You Can’t Control Mortgage Rates. These 4 moves can help you find the best deal.

Key Takeaways

• Rates on new 30-year mortgages have moved between 6% and 8% for almost all of the last two-and-a-half-years.
• It's unclear when—or even if—mortgage rates will fall significantly from these levels in the foreseeable future.
• You can lower your mortgage rate, regardless of the current mortgage rates, by improving your credit rating, paying off debt, saving for a downpayment, and shopping around.

The full article can be found below these offers.

Try These Smart Strategies to Combat Today's Elevated Mortgage Rates

Since September 2022, almost continuously, the 30-year national average rate of a new purchase mortgage has fluctuated between 6% and 8 %. It did dip into the upper 5% range on a few occasions in the past two-and-ahalf years. However, it reached as high at 8.01% in Oct 2023.

That's a dramatic departure from 2021, when 30-year rates averaged below 3% for most of the second half of the year.

In the current economic environment, a return of rates that are significantly lower is very unlikely. Wells Fargo has recently predicted that mortgage rates would remain above 6% until 2026.

While that's not stellar news if you want to buy a new home, you aren't powerless. In fact, four key moves can help you get the best rate available—all of which are smart since reducing your rate by a half or even a quarter point can translate into lower monthly payments and, over time, significantly reduced total interest costs.

Smart Strategy #1: Improve your credit score

Mortgage rates do not come in a “one size fits everyone” fashion. What a lender offers you depends on your credit risk, how much money you borrow, and your income. Mortgage rates are more favorable for buyers with higher credit scores, while those with lower credit scores will pay higher rates.

"Your credit score is one way of measuring how likely you are to pay your bills," said Samir Patel, senior vice president of loans at Discover. "The higher your credit score, the better your chances of approval at a favorable interest rate for many types of loans—from personal loans to primary mortgages, home equity loans, and mortgage refinances."

Sometimes it's possible to boost your credit score by a modest margin very quickly, while larger improvements may take more time. Since any mortgage rate you lock in is a long-term rate, it can be worth delaying your home buying until you've made some strategic credit score-enhancing moves.

If you’re looking to buy a home, there are several ways to improve your credit score. These include building up a track record of timely payments, paying down or reducing debts in order to lower your credit usage percentage, and refraining from applying for new credit cards or loans while house hunting.

"I always encourage consumers to check their credit report before applying for a home loan," Patel said. "By double checking for any errors and fixing them, consumers can help put themselves in a position for the best interest rate on a home loan."

Tip

In the past, each credit reporting agency would only provide a free copy once a year. This has changed and now consumers can get a free report as often as once a week. If you are looking for changes, you will not have to wait as long to get another report.

Smart Strategy #2: Pay down Debt

As discussed above, reducing the amount you owe for any loans or credit card can help improve your credit score. When applying for a home loan, it can serve two purposes. The reason for this is that mortgage lenders base offers on a thing called a debt to income ratio (DTI). The DTI calculates the total debts you have as a percentage of your monthly income. If your DTI is higher, lenders will consider you to be a riskier candidate.

If you're like most house hunters, you can't substantially change your income in a short time frame before applying for a mortgage. But by lowering your debt, your DTI ratio will go down—making your mortgage application less risky for lenders and typically translating into a better mortgage rate for you.

Smart Strategy #3: Save up for a larger down payment

Though it may be appealing to get into a new house as soon as possible, or utilize a "low down payment" program, there are good reasons to pause your purchase until you can save more money to put down.

First and foremost, a bigger down payment means you’ll be asking for a lower loan amount—which in turn will lower the monthly payment on your new loan. A smaller loan may also help improve your DTI, as discussed above, and help you get a better rate.

If you are nearing a 20% downpayment on a house and have a substantial amount of savings, you might want to save for a bit longer to avoid paying the additional monthly cost of private loan insurance (PMI). If you have only a 5% savings, it is unlikely that you can avoid PMI without delaying your house hunt. If you have more than 15% saved, you may want to wait until you reach the 20% threshold.

You can also consider buying mortgage points if you save more. Points lower your long-term rate by requiring a payment upfront. If you have saved enough money before applying for a loan, you may be able to consider different discount points.

Smart Strategy #4 – Shop around for Rates

It’s important to shop around for rates. When you're ready to submit a mortgage application, it's critical you do some homework to make sure you get a good rate.

You should not limit your search to local banks or credit unions. Consider online lenders and large institutions that do not have a physical presence in your community. You may also want to consider a mortgage brokerage, who can help with the paperwork as well as connect you with one of their many lenders.

Choosing your timing to lock in a rate is also important, and we make it easy to follow mortgage rate trends—nationally and by state—with our daily mortgage rate coverage linked below.

Today’s Mortgage News

Every business day, we cover the latest rates for new mortgages and refinances. You can find our most recent rate reports here.

Today’s Mortgage Rate News

Mortgage Rates by State

Today’s Refinance Rate News

Refinance rates by state

How we track the best mortgage rates

The national and state averages cited above are provided as is via the Zillow Mortgage API, assuming a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 80% (i.e., a down payment of at least 20%) and an applicant credit score in the 680–739 range. The rates are what borrowers can expect to receive from lenders when they get quotes based on their qualifications. These rates may differ from teaser rates advertised. © Zillow, Inc., 2025. Zillow’s Terms of Service apply.