Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions.
Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers.
Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information.
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers.
We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.
The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage rose again this week, settling at 2.64 percent, its highest level since mid-August. It’s the third week in a row that the average 15-year rate has gone up, but it’s still a good deal for those who can afford the monthly payments.
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, mortgage rates have tumbled, which has driven a wave of refinancing and encouraged a rush of home purchases around the country.
The ongoing low rate trend over the last year has made 15-year loans a good option for more borrowers than ever. Those with a 15-year mortgage stand to save substantially on interest, because these shorter-term loans usually have lower rates to begin with, and less time to compound than the more common 30-year mortgage products. However, because the repayment period is compressed, a shorter loan can squeeze your monthly budget with higher payments.
Even so, with interest rates this low, many borrowers have found 15-year loans to be affordable recently.
Experts predict rates will continue on this upward trajectory for a while to come as the coronavirus recovery gathers steam.
For homeowners and buyers, that means time is running out to secure or refinance a mortgage with historically low interest.
“Even with the recent rise in rates, mortgage rates are still lower than anything seen prior to last summer,” said Greg McBride, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst. “Homeowners can take advantage by refinancing a mortgage, reducing the monthly payment, and saving tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.”
Learn more:
Share