What is a "rate lock period"?

Lock It In

A rate "lock" or "commitment" is a lender's promise to freeze a specific interest rate and a specific number of points for you for a specified period during your application process. This saves you from getting through your entire application process and discovering at the end that the interest rate has risen higher.

Rate lock periods can be various lengths of time, between 15 to 60 days, with the longer ones generally costing more. The lender can agree to lock in an interest rate and points for a longer span of time, say 60 days, but in exchange, the rate (and sometimes points) will be more than with a rate lock of a shorter period.

Other Interest Saving Strategies

There are other ways to get a lower rate, in addition to choosing a shorter rate lock period. A larger down payment will result in a reduced interest rate, because you'll have a good deal of equity from the beginning. You could opt to pay points to bring down your rate over the life of the loan, meaning you pay more initially. For a lot of people, this makes sense and is a good deal..

Executive Lending Group, LLC can answer questions about rate lock periods and many others. Give us a call: (816) 525-8000 & (81.