Why is my interest rate changing while under contract?

Your Questions Answered

At Ashlar, I firmly b that an educated home buyer or seller is best equipped to make their own decisions. That’s why I take time out of my day each and every day to answer someone’s real estate question. And, when I think the answer can be useful to you as well, I share it here. So without further ado:

Question:

Why is my interest rate changing while under contract?

A realtor with a great mortgage broker who actually explains how the backend process works.

This is a bit different from a bank loan officer, so your mileage may vary.

Basically here’s my understanding.

The mortgage officer can either lock the rate OR lock the rate at a later date if they believe it will be going down/improving.

If the loan officer locks the rate with a loan underwriter, that’s it. If the rates improve, you can not get a better rate from that underwriter. If rates improve, the loan officer would need to lock with a different loan underwriter.

There’s a lot “wrong” with what you’re describing here, such as “was notified of the closing date” which simply should not be the case… that should be WELL known to all parties before the contract is signed. I would recommend reaching out to your Realtor because there is quite a bit of information you are sharing here that is not lining up.

So far as contract goes and your potential options, it depends on what contract you’ve signed and what the exact terms are.