Our rate policy
Why Align Lending doesn't publish mortgage rates
A rate posted on a website is a price built for someone else's file. Samantha doesn't quote a number until she has yours.
- No credit check to talk
- Any number before your Loan Estimate can change
Facts first, then numbers
Samantha treats your mortgage the way a careful attorney treats a case. She doesn't guess, and she doesn't quote from the hip. Every number she gives you starts from your file and that day's pricing, not from a borrower who doesn't exist, and it can still change until your rate is locked.
That is the whole reason Align doesn't post rates.
Why it matters to you
No decisions built on a number you can't get
You set your budget, your offer and your lender around your real price, not someone else's.
Built on the facts underwriting will verify
The number starts from the same facts underwriting will check.
Advice built on your file
When Samantha talks through an option, she has looked at your file first.
What a posted rate usually assumes
The rates you see advertised are priced for one kind of borrower. Freddie Mac's weekly survey, a national average you may have seen in the news, describes a borrower with good to excellent credit, 20% down and a single-family home they live in. Lender rate tables are similar, and many also assume:
- A credit score near the top of the range
- A low debt-to-income ratio
- A conventional loan on a single-family primary residence
- In some cases, points paid up front to buy the rate down
- One lock period, priced on one day's market
Sources: Freddie Mac: Primary Mortgage Market Survey (the survey's borrower); CFPB: Your mortgage calculator may be setting you up for a surprise (what advertised rates usually assume); CFPB: Explore interest rates (a rate tool whose quotes fix a loan type, a points range and one lock period); Regulation Z, 12 CFR 1026.19(e)(2)(ii) (the required statement)
What actually sets your rate
What you bring
- Credit score
- Down payment or equity
- Debt-to-income ratio
- The property, how many units it has and whether you'll live in it
The loan you choose
- Loan type (conventional, FHA, VA, USDA, jumbo)
- Term
- Fixed or adjustable
- Points or lender credits
- How long the rate is locked
The market that day
Mortgage rates follow the bond market and can move daily. A rate isn't yours until it's locked.
Sources: CFPB: Seven factors that determine your mortgage interest rate; CFPB: What's a lock-in or a rate lock on a mortgage?
Why a broker's number is worth waiting for
Align Lending is an independent mortgage broker. Samantha prices your file with multiple wholesale lenders and shows you what fits.
Posting one rate would mean choosing a lender's price before knowing which lender suits your loan, which is the opposite of what a broker is for.
How to compare rates the right way
- Ask each lender for a Loan Estimate on the same loan, on the same day, with the same lock length.
- Check page 1: is the rate locked, and until when?
- Compare Section A (which includes any points), lender credits and the APR. Sections E, F and G are mostly the same with any lender.
Sources: CFPB: Compare and negotiate your loan offers; CFPB: What is the difference between a mortgage interest rate and an APR?; CFPB: What's a lock-in or a rate lock on a mortgage?
What Samantha needs to price your loan
- What you're trying to do
- The price or value of the home
- Your down payment or equity
- Your income and monthly debts
- A credit check, only when you're ready and only with your permission
Talking first doesn't touch your credit.
Any number before your Loan Estimate can change. Your Loan Estimate is the official version.
- Call or text
- 248-506-5727
- Hours
- Phone: 7 days a week, evenings included
Office: by appointment
What clients say
Align Lending helped make purchasing my home in Madison Heights a smooth experience. I appreciated the regular updates and clear explanations along the way.
As a first-time homebuyer in Ferndale, I was unsure of some things. Samantha was awesome. She was extremely helpful and made sure I understood every part of the process.
I highly recommend Align Lending to anyone looking for a mortgage broker in Southeast Michigan. The team was knowledgeable, responsive, and easy to work with.
Individual experiences. Results vary.
Questions about rate quotes
Short answers, with the federal source linked where there is one.
Is a rate quote a commitment?
No. A quote isn’t a lock, and a lock holds only if you close within its time frame and nothing in your application changes. Your Loan Estimate shows on page 1 whether the rate is locked and until when.
Can a locked rate still change?
It can if something in your file changes: the down payment, the loan type, the appraised value, your credit or your documented income.
Will asking about my rate hurt my credit?
Talking with Samantha doesn’t. A credit check comes later, only with your permission.
Why might the number Samantha gives me differ from one I saw online?
Because hers starts from your file and today’s pricing, and the one online started from an ideal borrower and may have included points.
Source for the ideal borrower: CFPB: Your mortgage calculator may be setting you up for a surprise
Align Lending LLC, NMLS #2041154, is a mortgage broker. Samantha Shelton, NMLS 1647301. Equal Housing Opportunity. Licensed in Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Nothing on this page is a credit decision, a preapproval, a commitment to lend, or an offer of credit.
