Mortgage Ping-Pong

In my experience, the best way to secure the lowest possible interest rate on a mortgage is to engage 3 mortgage providers in a bidding war. I would also recommend that one of the potential providers be a broker (someone who doesn't work for a specific lender) because they have access to some products/rates that the others don't. In terms of process, I would recommend the following: call each of them - tell them you are shopping for the best rate - don't actually do a formal application, just give them an accurate picture of your finances and your credit. They can quote you a rate based on this - thank them and tell them you are going to do some checking and get back to them, call everyone else and do the same. Then take the lowest rate of the three and call the other two and ask them if they can beat that rate....repeat until they are all saying "this is as low as I can go - I'm not even making money on this". That's when you know you have the lowest rate. By the way, they are still making money or they wouldn't waste their time.

This may take a little extra time but it's well worth it. On a $300,000 mortgage, a .5% difference in the mortgage rate is around $90 per month!