When you are promised a "rate lock" from your lender, it means that you are guaranteed to get a particular interest rate over a determined period while you work on the application process. This protects you from going through your entire application process and finding out at the end that the interest rate has gone up.
Rate lock periods can be various lengths of time, between 15 to 60 days, with the longer spans typically costing more. You can get a longer period for your lock, but in making this choice, will most likely have a higher interest rate than you would have with a shorter rate lock period
There are more ways to get a reduced rate, besides going with a shorter rate lock period. The bigger the down payment, the lower your interest rate will be, because you will have more equity from the beginning. You can pay points to lower your interest rate for the term of the loan, meaning you pay more initially. To a lot of people, this makes sense and is a good deal..
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