Home Mortgage Loan Rate Quote

When is the best time to get a home mortgage loan rate quote?

The best time to get rate quotes is in the morning after any governmental reports on the economy are released. Most reports are released by 9:00 EST, though some come before and some a little after. If you check interest rates late in the day the markets may be closed, of if you check too early in the morning then lenders may not have had time to price their rates for that day.

There are some very smart people in the mortgage business whose sole job is to price mortgage rates. They scan all the economic data, watch the various mortgage bond prices, and price their interest rates for all their loan officers to use. Sometimes during the course of a business day, mortgage bonds will take a sudden move.

If the move is dramatic enough, the lender will "re-price" their mortgage rates during the business day. If the move is only slight, the lender may do nothing at all, waiting until the following day to see if a price change is necessary.

Interest rates are set by basis points, and a basis point is 1/100 of a discount point. It typically takes one full discount point to get 1/4 percent change in rate. If the cost of a mortgage bond rises by 20 to 30 basis points, you can expect the cost of that bond to rise accordingly. A move of 50 basis points would cause a 30-year fixed mortgage rate to rise by 1/8 percent. Any move less than that typically won't change the rate, yet the cost of to the lender of that rate might rise and fall.