Mortgage Lender Process - Get rates or fill out forms first?

[Andrew Bissada]

Is it normal for a lender to want you to fill out their forms including pre approval before they tell you anything about their rates?

I reached out to a few lenders. One of them the process was smooth, we talked over phone and they answered all my questions and then sent me next steps for qualification.

The other one, from the get go asked me to do the pre-qualification. I told them I had a few questions and sent them to the lender in an email, but their reply back they basically just told me to fill out forms for pre-qualification and that they could talk about rates afterwards.

Why would I want to take the time and potential monetary investment (credit check) to do that if I don't even know if I like their rates? It seems to me they should tell me their rates and I can decide if I want to proceed. Not sure if this is abnormal or not, but it doesn't make any sense. I would never invest in something(even time) I have no information on.