How do you know if your locked rate is competitive?

The most common mistake borrowers make with a locked rate: checking it against today's rate headlines. If rates moved since your lock, that comparison will make a fair lock look bad or a poor lock look great, and neither conclusion is real.

A rate lock froze your pricing on a specific day. The only honest question is whether your rate was competitive for your scenario on that day.

Step one: find your lock date. The Rate Lock box sits near the top of page 1 of your Loan Estimate. If it says YES, the date listed is when the lock expires, not when you were priced. Your pricing day is the day the lock was set, which your loan officer can confirm and your documents usually show.

Step two: get that day's market level. Daily indices track the average rate on loans actually locked each day, by loan program. That figure, for your program on your pricing day, is the honest baseline. Headlines quote survey averages and teaser rates, which run on different definitions.

Step three: adjust for your scenario. The market average blends every credit score and down payment that locked that day. Published agency pricing says exactly how your scenario shifts cost relative to that blend, and points paid move the quoted rate down mechanically. A rate a quarter percent above the day's average can be strong pricing for one profile and weak for another.

Step four: only then compare. If the gap between your locked rate and the scenario adjusted market level for your pricing day is small, your lock was competitive, whatever rates have done since. If it is large, that is worth a conversation before closing, while options remain open.

This is precisely the read our report runs: it takes your document's rate, finds the market level for your program on the day that matters for your loan, applies the published adjustments for your confirmed scenario, and tells you where your rate sits.

Common questions