Should I lock my mortgage rate and how does a lock work?

Whether or not you should lock a mortgage rate can depend on several factors.

Let's first talk about what it means to lock a loan. In general, there are a couple stages at which a loan might be locked. The first is an agreement between you and your mortgage broker (unless they are a direct representative for the bank). This lock is usually as good as the broker's word and must be disclosed as such.

Unless you have an actual "Lock Confirmation" generated by the lender who will be funding your loan, you do not have a guaranteed access to that particular rate. Furthermore, in many cases, loans can be locked with lenders even if they are not actually approved. In this manner, Jane Doe could request a rate lock with XYZ lender and the broker could lock that rate at XYZ. However, if XYZ denies the file for whatever reason, the borrowers file would have to go to a different lender, and it would be subject to whatever the current pricing is at the new lender. read more here