I mentioned in this morning’s post that interest rates are low. Google has a Mortgage Comparison search engine which is interesting, if not somewhat misleading. Note that the image does not mention ads but the url is: https://www.google.com/comparisonads/mortgages. I’ve found it listed as both a sponsored link and a separated result between the sponsored and organic results. I am not a fan of Internet mortgage companies and we do usually advise our clients to work with a local bank or mortgage broker [Prudential Northwest Properties owns Columbia Mortgage]. The results are instructive though.
All other things being equal, the change in payment between a loan at 4.75% and 5.25% is $91.62 per month on a $300,000 (30 year fixed) loan. According to the Google Comparison this is what happens with interest rates as credit scores change:
- Excellent (740-850)- Lowest rate (not APR) of 14 lenders: 4.625%
- Very Good (700-739)- Lowest rate (not APR) of 14 lenders: 4.75%
- Good (660-699)- Lowest rate (not APR) of 14 lenders: 4.75%
- Fair (620-659)- Lowest rate (not APR) of 7 lenders: 4.75%
- Poor (580-619)- No lenders quote
THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART:
Though it appears that your credit score doesn’t impact mortgages; it does:
- Excellent (740-850)- APR range of 14 lenders: 4.851% – 5.283%
- Very Good (700-739)- APR range) of 14 lenders: 4.964% – 5.295%
- Good (660-699)- APR range of 14 lenders: 5.184% – 5.721%
- Fair (620-659)- APR range) of 7 lenders: 5.198% – 5.621%
- Poor (580-619)- No lenders quote
All of the above comparisons are quoted from the Google Mortgage Comparison using $360,000 with 20% down in Oregon for 30 year fixed loans including FHA with up to 1 point in fees (by switching to 4 points, I can get a quoted rate as low as 4.25%). The quoted rate is just that, a quoted rate. The APR is designed to show the true cost of the loan with lender fees and origination points. There are no brick-and-mortar banks that I recognize in any of the quotes and the banks listed are paying to be there, not a result of Google crawling for interest rates.
Just one more reason for buyer beware.
2 Comments on “Google Mortgage Comparison”
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Google is a well known search engine & is working hard on many different sectors one is Google mortgage comparison and he has its own search engine for that which is good.
about 2 years ago the lenders started adding on rates and fees for people with credit scores under 720. It used to be that everyone with 660 or above got the same rate, but not anymore.
Now you need 720+ just to get the market rate.