Mortgage Rates Basics

Getting the lowest mortgage rate possible on your home loan is important because a lower rate means that you will be paying less for your loan over time. Even just a slightly lower rate can mean great savings over the life of your mortgage.

Mortgage rates depend on several factors, including the market conditions where the cost of borrowing money fluctuates constantly. This is why many people refinance their mortgage when rates drop considerably.

Mortgage rates can be fixed or variable, or a combination of the two. For example, some mortgages are variable for the first 15 years of the loan and then become fixed for the rest of the life of the loan.