Rate, payment and cost are three different things

The rate is not the price

A rate is what interest accrues at. The price of a loan is the rate plus everything you paid to get it — points, lender fees, and anything financed into the balance. Two loans at the same rate can cost thousands apart.

This is why the advertised rate is close to meaningless on its own, and why comparing loan estimates side by side is the only honest comparison.

Buying the rate down

You can pay points at closing to lower the rate. Whether that is sensible depends entirely on how long you keep the loan. Points have a break-even period, and if you sell or refinance before it, you lost money.

Nobody can tell you how long you will keep the loan. You can, roughly, and you should be the one deciding.

The lowest payment trap

Stretching a balance back out to thirty years lowers the monthly payment and can raise the total cost enormously. A refinance that drops your payment while restarting the clock is not automatically a win, and it is the easiest thing in this business to sell to someone who is only looking at the monthly number.

Ask for both: what the payment becomes, and what the loan costs in total over the years you expect to hold it.

General information only. Nothing here is a commitment to lend, an offer of credit, or a rate quote — those come from a licensed loan officer after a complete application, and everything is subject to credit approval and underwriting.