Today's average rate
30-year fixed rate:APR 6.440%
+0.01%
Today
-1.31%
Over 1y
15-year fixed rate:APR 5.504%
+0.05%
Today
-1.34%
Over 1y
5-year ARM rate:APR 7.797%
+0.06%
Today
-0.35%
Over 1y

Compare Current Mortgage Rates

Some or all of the mortgage lenders featured on our site are advertising partners of NerdWallet, but this does not influence our evaluations, lender star ratings or the order in which lenders are listed on the page. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money.

Why do you want a home loan?
Showing: Purchase, Good (720-739), 30-year fixed, Single family home, Primary residence
Showing: Purchase, Good (720-739), 30-year fixed, Single family home, Primary residence
License information

8 results:

30-year fixed

Better
EXPLORE QUOTE
Better: NMLS#330511
Lowest APR
Lowest monthly payment
Great for digital convenience
Conventional 30-year fixed
Better
4.5
NerdWallet rating
APR
6.047% 
Interest rate
5.875% 
Mo. payment
$2,367 
Insurance $0
Total fees
$7,328 
About this lender
Pros
  • Offers a one-day mortgage that lets eligible borrowers apply, lock in a rate and get a loan commitment within 24 hours.
  • Average interest rates are on the low end compared to other lenders, according to the latest federal data.
  • Offers a HELOC that can be used for a primary, second or investment home.
Cons
  • Doesn't offer harder-to-find loans, such as construction loans, renovation loans, or USDA mortgages.
  • Finding descriptions of all of the loan offerings on the website requires some digging, and the lender does not have a mobile app.
  • Average lender fees are on the high end compared with other lenders, according to the latest federal data.
Farmers Bank of Kansas City: NMLS#613839
Great for Rate transparency
Conventional 30-year fixed
Farmers Bank of Kansas City
4.5
NerdWallet rating
APR
6.277% 
Interest rate
6.25% 
Mo. payment
$2,463 
Insurance $0
Total fees
$1,123 
About this lender
Pros
  • Displays customized rates, with fee estimates, without requiring contact information.
  • Offers home equity loans and lines of credit.
  • Mortgage origination fees are on the low side compared to other lenders, according to the latest federal data.
Cons
  • Doesn’t offer government-backed FHA or USDA loans, or adjustable-rate mortgages.
  • Home renovation loans are not available.
  • Mortgage rates are on the high side compared to other lenders, according to the latest federal data.
First Federal Bank
EXPLORE QUOTEon First Federal Bank
on First Federal Bank
First Federal Bank: NMLS#408902Conventional 30-year fixed
First Federal Bank
APR
6.522% 
Interest rate
6.5% 
Mo. payment
$2,529 
Insurance $0
Total fees
$915 
About this lender
Pros
  • Offers government-backed loans and some harder-to-find products, such as jumbo loans for investment and multifamily properties.
  • Home renovation loans are available.
  • Offers home equity loans and lines of credit.
Cons
  • Mortgage rates are not published online.
  • Bank branches are limited to eight states.
  • Consumers might have trouble finding contact information.
Simplist: NMLS#1764611Conventional 30-year fixed
Simplist
4.5
NerdWallet rating
APR
6.625% 
Interest rate
6.625% 
Mo. payment
$2,562 
Insurance $0
Total fees
-$632 
About this lender
Pros
  • Loan origination process can be completed online.
  • Offers government-backed FHA and VA loans.
  • Offers module that compares mortgage rates among other lenders.
Cons
  • Offers loans in many states and Washington, D.C., but not nationwide.
  • Does not offer home equity loans or lines of credit.
Central Bank: NMLS#407985Conventional 30-year fixed
Central Bank
4.0
NerdWallet rating
APR
6.632% 
Interest rate
6.624% 
Mo. payment
$2,561 
Insurance $0
Total fees
$320 
About this lender
Pros
  • Among the best when it comes to online convenience.
  • Offers a full selection of mortgage types and products, including jumbo, home equity, and government loans.
  • Claims to offer preapproval within 24 hours of loan application.
Cons
  • You'll have to complete a loan application to see mortgage interest rates.
  • Bank branch locations limited to the Midwest.
  • Does not offer home equity lines of credit.
NBKC: NMLS#409631
Great for first-time home buyers | digital convenience | customer service
Conventional 30-year fixed
NBKC
APR
6.641% 
Interest rate
6.625% 
Mo. payment
$2,562 
Insurance $0
Total fees
$675 
About this lender
Visit lender's website | Call (888) 871-2381
Pros
  • Offers government-backed loans and some harder-to-find products, such as construction loans and specialty mortgages for pilots.
  • Offers low rates and fees compared with other lenders, according to the latest federal data.
  • Displays customized rates, with fee estimates, without requiring contact information.
Cons
  • HELOCs and construction-to-permanent loans are available only in the Kansas City metro area.
New American Funding: NMLS#6606
Great for first-time home buyers | customer service
Conventional 30-year fixed
New American Funding
APR
6.665% 
Interest rate
6.625% 
Mo. payment
$2,562 
Insurance $0
Total fees
$1,629 
Pros
  • Offers a wide variety of purchase and refinance mortgages with an emphasis on helping underserved communities.
  • Its home equity line of credit can be used for an owner-occupied or second home.
  • Has a program to enable buyers to make cash offers.
  • Receives high marks for customer satisfaction, according to J.D. Power and Zillow.
Cons
  • Mortgage origination fees tend to be on the high end.
  • Personalized mortgage rates are not available on the website without providing contact information.
Rocket Mortgage, LLC: NMLS#3030
Great for digital convenience | customer service
Conventional 30-year fixed
Rocket Mortgage, LLC
APR
7.407% 
Interest rate
7.375% 
Mo. payment
$2,763 
Insurance $0
Total fees
$1,250 
About this lender
Pros
  • Streamlined online process with document and asset retrieval capabilities, as well as the ability to edit your preapproval letter.
  • Offers the option to work with loan officers by phone if desired.
  • Largest FHA lender in the nation.
Cons
  • Getting a customized interest rate requires a credit check, which can affect your credit score.
  • Origination fees are on the high side compared with other lenders, according to the latest federal data.
  • Doesn't offer home equity lines of credit.

About These Rates: The lenders whose rates appear on this table are NerdWallet’s advertising partners. NerdWallet strives to keep its information accurate and up to date. This information may be different than what you see when you visit a lender’s site. The terms advertised here are not offers and do not bind any lender. The rates shown here are retrieved via the Mortech rate engine and are subject to change. These rates do not include taxes, fees, and insurance. Your actual rate and loan terms will be determined by the partner’s assessment of your creditworthiness and other factors. Any potential savings figures are estimates based on the information provided by you and our advertising partners.


A Beginner’s Guide to Mortgages
Last updated on October 5, 2024
Written by 
Kate Wood
Lead Writer/Spokesperson
Michelle Blackford
Reviewed by 
Kate Wood
Written by 
Lead Writer/Spokesperson
Michelle Blackford
Reviewed by 

What is a mortgage?

Most people don't have the cash to simply buy a house. Instead, they use a mortgage, which is a loan to buy a home. After making a down payment of anywhere from 3% to 25%, they get a mortgage to cover the remaining costs of purchasing the home.

mortgage is set up so you pay off the loan over a specified period called the term. The most popular term is 30 years. Each payment includes a combination of principal and interest, as well as property taxes, and, if needed, mortgage insurance. (Homeowners insurance may be included, or the homeowner may pay the insurer directly.) Principal is the original amount of money you borrowed while interest is what you're being charged to borrow the money.

WATCH: Mortgage rates explained

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How do mortgage rates work?

The mortgage rate a lender offers you is determined by a mix of factors that are specific to you and larger forces that are beyond your control.

Lenders will have a base rate that takes the big stuff into account and gives them some profit. They adjust that base rate up or down for individual borrowers depending on perceived risk. If you seem like a safe bet to a lender, you're more likely to be offered a lower interest rate.

Factors you can change:

  • Your credit score. Mortgage lenders use credit scores to evaluate risk. Higher scores are seen as safer. In other words, the lender is more confident that you'll successfully make your mortgage payments.

  • Your down payment. Paying a larger percentage of the home's price upfront reduces the amount you're borrowing and makes you seem less risky to lenders. You can calculate your loan-to-value ratio to check this out. A LTV of 80% or more is considered high.

  • Your loan type. The kind of loan you're applying for can influence the mortgage rate you're offered. For example, jumbo loans tend to have higher interest rates.

  • How you're using the home. Mortgages for primary residences — a place you're actually going to live — generally get lower interest rates than home loans for vacation properties, second homes or investment properties.

Forces you can't control:

  • The U.S. economy. Sure, this means Wall Street, but non-market forces (for example, elections) can also influence mortgage rates. Changes in inflation and unemployment rates tend to put pressure on interest rates.

  • The global economy. What's happening around the world will influence U.S. markets. Global political worries can move mortgage rates lower. Good news may push rates higher.

  • The Federal Reserve. The nation’s central bank attempts to guide the economy with the twin goals of encouraging job growth while keeping inflation under control. Decisions made by the Federal Open Market Committee to raise or cut short-term interest rates can sometimes cause lenders to raise or cut mortgage rates.

How (and why) to compare mortgage rates

Mortgage rates like the ones you see on this page are sample rates. In this case, they're the averages of rates from multiple lenders, which are provided to NerdWallet by Zillow. They let you know about where mortgage rates stand today, but they might not reflect the rate you'll be offered.

When you look at an individual lender's website and see mortgage rates, those are also sample rates. To generate those rates, the lender will use a bunch of assumptions about their “sample” borrower, including credit score, location and down payment amount. Sample rates also sometimes include discount points, which are optional fees borrowers can pay to lower the interest rate. Including discount points will make a lender's rates appear lower.

To see more personalized rates, you'll need to provide some information about you and about the home you want to buy. For example, at the top of this page, you can enter your ZIP code to start comparing rates. On the next page, you can adjust your approximate credit score, the amount you're looking to spend, your down payment amount and the loan term to see rate quotes that better reflect your individual situation.

Whether you're looking at sample rates on lenders' websites or comparing personalized rates here, you'll notice that interest rates vary. This is one reason why it's important to shop around when you're looking for a mortgage lender. Fractions of a percentage might not seem like they'd make a big difference, but you aren't just shaving a few bucks off your monthly mortgage payment, you're also lowering the total amount of interest you'll pay over the life of the loan.

It's a good idea to apply for mortgage preapproval from at least three lenders. With a preapproval, the lenders verify some of the details of your finances, so both the rates offered and the amount you're able to borrow will be real numbers. Each lender will provide you with a Loan Estimate. These standardized forms make it easy to compare interest rates as well as lender fees.

When you're comparing rates, you'll usually see two numbers — the interest rate and the APR. The APR, or annual percentage rate, is usually the higher of the two because it takes into account both the interest rate and the other costs associated with the loan (like those lender fees). Because of this, APR is usually considered a more accurate measure of the cost of borrowing.

» MORE FOR CANADIAN READERS: Best mortgage rates in Canada

MORTGAGE RATES FAQS

  • What's the difference between interest rate and APR?

    The interest rate is the percentage that the lender charges for borrowing the money. The APR, or annual percentage rate, is supposed to reflect a more accurate cost of borrowing. The APR calculation includes fees and discount points, along with the interest rate.

    APR is a tool used to compare loan offers, even if they have different interest rates, fees and discount points. APR takes ongoing costs like mortgage insurance into account, which is why it's usually higher than the interest rate.

  • Discount points are basically prepaid interest that reduces the interest rate on your mortgage. One discount point costs 1% of the loan amount, and will usually drop the interest rate by 0.25%.

    Buying points is optional. Be on the lookout for them, as a lender may add points to a loan offer to make their interest rate seem more competitive. It's up to you to decide if paying for points as part of your closing costs is worth it.

    The impact of a 0.25% change in the interest rate depends on the loan amount, the term and the interest rates. To illustrate, let's look at a $250,000 mortgage with a 30-year term, and the differences in payment between an interest rate of 4% and a rate of 4.25%.

    At 4%, the monthly principal and interest cost $1,193.54. At 4.25%, the monthly principal and interest cost $1,229.85. So, for a $250,000 mortgage with a 30-year term, cutting the interest rate from 4.25% to 4% saves $36.31 a month and $436 a year.

  • Mortgage rates not only vary from day to day, but hour to hour. In order to know what rate you'll pay, you need the rate you're offered to stop changing. A mortgage rate lock is the lender's guarantee that you'll pay the agreed-upon interest rate if you close by a certain date. Your locked rate won't change, no matter what happens to interest rates in the meantime.

    It's a good idea to lock the rate when you're approved for a mortgage with an interest rate that you're comfortable with. Consult with your loan officer on the timing of the rate lock. Ideally, your rate lock would extend a few days after the expected closing date, so you'll get the agreed-upon rate even if the closing is delayed a few days.


About the author: Kate Wood is a mortgages and student loans writer and spokesperson who joined NerdWallet in 2019. With an educational background in sociology, Kate feels strongly about inequality in homeownership and higher education.

NerdWallet writers are subject matter authorities who use primary, trustworthy sources to inform their work, including peer-reviewed studies, government websites, academic research and interviews with industry experts. All content is fact-checked for accuracy, timeliness and relevance. You can learn more about NerdWallet's high standards for journalism by reading our editorial guidelines.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Explore Interest Rates.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. How Does the Federal Funds Rate Affect Consumers?. Accessed Sep 8, 2022.

My Home by Freddie Mac. How to Get the Best Interest Rate for Your Mortgage. Accessed Sep 8, 2022.

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30-year-fixed mortgage rates