What you actually want from your lender is a rate lock. A good faith estimate does not guarantee anything. It is an estimate.

A rate lock will state whether or not the rate that has been quoted to you has been locked in. If you are looking to purchase, most lenders require you to have a specific property before you can lock a rate.

Once you have a property, you can specifically ask your lender to lock the rate in for a longer period of time. For example, the standard is 30 or 45 days. You can ask your lender to lock the rate in for 60, 90 days or longer. Just remember that a bank will charge to lock a rate for a longer period of time.

This is a good question. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to answer. A good faith estimate does not mean that your rate is locked. Mortgage rates change sometimes 3 and 4 times daily depending on the market you are in. They have several different locks. 7 days, 15 days, 30 days and 45 days. There are longer locks but usually require a fee of some sort.

When shopping for a mortgage look for testimonials of satisifed clients. Make sure you do your research on the person that is helping you. To lock a loan the lender needs to have the application, all of the docs they requested. This includes pay stubs, bank statements, W2's. Mortgage rates are lower now that they have been in a while and if you have not locked you might want to consider. Hope this helps.