for Every Homebuyer
Today's Mortgage Rates
Presented by Mortgage News Daily
The above rates provided by Mortgage News Daily (MND) are updated daily in real time, providing insight into the shifting forces impacting lender rate sheets as they occur. Freddie Mac's rates are updated on a weekly basis, and may no longer be relevant to rate offerings today. The best use of this resource is as a benchmark for national interest rate averages, and as a general indicator of rate trends, as individual circumstances can cause quotes to vary wildly from what is displayed above.
Do Rate Charts Include Points?
When using any rate index or survey, such as the one pictured above from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation's (Freddie Mac's) weekly survey, it's important to factor in whether or not the displayed interest rates account for fees known as discount points. Discount points, or simply "points", are fees that borrowers can pay to permanently lower their interest rate for the life of the loan (or the fixed portion, in the case of an adjustable rate mortgage). One point is equal to one percent of your loan amount. For example, a discount point on a $300,000 mortgage loan will cost $3,000. Points can be purchased in whole numbers and in increments of halves, quarters, eighths, or even less (0.5, 0.25, 0.125, etc.).
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It is important to factor in the effect of excluding the cost of points from rate charts such as the one above. Though most lenders or informational sources providing such charts now include the points in the rate averages, or list the corresponding average points and fees with each average, occasionally you will find a chart that does not.
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Mortgage News Daily's daily rate tracker at the top of this page includes points and fees within the rate, making it seem higher than other indices. Conversely, Freddie Mac's rate survey excludes points and fees from the rates themselves, but lists average points separately, right below the average rate for each different loan program.
This scrutiny can also be applied towards quotes you receive from lenders; if a rate is offered and it seems enticing, ask if the quote requires any points to be paid, and if so, how many.
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If you would like to understand what economic drivers influence mortgage rates, read more about them here.