KeyBank Physician Loan Review (2026): The $3.5 Million Ceiling, the Broadest Eligibility List, and the Tiers KeyBank Won’t Put in Writing

KeyBank physician loan at a glance

Where Laurel Road went

If you came here searching for a Laurel Road physician mortgage, here is the short version. Laurel Road is a KeyBank brand. On September 14, 2026, laurelroad.com’s physician-mortgage address redirected to doctors.key.com, a KeyBank site called Key for Doctors that bundles banking, student-loan help, and a wealth-planning consult, and points to the Medical Professional Mortgage for home lending. Enrollment in Key for Doctors requires opening any KeyBank checking account; the mortgage itself doesn’t require one, but KeyBank advertises a 0.25% rate discount for clients, so the practical answer is that you will have one.

What this means for a borrower: reviews of the Laurel Road doctor loan written before 2026, including the tier tables in them, describe a product page that no longer exists. Treat them as history. The terms that count are on KeyBank’s page, and there are not many of them.

Who qualifies

KeyBank’s footnote is the broadest eligibility statement of any program we have read: actively practicing interns, residents, fellows, doctors, dentists, clinical professors, researchers, or managing physicians, with a current license and a degree of MD, DO, DPM, DDS, or DMD. Three groups on that list rarely appear anywhere else. Interns are named, which matters for a PGY-1 buying in June on a contract. Researchers and clinical professors are named, which is the first time we have seen a physician-scientist on an NIH salary explicitly inside a doctor-loan program rather than argued in as an exception.

Podiatrists are included. Veterinarians are not, so a DVM should look at Huntington. There is no published years-out-of-training limit, unlike TD’s 10-year rule, which makes KeyBank a candidate for the established attending buying the expensive house that the program ceiling is built for.

“Actively practicing” and “current license” are the operative words. A physician between jobs or on a lapsed license should expect a conversation about it.

Loan limits and the missing tiers

KeyBank publishes one number: $3.5M. It is the highest ceiling in physician lending, half a million above Huntington’s and a million and a half above TD’s, and it is the reason this program shows up in every conversation about buying at $2 million-plus in New York, Seattle, Denver, or Boston.

What KeyBank doesn’t publish is how much of that you can borrow with how little down. Huntington and TD both print three tiers in a footnote; KeyBank’s page prints none. The figures that circulate — 0% down to $1 million, 10% down to $2 million, 20% down to $3.5 million — come from third-party reviews and, presumably, from loan officers. They may be exactly right. They are not on KeyBank’s page, and we don’t present a lender’s terms until the lender does.

Two things KeyBank does put in writing that most programs don’t: cash-out refinancing is an option, with no published cap, and the loan is available for rate-and-term refinancing as well as purchase. For an attending who bought during residency with a conventional loan and PMI, a refinance into this program is a legitimate use.

Where it’s available

KeyBank’s consumer bank operates in 15 states. Its mortgage page says only that “not all home lending products are available in all states.” Third-party reviews put the physician mortgage in 37 states plus DC, which would make it far broader than the branch map; KeyBank hasn’t said so on its own site. Here is the footprint it does publish.

Inside the footprint, this is the program for Seattle, Portland, Denver, Salt Lake, Cleveland, Columbus, Buffalo, Albany, and the New York and Boston suburbs. Outside it, ask before you shop; the answer may well be yes, but it is the loan officer’s to give.

What KeyBank doesn’t publish, and what to ask

• •Down payment by loan amount. KeyBank publishes only the program ceiling. Down-payment tiers below $3.5 million are not on its page; third-party reviews report 0% down to $1 million, 10% to $2 million and 20% to $3.5 million, but KeyBank has not put those figures in writing. Ask: “At a purchase price of $X, what is the minimum down payment under the physician program?” Then ask for the whole schedule.
• •DTI ceiling and student-loan treatment. Neither is on the page. With $250,000 of federal loans, the difference between an income-driven payment and 1% of the balance is roughly $1,700 a month of qualifying room. Ask: “What is the maximum DTI, and which student-loan payment goes into it?”
• •Closing on a contract before a start date. Not published. Competitors print 60 to 90 days. Ask: “How many days before my start date can we close on an employment contract?”
• •State availability. KeyBank publishes a 15-state branch footprint and says only that "not all home lending products are available in all states." Third-party reviews report the physician mortgage in 37 states plus DC; confirm your state with the loan officer.
• •Fixed and variable terms, reserves, prepayment, seller contributions, the cash-out cap. None are stated. Get each in the pre-qualification letter.
• •The 0.25% client discount. KeyBank advertises it for KeyBank clients on its mortgage pages. Ask: “Does the relationship discount apply to the Medical Professional Mortgage, and what does ‘client’ require?”

Rates

KeyBank doesn’t publish physician-loan rates; no lender on this site does, because they are priced per borrower. The benchmark is public. Freddie Mac’s national average for a 30-year fixed conventional mortgage is 6.76% for the week of September 10, 2026. Physician loans typically quote 0.125 to 0.5 points above that in exchange for the low down payment and no PMI. At jumbo sizes the spread can move in either direction, which is exactly why a $2 million-plus borrower should have two written quotes on the same day. If the 0.25% client discount applies, it is worth more on this loan than on almost any other: on $2.5 million it is roughly $400 a month.

Where our benchmark comes from: where our rates come from. Current numbers and a ten-year chart: mortgage rates.

Run a KeyBank purchase against a conventional loan

The calculator starts from this week’s Freddie Mac average and assumes the physician loan is 0% down with no PMI. KeyBank hasn’t published where 0% down stops, so treat the physician-loan column as the best case and re-run it with a 10% or 20% conventional down payment to see what the loan is worth to you if the tier at your price turns out to require cash.

Strengths and drawbacks

Strengths

• •A $3.5M ceiling, the highest published in physician lending, for buyers the $2 million programs turn away.
• •The widest eligibility list we have seen: interns, researchers, clinical professors, and managing physicians by name, plus DPM.
• •No published years-out limit, so established attendings qualify.
• •Fixed or variable rate, and cash-out refinancing, both in writing.
• •A 0.25% client rate discount advertised, worth real money at jumbo sizes if it applies.

Drawbacks

• •Not one down-payment tier is published. Every number below $3.5 million is a conversation.
• •No DTI, no student-loan treatment, no closing window, no state list. The thinnest program page of the lenders we have reviewed.
• •Laurel Road’s transition means older reviews, and possibly older loan officers, describe a product that has moved.
• •No DVM eligibility, and “actively practicing” with a current license is a hard line.

Who it’s for, and who should keep looking

• •Attendings buying above $2 million: yes; this is the program the ceiling exists for. Get the tier at your price in writing.
• •Physician-scientists, clinical professors, and managing physicians: yes, and you are named rather than argued in.
• •Established attendings more than 10 years out who TD won’t take: yes.
• •Homeowners refinancing out of PMI, or taking cash out: yes; both are published options.
• •Residents buying under $1 million who want published terms: quote KeyBank, but compare with Huntington or TD, whose 0% tier is in writing.
• •Veterinarians, and anyone whose license has lapsed: not eligible by the published terms.

How to apply, and what to have ready

• 1.Call 1-888-KEY-0018 (1-888-539-0018) or schedule a call from KeyBank’s mortgage page; a Mortgage Loan Officer is assigned. If you arrive through Key for Doctors, you will also be offered a 30-minute consult and asked to open a checking account to enroll.
• 2.Ask for the down-payment schedule first, then DTI, student-loan treatment, closing window, and whether the client discount applies. Write the answers down; none are on the website.
• 3.Get pre-qualified with the tier stated on the letter. At jumbo prices, a seller’s agent will read that letter closely.
• 4.Gather the file: employment contract or offer with start date and salary, current license, two years of returns or transcripts if available, bank and investment statements for reserves (expect the reserve requirement to scale with the loan), student-loan servicer statements, and ID.
• 5.Get a second written quote the same week from a lender that publishes its tiers. At $2 million-plus, the difference in rate and points between two banks can be five figures over the hold.

Deciding whether a physician loan is right at all: read the physician mortgage guide. For the DTI conversation: how student loans affect a physician mortgage.

Alternatives to quote alongside KeyBank

• •Huntington Bank for published tiers up to $2.5M: 0% to $1M, 5% to $1.75M, sold nationally, ARM terms only in writing.
• •TD Bank on the East Coast for a published fixed rate and published tiers to $2M, if you are under 10 years out and buying in TD’s 16 states.
• •A conventional jumbo with 10–20% down if you have the cash. Above $2 million the physician program and a jumbo can price close to each other; the calculator above shows where PMI and rate premium cross.

We are reviewing each major physician lender against its own published terms. As each review publishes it is linked here and from the lender comparison.

Sources

• •KeyBank: Medical Professional Loans (program page)
• •Key for Doctors (doctors.key.com; laurelroad.com physician-mortgage pages redirect here)
• •KeyBank: Get to Know Key (15-state branch footprint)

Read September 14, 2026. Terms quoted are KeyBank’s program page footnote and overview table; the state list is KeyBank’s published branch footprint. Where this review says “not published,” KeyBank’s pages contain no statement on the point.