MortgageRates

Shopping around for a home loan or mortgage will help you to get the best financing deal.

A mortgage - whether it's a home purchase, a refinancing, or a home equity loan - is a product, just like a car, so the price and terms may be negotiable.

An adjustable rate mortgage (ARM), variable rate mortgage or floating rate mortgage is a mortgage loan where the interest rate on the note is periodically adjusted based on an index.

MORTGAGERATE = Annual Percentage Rate (APR)

The APR is an expression of the effective interest rate that will be paid on a loan, taking into account one-time fees and standardizing the way the rate is expressed.

MORTGAGERATES

Ask each lender and broker for a list of its current mortgage interest rates and whether the rates being quoted are the lowest for that day or week.

• Ask whether the rate is fixed or adjustable. Keep in mind that when interest rates for adjustable-rate loans go up, generally so does the monthly payment.
• If the rate quoted is for an adjustable-rate loan, ask how your rate and loan payment will vary, including whether your loan payment will be reduced when rates go down.
• Ask about the loan's annual percentage rate (APR). The APR takes into account not only the interest rate but also points, broker fees, and certain other credit charges that you may be required to pay, expressed as a yearly rate.

Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is an expression of the effective interest rate that will be paid on a loan, taking into account one-time fees and standardizing the way the rate is expressed. In other words the APR is the total cost of credit to the consumer expressed as an annual percentage of the amount of credit granted. APR is intended to make it easier to compare lenders and loan options.

The APR is likely to differ from the "note rate" or "headline rate" advertised by the lender. The concept of APR can be generalized. For example lenders use the same concept to calculate their total earnings on loans and for determining their margin on the loan. Consumers can use the APR concept to compare savings accounts and calculate the earnings on a savings account, taking transaction costs into account.