The more information your provide to your mortgage company the more accurate your interest rate quote will be. At the minimum you need to know your middle credit score, monthly income, monthly liabilities (includeing car payments, credit card payments, personal loan payments, etc) and requested loan amount. IF you do not know this information then a rate quote will be meaningless. Rather than shopping for a rate, start your shopping for a trustworthy mortgage agent.

Interest rates change daily and all throughout the day. With this in mind, you should try and obtain all of your mortgage interest rate quotes around the same time, and definitely within the same day. If you receive mortgage quotes at different times of the month or spread out over the course of a couple of months you will most likely receive very different rate quotes among the different lenders due to the rates changing constantly. Spreading your quotes out over time may not provide you with the best interest rates or allow you to compare rates amongst the different lenders very accurately.

Unless I have taken a complete mortgage loan application and know the specifics of your qualifications, the interest rate quote is more general information than a specific quote tailored to your situation. As mentioned, the rate quoted will only be accurate if you decide to move forward and the rate is locked that day. Shopping for a mortgage by getting numerous rate quotes can be quite frustrating. Most borrowers have found that rates vary only slightly from one lender to another. Most have found it is better to pick a mortgage agent to work with based on their professionalism and experience rather than who can shout the lowest rate.

When you get a rate quote, you should also get a Good Faith Estimate (GFE). This disclosure will break down all of the costs associated with the closing of your loan. Sometimes a great rate can come with high fees. In the end, it may be cheaper to go with a higher interest rate with lower fees.

When comparing interest rate quotes from different companies, be sure to compare the same products. Pay attention to loan specifics such as fixed rate or adjustable rate, length of loan term, full doc, stated income, or no doc, prepayment period, rate lock period, etc.