First-Time Homebuyers, Here’s a Primer on Mortgage Rates

Curious to learn more about what goes in to calculating your mortgage rate? Here are the basics.

Mortgage rates change every day, and each one is different. Here’s why.

Mortgage rates are determined by both external factors, and personal ones. Some of the personal factors that determine your interest rate include:

Your credit score. The better the score, the lower your mortgage rate.
Your debt-to-income ratio. The lower the ratio, the better your mortgage rate.
Your downpayment. The more you put down, the better the mortgage rate.

But, of course, you can do everything right and the economic conditions can still keep rates up.

When inflation and unemployment go up, expect your interest rates to rise too.

The Federal Reserve also has a say in the rates by setting the rate that banks use when lending to each other.