Rate sheets are detailed matrixes of a mortgage lender’s different loans. These sheets are detailed and complex, and usually only distributed to wholesale brokers and loan officers.

Rate sheets are now typically distributed electronically at the beginning of a business day. Some lenders republish their rate sheets throughout the day as interest rates change. Rate sheets typically do not guarantee rates, but are intended as guidelines.

Lenders rate sheet can be 15 pages or longer.

Lenders break these rate sheets down with a higher degree of detail.

The rate sheets allow a loan to be priced.

The rate will price a loan based on:

loan amount

number of days in the rate lock

loan program

cash out or no cash out

impound accounts or no impound accounts

credit score

property type

product descriptions

occupancy type

debt to income ratio

pricing specials

interest only options

prepayment penalties

states that the lender will loan in

differences in treatment of primary borrower and secondary borrower

The loan officer can assemble your loan in many different ways.

Your interest rate will be higher the longer you lock your loan for. A loan interest rate lock is a commitment from a lender to give you a specific interest rate for a certain time period. It “locks in” your interest rate for a certain time period. It is sometimes possible to extend this rate lock for a fee.