Comparing mortgage lenders? Here’s how to do it properly.
You’re shopping around — good. Most people don’t, and the ones who do usually find the offers differ in ways the headline rate doesn’t show. Here’s what actually matters, and how to get our numbers to put next to everyone else’s.
Lock It Lending is a mortgage lender, not a comparison service. This page explains how to compare offers, including ours.
The headline rate is not the comparison
Two lenders can quote the same interest rate and cost very different amounts. The rate is one line on a much longer page. What separates real offers is usually everything underneath it — the fees, the points, how long the rate is held, and which loan program you’re being put into.
So compare the whole offer, not the number in the advert.
What to compare
Interest rate and APR, together
The rate sets your payment. The APR folds in lender costs, so it's the better like-for-like figure. Look at both — a low rate with a high APR is telling you something.
Origination and lender fees
Application, underwriting, processing. These vary a lot between lenders and they're negotiable more often than people assume.
Discount points
Paying points buys the rate down. A quote with points is not comparable to one without unless you account for the cost.
Loan program
Conventional, FHA, VA and jumbo have different rules on down payment, mortgage insurance and qualifying. The right program matters more than a fractional rate difference.
Rate lock terms
How long is the rate held? What happens if your closing slips? Is there a float-down if rates fall before you close?
Third-party costs
Appraisal, title, recording. Some you can shop for, some you can't — and your lender should tell you which is which.
Who you'll actually deal with
Whether a person answers when there's a problem two weeks before closing is not on any rate sheet. Ask anyway.
The document that makes lenders comparable
Every mortgage lender in the country has to give you a Loan Estimate after you apply — and it’s the same standardized form for all of them. That’s the point of it. Line one on ours sits in the same place as line one on theirs.
How to use it:
- Page 2, Section A — Origination Charges. This is what the lender is charging you. Compare it directly.
- Page 3, Comparisons. Shows APR and Total Interest Percentage, designed specifically for putting offers side by side.
- Ask each lender for the same loan. Same loan amount, same down payment, same program, same lock period. Otherwise you’re comparing different things.
- Request them close together. Quotes move with the market. Estimates gathered weeks apart aren’t comparable.
Guidance on the Loan Estimate is published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov.
Where Lock It Lending fits
Lock It Lending is a Houston-based mortgage lender, operating as Swift Home Loans, Inc. d/b/a Lock It Lending, NMLS #2075228, licensed in 49 states plus the District of Columbia.
- Purchase, refinance and cash-out options
- Conventional, FHA, VA, USDA, jumbo and non-QM programs
- You speak with a loan officer, by phone, about your actual situation
Get our numbers for your comparison
Tell us what you’re looking at and we’ll put together a quote you can set beside the others. No obligation, and you don’t need to have chosen anyone yet.