A rate assessment, comparing lenders rather than quoting one.

Advertised mortgage rates describe a borrower who may bear no resemblance to you. They generally assume an excellent credit score, a substantial deposit, a specific loan size, an owner-occupied single-family property, and frequently the purchase of discount points that the headline figure doesn't mention. Your actual rate is assembled from your own file, and the adjustments applied for credit band, loan-to-value, occupancy and property type can move it well away from anything on a billboard.

How to Compare Two Offers Properly

Comparing two genuine offers is also less obvious than it looks, because the rate alone doesn't tell you which is cheaper. A lower rate bought with two points may cost more than a higher rate with none, depending entirely on how long you keep the loan - and most people either sell or refinance well before a thirty-year term runs out. The comparable figures live on the Loan Estimate, which every lender must issue in the same standardised format precisely so that offers can be laid side by side. That's where a comparison becomes real: the same loan amount, the same lock period, the same day. As a broker rather than a single lender, the point of this exercise is that the comparison covers several lenders' offers instead of arguing for one.