If you are like most borrowers, one of the things that you want the most when getting a loan is lower interest rates. You ask and look around for the lowest interest rate that you can find, and you believe that the lower the interest rate, the better the loan is. While that can be true in a way, there are more things to consider in getting a loan. Also, there are a lot of things that you must learn to consider in determining the applicable interest rate for you, as there are several factors that can affect it--making it either higher or lower.

Every lender knows how your home loan rates get calculated, and you should be able to understand the process, too. From your status down to the details of the loan you are looking to get, here are some of the top factors that determine your mortgage interest rate.

Your credit score

Your credit score is one of the biggest factors that determine how high or low your interest rate for your mortgage would be. In general, the better your credit score is, the lower the interest rates that you can expect from banks and lenders. On the other hand, a low credit score would mean higher interests or sometimes, total inability to get a loan at all.

The home location

Lenders have varying interest rates depending on the location of the home that you are looking to finance for. It would depend on whether it's an urban or a rural area. Talking to your lender about this would help you get a better idea of the rates they offer on each area.

The home price and the loan amount

Naturally, the total amount that you will loan and the price of the home that you would like to purchase affects the interest rate as well., Usually, bigger loans have slightly higher interest rates.

After shopping around for home prices, the next thing you should do is sit down and talk to your lender about the offers they can give based on the price of the home that you want to purchase.

Your downpayment

A low percentage to a zero per cent down payment may look and sound attractive at first glance. However, it means one thing: higher interest rates. In general, the higher the down payment that you can give, the lower the interest rates that you can get for the mortgage.

Thus, a low down payment or no down payment at all does not help you save money but instead puts you in a bigger and deeper debt as opposed to getting a loan with a down payment. So, if you can afford to pay the down payment of at least 20%, you can expect better interest rates offered to you.

The loan term

The loan term is another tick part of your loan that could trap you in bigger debts if you are not careful enough. Loans with longer terms or longer durations tend to have lower monthly payments. However, this also yields huge interests, and higher fees overall.

On the other hand, getting a shorter loan duration would mean lower interest rates and less fess overall, although the monthly payments would tend to become higher for you to pay off the loan in time.

The bottom line

Do remember that it is not just one of these factors that individually affects the interest rate for your mortgage. Rather, all of these factors, and more, work together in determining the final interest rate you can get for your dream home mortgage.