Tips to Getting The Lowest Mortgage Rates Online

Tips to Getting The Lowest Mortgage Rates Online

Every consumer loves a bargain and getting a lower mortgage interest rate can save you a substantial amount of money over the life of your loan. There are several ways to go about ensuring that you pay the least amount of mortgage interest when you take out a home mortgage loan.

The first and probably the most important is to be aware of your credit score.

Good credit is the key to not only getting a mortgage, but to getting the best mortgage interest rates available in the market today.  Mortgage bankers and lenders like to reward borrowers that pay off their bills in a timely manner and chances are that if you have been faithful with making all of your other monthly payments on time you will have a great credit score and therefore qualify for a home mortgage loan.  If that is the case the mortgage lender will be willing to take a risk and reward you with a mortgage loan with an extremely low interest rate.

Close any existing credit card accounts that you no longer use.

If you have several credit card accounts this can affect the interest rate on your mortgage, even if they have a zero balance.  Mortgage lenders and bankers see open accounts as potential for future debt, which adds more risk for them to not get their money back.  In order for the lender to balance that risk, they will often charge you a slightly higher mortgage interest rate on your mortgage loan.

Lock in your mortgage interest rate before you go to settlement.

Once you have agreed on a low mortgage interest rate and the rate is to your liking, ask the mortgage lender/banker to lock in that rate.  Mortgage rates can fluctuate drastically in the time it takes for your mortgage to go through the entire process to get you to the closing table.  If you want to take the risk of waiting it out and not locking your mortgage loan that is find but you could be running the risk of the mortgage interest rates going up and in the end you could lose because you this could mean you could be paying a totally different mortgage interest rate than what was originally quoted.

Make the biggest down payment you can afford.

Putting a down payment from your savings account on your house lowers the amount you plan to finance therefore will lower the total amount that you will pay over the life of the mortgage loan.

Always shop around for the best rate.

You don’t have to work with the first mortgage lender that you approach.  With the vast amount of online mortgage bankers and lenders it is easy to compare offers and pick the best mortgage company that offers you the lowest and best mortgage interest rate and don’t be afraid to tell brokers that you are shopping around or ask them if they can match the mortgage interest rates of a competitors quote.