundreds of wholesale lenders per file | Single internal rate sheet |
| Pre-approval method | NoTouch Credit Pull (soft pull, no hard inquiry) | Standard retail process, typically a hard credit pull |
| Loan program access | FHA, VA, conventional, USDA, and non-QM options across multiple wholesale lenders | Programs limited to that lender’s own approved menu |
| Licensed footprint | VA, FL, TN, GA, DC, NC, SC, MD | Licensed in additional states outside this list; verify Movement Mortgage’s own state licensing directly |
This is a factual, structural comparison, not a claim that one company beats the other on rate. Which one nets you a lower payment depends on your file, the day you lock, and the specific lenders each institution has access to at that moment.
Which Loan Programs Can You Compare Between the Two?
Both a broker and a retail lender typically offer the common programs: FHA, VA, and conventional financing. Where they tend to diverge is program breadth, since a broker model adds access to USDA, DSCR (debt-service coverage ratio for investment properties), bank statement loans for self-employed borrowers, ITIN loans, and physician or doctor loan programs through multiple wholesale lenders, some of which a single retail lender may not carry at all.
VA loan credit flexibility is a useful example of program-level access rather than rate access. Some wholesale VA lenders in Duane Buziak’s network will consider credit scores down to 500 FICO, depending on the borrower’s full file and compensating factors, in states including VA, NC, SC, and GA. That kind of flexibility exists because a broker can route a thinner-credit file to the specific wholesale lender whose guidelines fit it, rather than being confined to one retail lender’s underwriting box.
Program availability still depends on individual lender guidelines, the state you’re buying in, and your specific file, including credit score, debt-to-income ratio, reserves, and property type. A program that’s available through one wholesale lender in the network might not be available through another, and state licensing plays a role too: Duane Buziak is licensed in VA, FL, TN, GA, DC, NC, SC, and MD, so any program comparison here applies only within those eight states.
The FHFA sets baseline and high-cost conforming loan limits each year, and for 2026 the baseline conforming limit is $806,500, with a high-cost area ceiling of $1,249,125. Those numbers matter for program comparison because they determine whether a loan qualifies as conventional conforming or needs to be structured as jumbo or non-QM, which in turn narrows or widens which wholesale lenders can compete for that file.
FAQ: LowerMortgageRates vs. Movement Mortgage
Is LowerMortgageRates a lender?
No, LowerMortgageRates is a broker platform operated by Duane Buziak, NMLS #1110647, through Coast2Coas Mortgage, LLC, NMLS #376205. A broker submits your loan file to multiple wholesale lenders rather than funding loans from its own balance sheet.
Does comparing mortgage rates hurt your credit score?
Not when the comparison is done through a soft credit pull mortgage process. NoTouch Credit Pull, a soft-pull method that estimates pricing and eligibility without generating a hard inquiry, lets you compare options with no credit hit mortgage application activity at the shopping stage.
What is NoTouch Credit Pull?
NoTouch Credit Pull is a soft-pull pre-approval process that estimates your likely rate and loan eligibility without a hard credit inquiry. It differs from a standard hard-pull pre-approval, which appears on your credit report and can cause a small, temporary score dip.
Is Duane Buziak affiliated with Movement Mortgage?
No. Duane Buziak and LowerMortgageRates operate independently of Movement Mortgage, with no corporate, referral, or ownership relationship between the two businesses.
Which states is LowerMortgageRates licensed in?
Duane Buziak is licensed to originate mortgages in Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Washington D.C., North Carolina, South Carolina, and Maryland. This site is national in scope for information purposes, but actual loan origination is limited to those eight states.
How does the “Dare to Compare” approach work?
Dare to Compare refers to running your file through NoTouch Credit Pull against multiple wholesale lenders at once, so you see a range of pricing instead of a single retail quote. It’s a soft pull mortgage broker process, not a hard-pull rate lock.
Can you get pre-approved without a hard pull?
Yes. A mortgage pre approval without hard pull is available through the NoTouch Credit Pull process, which gives you an estimated rate and buying power range before any hard inquiry is authorized.
Does using a broker cost more than going directly to a retail lender?
Not inherently. Brokers are typically compensated through lender-paid or borrower-paid compensation built into the loan pricing, similar in structure to how retail lenders bake their own overhead into their rate sheet; the specific cost comparison depends on the loan and the lenders involved.
What loan programs does each offer?
Both typically offer FHA, VA, and conventional loans. A broker model often adds access to USDA, DSCR, bank statement, ITIN, and physician loan programs through its wholesale lender network, subject to each lender’s guidelines and your state.
How long does pre-approval take?
A soft-pull pre-approval through NoTouch Credit Pull can typically be completed the same day once you provide basic income, asset, and property information, since it doesn’t require the document collection and hard-pull authorization that a full underwritten pre-approval involves.
Choosing Between a Broker Comparison and a Single Retail Quote
The choice between LowerMortgageRates and Movement Mortgage comes down to structure: one path shops your file across hundreds of wholesale lenders before you commit to anything, the other prices a single retail rate sheet. Neither is automatically cheaper for every borrower, but only one of them gives you something to compare against before you sign.
If you’re in Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Washington D.C., North Carolina, South Carolina, or Maryland, you can start a no credit hit mortgage application with Duane Buziak, NMLS #1110647, through Coast2Coast Mortgage, LLC, NMLS #376205, using NoTouch Credit Pull to see estimated pricing across multiple wholesale lenders without a hard inquiry. Schedule your free consultation today and compare your options directly with a broker who works the wholesale side of the market on your behalf, or call 804-212-8663.