I have a very complicated situation. Here is part of it. I originally worked with a lender, she let me slip through the cracks I believe, because of my complicated situation and my loan is only for around $60,000.  I lost out on closing in April with an interest rate of 4.75%.  I went to another lender, who "had hoped I'd gone somewhere else" when she hadn't heard from me for a couple of weeks.  I have applied with the second lender for a streamline refi(FHA/HUD), and if that is not approved, we will apply for a new FHA/HUD loan. I have not locked into a rate, and am waiting for approval. My question is, even though I have an app with the second lender, can I go back to the first lender, and compare what she can offer me?  I want to go with the one that can get it done sooner, with the best rates and fees.

You are not committed to worth with either lender at this point in time, all work completed to date should be preliminary and not have cost you anything, although I do not recommend flipflopping lenders. You should choose a lender and work towards closing period... flipflopping will cause unnecessary delays, and complications, compromising terms and frustrating everyone involved including yourself. It is a prescription for misinformation as the two lenders will most likely quote different rates and costs which you could argue over until the sun turns blue. Point in fact, if your rate is not locked by either lender, what they are quoting at the particular time is irrelevant - the terms will change as the market moves so why waste the energy arguing over spilt milk.

What you need is a lender that you can trust. Do you trust - I mean TRUST - either of these lenders? If the answer is no for both of them, I suggest cancelling with both and finding a lender that you can and do trust. If you do trust on of these lenders, that is who you should be working with. Let them know they are your choice for closing, and when you expect the loan to close. If they have a problem meeting this closing date they should let you know. Lock your interest rate based on this closing date. If the rate you want is available at the terms you are comfortable with currently. Lock, it's too volatile to risk at this point in time.

As for waiting on your approval. Turntimes are not very long right now so you should not have to wait very long, and you should not have to wait for the approval to lock the rate. This type of action speaks towards the lenders confidence in the loan closing. If they are confident you will qualify, know the guidelines and what will be conditioned, and trust you are not going to walk away from them; your lender can and will lock the loan for you. They have not locked yet because if they do not deliver a locked loan, it hurts their performance rating and can jeopardize their approval status. This is not a good enough reason for you to stay with them especially if the terms you want can be locked in now.

My advise is get the loan locked with the lender you plan on closing with. Stop working with the other and focus all your attention on the one lender. Talk to both lenders right now and tell them you want to lock and ask what their pricing is, whoever has the best pricing is who you move forward with.

Best of luck. 

I don't think your getting anywhere because the loan probably doesn't make sense due to being over the legal cost threshold.  5% comes up pretty quick when you add in APR related costs and the up front MIP.  I'm sorry to say it but I think your out of luck if your shopping because the originator will not care if he loses this loan as he or she will not be making anything on it in the first place.  But the shopping factor in the mix probably will cause the person working on the loan to get upset and not want to bother with it.  To have a client shop you on a loan that they have to work on and not make anything on isn't a good situation for a Mortgage Professional at this time.  I'm sure you can see how that could cause your file to be slipping through the cracks.